Page 104 of Rules to Love By

Tris stopped stirring the pot he was hovering over to look at him. “Prep potatoes for scallops?”

“Sure.” It was a simple enough task. It let him focus on what he was doing, demanding just enough attention to not slice his fingers to keep his brain from spiraling down a rabbit hole again.

“Did you text Eli?” Tris asked after a while.

“No. He’s probably tired too. He was up all night, same as me. I guess he’ll come by when he wants to talk.”

“Unless he’s waiting for you to contact him.”

“Maybe.”

“Do you want to?” Tris dipped a spoon in his pot. “I mean, he’s a nice guy. If you want, then you should. But if you don’t, maybe tell him that.”

Marcus watched him taste whatever was in the pot, add some spices, then taste it again.

“What?” Tris glanced up at him.

“Are Jake and Lucy coming in for service tonight?”

Tris shook his head. “No need. It’s a one-dish night tonight. Pot roast with mushrooms, scalloped potatoes, braised carrots and roasted corn.”

“What? Like Aunt Iris’s roasted corn? That roasted corn?”

Tris pinked slightly. “Sorry. Was that a secret family recipe or something?”

“No.” Marcus frowned. “At least I don’t think so.”

“Well, good, because it took me a lot of trial an error to get it right.”

“It’s really good roasted corn,” Marcus agreed. “I’m not sure how to make it, actually.” He furrowed his brow. “I hope she wrote it down someplace.”

“Why?” Tris set his tasting spoons in the sink and leaned on the counter. “You planning on needing it? That would imply…”

“I don’t know.” Marcus went back to thinly slicing the potatoes.

“But you’re thinking about it.”

“I’m not not thinking about it,” Marcus conceded. “So that’s progress, right?”

Tris smiled as he turned back to his cooking. “That’s progress.”

Once he had a pan’s worth of sliced potatoes, Marcus took his knife and peeler to the sink to wash. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Remember Dillan?”

“This again?”

“Just that Eli told me about arranged partners, negotiating it all. Not the same as the guys he dates. Apparently, he doesn’t mix the two.”

Tris abandoned his cooking to frown at Marcus intently. “Marc, arranged? Or negotiated?”

“What’s the difference? The result is the same. He has sex with guys that he doesn’t date. Arranged. Negotiated. Whatever.”

“Arranged may be a problem. It might imply an exchange of some kind. Though he really doesn’t strike me as the type. Negotiated might be something else.”

“Like what?”

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