Page 117 of The Secret
Julian and Daniel came in next with even more buckets, these mostly filled with greenery. Boxes of tiny vases, dozens of candles, yards of tulle and ribbons galore. Once they’d carried it all in, Daniel perched on one of the counters with Julian leaning back between his legs, trading good-natured insults with Sam.
My mother arrived maybe ten minutes later, and she immediately mobilized Julian, Daniel, Theo, and Carlos to cart in sixteen metric shit-tons of tulips, until the entire space—the countertops and the floor around it—were covered with stuff. Then she stared around at the assembled goods, nodded once, and said, “Let’s get organized before the others get here.”
Micah and I looked at each other.
“What others?” I asked.
“Oh, a few people I ran into,” she said with a little wave. “People who wanted to give Micah a hand. You know how O’Leary is.”
Silas Sloane and his boyfriend Everett Maior were the first to knock on the back door. “Angela said you and Con were looking for volunteers,” Si told Micah when he answered the knock. “I don’t know shit about flowers, but I’ve got two good hands. And God knows, Con has saved my ass more than once. Happy to return the favor.” He gave me a chin lift from across the room.
“Same on both counts,” Ev said, tucking himself against Silas’s side. “But I’m ready to learn.”
Ash and Cal came over fromFanailleafter closing time with trays of brownies and muffins and giant vats of coffee we had to set up out by the cash register in the front of the store, since there was no space in the back.
Lisa Dorian and Margo Martin, Ash’s mom, came by with a bunch of folding card tables they’d used at the last library book sale, and stood gossiping with Henry Lattimer, Ev’s grandfather, who’d hobbled in—without his cane—and had claimed the chair from Micah’s office. Jamie Burke came by with Mitch Turner. Mackie and Rae Martin arrived together. Bill and his wife Dhann, who ran the Books and More across the street, came by to see what the fuss was all about and stayed to help. Leandra and her husband Jared, who’d left their kids with Lauren and Chris, arrived with Mason and some friend of Mason’s named Tobias, who Micah greeted with a giant hug. They set up the card tables and got to work, under my mother’s careful instruction, making arrangements using tulips and greenery, packing them into boxes and then the boxes into cold storage.
If Micah was a little overwhelmed at the way my mother took charge of his back room, he gave no indication. He seemed bewildered but happy to let her conduct the troops like an orchestra, which was… unusual for him. But it hit me that Micah was used to working on his own. Sure, he’d had Belle help out, and he’d had me, but the majority of the work was done by his own hands. He’d probably never tried to organize this many people all at once and wouldn’t have known where to begin.
My mother was standing against the refrigerator—the same refrigerator where Micah had given me a blowjob, andJesus, that was not an uncomfortable realizationat all—keeping an eye on the minions when Micah approached her for maybe the first time ever.
“Thank you,” he told her seriously. “I don’t know how you got so many people here, Angela, but I don’t know what I’d have done–”
“Nonsense. O’Leary takes care of O’Leary, sweetheart,” she told him. Then she patted him on the cheek like he was just another one of her boys, and hurried off to do something else, leaving Micah blinking after her with a little smile on his face that made my heart melt.
With this many people, even unskilled as most of them were, we were able to crank out the arrangements we needed in record time. When the work was winding down, close to midnight, I grabbed a couple of brownies, caught Micah’s eye, and nodded toward the alley. He joined me outside a minute later.
“Fucking cold out here,” he said, taking the brownie I offered and cramming it into his mouth like a starving man.
“As opposed to inside, where it’s sweltering.”
“I had no idea we could fit that many people into such a small space.” He looked at me solemnly. “Let’s never try it again.”
I laughed as I swallowed the last chocolatey bite. “Agreed. This will be the first and last time we let Mama take over,” I proclaimed, almost believing it would be true. “But God. Can you believe how much work we got done in such a short time? My old boss would be so impressed. He taught me everything I know.” I batted my eyelashes.
“Pretty sure you taught him a thing or two, too.” He leaned into me, bowing me backward. “Lots and lots of things.”
“Stop,” I laughed against his mouth. “Business first, Micah, and…Oh my God, what am I saying? Kiss me again.”
So he did, thoroughly, letting me sink into the flavors of Micah and chocolate, letting me finally believe he washerewithme,and that he loved me, too. I kissed him until I hadhimbacked against the brick by the door and both of us were dying.
“We can’t,” Micah said. “We can’t. We have—fuck, that feels good.” He tilted his head farther so I could kiss his neck, rubbing his jean-covered cock against mine. “Your mother is on the other side of this wall, Constantine.” He pushed me away with a groan, but his green eyes promised all kinds of things that almost made up for it. “But later on, when all this is done? I am taking you upstairs.”
“And?” I demanded breathlessly.
“And I’m going to reacquaint you with all the things you taught me.” He leaned toward me and waggled his eyebrows.
“Oh, God.” I bit my lip. “What kinds of things?”
I expected all kinds of intimate details. What I got was even better.
“Like, that life is about more than business,” he whispered, holding my cheek in his hand. “And love is worth any risk.”
“Shut up! You can’t say stuff like that and not let me kiss you,” I informed him.
He gave me that grin I loved, andGod! How the hell had I gotten here, standing in an alley in February, looking up at this guy in the glare of a floodlight, and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I was exactly where I needed to be?
“It’s scary, you know? I’m on the cusp of having everything I wanted, and stuff I didn’t even know I wanted, too, and like… what the hell do you do when you’ve gotten everything you want, Micah?”
