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this alone. But you can"t. Penny"s moving in here, whether you like it or

not. You"ve got what? Six guest rooms in this place, not including the

room that"ssupposedto be yours? Good. She"ll be all moved in two days

time.”

“Grown men don"t need a babysitter,” he said with dignity,

although a private corner of his mind was jumping around singing,

“Hallelujah, I don"t have to live alone!”

The Locker Room 121

“Xander….” Andi trailed off and looked at her husband. “Help me

out here, Jed. You"re a man, you get that whole pride thing. Talk to

him!”

“Xander,” Jed said mildly, “do you love us?”

Xander blinked. He"d never said it, but of course he did. They"d

taken him in, given him luggage, and become a part of his heart like

nobody else in his life. “Of course,” he said, worried for a moment that

this had been in doubt.

“Do you remember how upset Andi was when she saw your first

apartment when you were just a kid?”

Xander flushed. He hadn"t been able to make that work. Some

grown-up he"d been! “Yeah,” he said, embarrassed.

“Don"t put her through that again, okay? Penny can save for a

house while she"s living rent-free, and she works in Folsom anyway.

You"d be doing us a favor.”

Xander smiled a little. It was transparent, and silly, and, well, yeah.

It worked. “Okay,” he said, flushing. “Can I go for that run now?”

Andi gaped at him and shook her head, then looked at her husband,

who was smirking at her. As Xander ran up the stairs for his running

shoes and some dog toys and his ticket out of the emotional void that

was threatening to consume him, Andi was smacking her husband on the

arm, completely at a loss for words.

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