Page 41 of Love It or List It
Austin stared at him.Joe felt like he was being scrutinized.Finally he said, “You know I don’t cook, right?Who’s going to make dinner for, what is that, twelve people?”
“Well, Meg probably won’t come until after dinner if we’re doing it on the twenty-fifth, but I probably have to invite my mom—”
“Jesus,” Austin muttered.“Like I said.Who’s cooking for all these people?”
“I will.You can be my sous chef.”Will and Gavin would probably volunteer to help, and Alex and Starling would each want to bring a dish.“We don’t have to do, like, presents and stuff.I just… I don’t know, I thought it would be nice.”
“It is nice,” Austin agreed, though something in his tone made Joe think it wasn’t that simple.He seemed to be weighing something in his mind.“Fuck it.Let’s give it a shot.But we’re going to need more furniture.Like, there’s nowhere for anyone to sit, for one thing, unless you count the toilet.”
“I think my mom’s got someone lined up to rent my place,” Joe said, “so I can bring my stuff when I move in.It’s not a lot, but I’ve got a dining table and chairs and a couch and whatever.It won’t be naked.And I have a Christmas tree.”He barely spent any time at home anymore anyway, with how much work they had to do here.Besides, now he had Pepa and the kittens to think about.
Austin shook his head.“Okay, well.Looks like we have our work cut out for us.”
Chapter Nine
THANKS TOJoe’s new self-imposed deadline, the pressure was on for a livable space, at least on the ground floor.
Starling arrived the following day to put in another couple of hours and a few hundred feet of electrical cable.Given her piecemeal schedule and their need for electricity in the meantime, she suggested running the new wiring but leaving it unconnected until they could hook everything up.
But when she let herself into the house, she first beelined for the breezeway and cooed over their new additions.
“They are so cute,” she sighed as she eyed the kittens’ furry tangle next to Pepa.
The kittens and Pepa both loved when they could settle into the hollow of her belly.They even kneaded Pepa and purred at times, as though longing to nurse.
Austin should probably ask Linda about that, for the kittens’ and Pepa’s sakes.She always looked so content that Austin wondered if Pepa hadn’t had puppies in the past.They definitely didn’t want any more of those, though putting her through another surgery right now would be brutal.
Once Starling was busy in the kitchen, Austin dragged Joe to the ReStore.
Austin loved the Habitat for Humanity store.He had a habit of perusing it for objects in need of some TLC.Fixing them up for resale wasn’t a bad hobby; it kept him busy and tended to fund itself and make him a few spare dollars.
Fortunately, luck was on their side, and they found a suitable straight section of cabinets on their first visit, as well as enough wood-look laminate tile to freshen the room (and cover their brand-new subfloor).
The tiles themselves took most of an evening to install, but as Austin had predicted, the cabinets went in quickly once Starling had finished in the kitchen.Without the awkward section of counter that divided the kitchen from the eating space, it was almost roomy.
Days passed in a blur of painting, moving furniture, cuddling and feeding Pepa and her kittens, dodging mockery from Starling and the kids, putting them all to work, and casual physical affection from Joe.
Austin couldn’t say when it started.Joe definitely didn’t touch him at first.But sometime between their first rocky meeting and the decision to host Christmas, Joe got handsy.
Not in a creepy or pushy way.In fact, Austin wasn’t sure Joe knew he was doing it.After he saw Joe with Starling and the kids, it became obvious that Joe was just a physical guy.He patted backs and heads, gave high fives, bumped shoulders, played footsie, moved people out of the way with a hand on the back, shoulder, or hips.
Austin could take the more casual touches.Knocking shoulders or boots together when they were chatting to make a point or get Austin’s attention didn’t bother him.But he didn’t know what to do with the more intimate touches.
The day they painted the dining room and kitchen, Joe grabbed Austin by the hips to move him a step to the right and out of his way.Austin was so shocked by the casual proprietary nature of the act, he couldn’t even protest.Then, later, after an hour of painting, Joe laughingly told Austin he got paint on himself, cupped his face, and tenderly swiped the drips from his cheekbone.Or tried to, rather, since it had already started to dry.It took a good few seconds for Austin’s brain to reboot.
What were you supposed to do with a guy who looked like Joe and didn’t stop touching you but who you also couldn’t have a one-night stand with?
Which he definitely could not.For one, they were essentially business partners.Also, they were becoming friends, and Austin didn’t want to ruin that.Not to mention that Joe didn’t seem like the one-night-stand sort.He was too sweet.
A few days after his grudging adoption of the kittens, Austin arrived at the house to find Joe working in the kitchen with Walker Texas Ranger curled up on his shoulder.The cat looked for all the world like he’d appointed himself Joe’s supervisor, and he was hanging on his every word as Joe softly narrated his actions.
“We have to adjust these screws or the door to the cabinet will always hang crooked.”
“Me-ew.”
“Exactly.We wouldn’t want to embarrass ourselves with wonky cabinetry.”
Austin tiptoed back out of the room.The moment felt too precious to be ruined by Joe’s potential embarrassment.Besides, there was plenty of work to do elsewhere.He went back to winterizing the windows in an effort to keep their power bills out of the stratosphere now that the cold weather had hit.The past few mornings he’d had to scrape frost off his windshield before driving into work, so he was glad to start emptying the garage now that the painting was done.It would be nice to park indoors.They’d sold some of the furniture, but they’d kept a simple bed frame and a dresser for one of the upstairs bedrooms.Joe managed to convey, without saying the words out loud, that he was keeping them in the eventuality that Will’s parents realized he was gay and kicked him out.
