Page 55 of The Map Home
“You really think they’ll let us escape?” Niall did not sound particularly hopeful.
“Nope.”
“It’s probably for the best anyway. You know,” Niall said thoughtfully, “I used to hate hearing people talk about their better half—I still hate it, if I’m being honest—but Mat really isa better person than me. He makes getting up in the morning worth it. Don’t tell him though. He’ll get a big head.”
Leaning into Niall again, Mat said, “I heard that.”
Dakota and Niall both started to laugh, and Tad, who was definitely Dakota’s better half, smiled and scooted his chair as close to Dakota as he could.
Dakota let the moment flow over him: Penny and Waylon’s joy, Mat’s solid presence, Niall’s—well, Niall was Niall—and Tad, who loved him unconditionally. Tonight, life was good, like it finally fit him right.
He wasn’t ready to sayI love you. Not in front of everyone at the table, even if they all knew he loved Tad, but he could send Tad a secret message, and he had the perfect medium.
I-squeeze-Love-squeeze-You-squeeze.
Bumping his shoulder, Tad slid his hand onto Dakota’s leg and sent the message back to him.
Maybe the holidays weren’t so bad after all.
EPILOGUE
Epilogue—Moving Day
“Whose idea was this, anyway?” Tad complained as sweat dripped across his forehead and down toward his left eye. He swiped at it with his forearm but was too slow. “Dammit.”
Seeing that it was mid-February in Wyoming, it wasn’t hot out, but moving furniture was hard work.
“Yours,” Dakota said firmly as he gripped the other end of the couch. “One hundred percent yours. We did not need to move. Your old place was just fine.”
“Hmph.” Tad disagreed. “My old place wasmyplace, notourplace. If we’re doing this, and we are, we’re starting fresh.”
“Quit stalling and lift up your end of the couch again. It’s not going to walk itself up two flights of stairs.”
They weren’t even changing buildings. A two-bedroom apartment had become available on the top floor, and the manager was letting Tad and Dakota transfer the lease without having to come up with a new deposit. The new-to-them apartment had hardwood flooring, well-maintained casement windows, a nice kitchen that had newer appliances and—Tad’s favorite—they still had a washer and dryer of their own. Therewas also a view of the town square and the park, and CCs for coffees and pastries was just a leisurely walk away, along with The Chron. And it was only a five-minute drive to the Sheriff’s Office. There were only upsides to staying in the building.
Another plus was that they were close to Curtis’s building. Which meant it was easy for Tad—and now Dakota—to stop by and check in on his older friend.
Friends had offered to help out with the move, but with the exception of the furniture Tad already owned, there wasn’t much else. Dakota had already moved his clothes and belongings to Tad’s over Christmas.
They’d been lucky there too. At the end of January, The Chron had run a story on tenants’ rights in small towns using Collier’s Creek as an example, and Dakota’s landlord had not only decided to speed up repairs but returned rent money in lieu of a civil lawsuit.
“Fine.” Tad muttered the word the same way Dakota did and was rewarded with a grin, which had been his intent anyway.
After what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, they’d wrestled the couch up the stairs, down the hallway, and in through the apartment door. They’d already agreed that, with the exception of November and December, the couch would live in front of the big windows.
“Perfect,” Tad said as they gently set it down.
“I hate moving,” Dakota said. “Where are the cushions? I want to collapse for the rest of the day. Or ten minutes anyway.”
The cushions were stacked against one wall, and a thought struck Tad when he moved to grab them.
“Because of your mom?” he asked, tossing the cushions down so they could take a breather. He’d never considered how often Dakota might have moved before they met. How disruptive moving was. As a kid, it meant starting at an all new school, probably in a new town, trying to make new friends,maybe losing precious belongings too. It had to make a kid feel powerless.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Dakota toed his shoes off and plopped down with his legs wide and his arms splayed along the back of the couch. “We moved a lot.”
Understatement of the year, Tad figured. Flopping down the long way so he could lay his legs across Kota’s lap, Tad replied, “I didn’t think about the fact that moving might have bad memories for you.”
“Oh, it totally does,” Dakota admitted. Leaning forward, he untied Tad’s sneakers, tugged them off, and dropped them to the floor where they landed with a clunk. Then he peeled off Tad’s socks and tossed those aside too.
