Page 24 of A Case of You
Brandon told him.
“Ah. Well, okay, then. I guess I’m planning Thanksgiving.”
“The past several years, Em and I went to my brother Edwin’s house, when Em was with me. He usually hosted for all of us, and our parents would fly in. I’mreallylooking forward to having Thanksgiving inourhome this year.”
“Our first Thanksgiving together,” Stuart said, resting his chin on Jeff’s shoulder. “The first Thanksgiving I haven’t been with…” He didn’t finish.
“With who?” Brandon asked.
“I was going to say with my family, except youaremy family. I mean my parents and my sister and brothers and everyone. Everyone always goes to my parents’ house. All the aunts and uncles and cousins and kids. Thirty or forty people.”
“Well, we won’t have that many here,” Brandon said. “I don’t think Iwantthat many here. But we’ll have a cozy crowd. And speaking of crowds…” He told Jeff about them flying up to the wedding in a few weeks, carefully watching his expression for his reaction.
Jeff turned to hold Stuart against him. “You sure you want to put yourself through that?”
“No, but Eileen asked me to come. If I don’t go, I’ll regret it. I know I will.”
“I could go, too. Tracey could stay here with Em and—”
“No,” Brandon said. “The stress of flying and traveling and whatever happens there is not worth putting you through. I’d rather have you here taking care of the girls.” Brandon slipped his arms around Jeff’s waist. “Call me a big meanie if you want, but I have plans for Christmas. That means I’d like you as healthy as possible before then.”
“What kind of plans?”
Brandon gently nipped the nape of Jeff’s neck. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
* * * *
Jeff stayed in the shower for a few minutes after Brandon and Stuart got out and started getting dressed. The hot water did help, and as he slowly and carefully started moving around and stretching, he could tell he definitely felt better that morning than he had the past couple of mornings.
When he got out, Stuart had Jeff’s coffee ready and waiting and offered to make him a bowl of oatmeal before he left for work.
Jeff let him, which earned him a smile and kiss from Brandon, who had to leave.
Stuart had to pick up the pace or he’d be running late. So after getting the bowl of oatmeal made and bringing Jeff’s meds to him, he leaned in for a kiss. “Sorry I have to leave.”
“No apologies necessary. Thank you for taking care of me.”
Stuart’s bright smile as he headed out of the kitchen went a long way toward helping Jeff get over his own mood.
Okay, not get over it. That was being too generous.
Something along the lines of making peace with it fell closer to the mark.
At least for that morning.
The longer he was vertical, yes, he was definitely feeling “better” as opposed to the other day when he could barely move and the pain made him nauseous.
The oatmeal, however, tasted delicious. Stuart had nuked frozen blueberries to put in it, along with adding cinnamon and honey.
Their boy was becoming quite a cook. Stuart had never really had to cook before moving in with them. Not beyond boiling water or nuking a hot dog or something. Living at his cousin’s house, his cousin’s wife had always cooked and he’d eaten with them.
Jeff had enjoyed watching Emma and Grace teaching him basics, like how to sauté vegetables and how to bake.
In those moments, beyond all the kinky stuff the three of them had done together, beyond the sexy times in bed, he saw his true family. Vanilla snapshots of life that when he quit kvetching about his health, he could easily see were what mattered most to him.
Family.
Hisfamily.
