Page 4 of Karma Kitty Christmas
When Isaac finally spoke, his voice was so quiet, Luca had to lean his head in. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Yes,” Isaac whispered. Then he said it again, louder. “Yes.” Then heshoutedit. “Yes, yes, yes!” It was almost sexual—as was the expression of profound relief on Isaac’s face. He stood abruptly and gathered his knit bag, and for a moment, Luca was truly disappointed. The conversation had been wonderful, but he felt as though he’d destroyed Magic Hour—and, well, he’d really wanted to see it happen.
Then Isaac paused. “Actually, Luca, is there anythingyou’dlike me to knit? Something small and colorful? Hat, scarf, throw pillow?”
Luca grinned at him. “I’d say yes, but I’d have to answer to my grandma, and that wouldn’t be pretty.”
Isaac’s laugh was genuine. “Oh, you’re right. I’d almost forgotten—she loves to yarn for you.”
“Yeah, she does,” Luca said fondly. “But you know….” Suddenly the reason forhisshitty day crashed in on him. “You know, my sister….” And this felt personal—but then he’d sort of intruded on this man’s personal time, so it was only fair. “See, my sister, Allegra, told me today that she’s, uhm….” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, it’s a mess. She’s pregnant, and her boyfriend kicked her out—”
“Because why?” Isaac asked, shocked.
“Because he’s an asshole,” Luca said, voice grim. “And that’s as far as I want to look at it. Anyway… the boyfriend’s an asshole, my pregnant sister is in my spare room, and—” He sighed. “—she’s freaking out. And the thing is, I think she’ll make an amazing mother. She’d already decided to keep the baby, but she’s still freaking out. She just needs to take a breath and get her shit together. You wouldn’t want to make her a baby blanket, would you? Something small, for a newborn. Something pretty that would make her see that hey, life’s a little bit hard right now, but it’ll get better. You know? I mean, it’s a lot to ask from a blanket, but my grandma’s so good at loving us with yarn—we don’t want to tell her yet, but, you know….” He bit his lip, suddenly embarrassed. It had been a huge request. “I’d buy the yarn,” he said, trailing off. “I’d pay you as much as you’d want.”
“No,” Isaac said kindly. “I don’t knit for money. But I do knit for friends. Tell you what. How about I go inside and pull out some of my pattern books and colors, and you come in and help me pick something out? I’ve had to make three baby blankets this year—students don’t always wait for the best time either—so I’ve got some extra skeins. How about you go wash up, and you can come in?” He looked uncertain for a moment. “I’m, uhm, heating up some beans for dinner—I can heat up enough for two, if you like.”
Oh wow.Oh wow.This was amazing. This was fantastic. This reallywasMagic Hour. All this time Luca had been waiting until it was appropriate to make his move on Isaac Browning and Isaac Browning had just invited him to dinner! It wasn’t sexual—and Lucawouldn’tmake a move, he swore he wouldn’t, but….
“Yeah, Isaac,” he said, appreciating the man’s trim form up and down. “Yeah, I’d really like that. Thanks so much for asking. Let me finish up and wash up like you said, and I’ll be over in fifteen, if that’s okay. I’ve planned stuff with my grandma since I was a little kid—I’d love to plan a blanket.”
I’d love to throw you down on a blanket and kiss your little body until you flush all over!
But he didn’t say that last part. At this juncture, it would be rude.
HE HADa spare T-shirt and cargo pants in his truck—he hated stopping by his grandparents’ place after work smelling like BO and whatever funk he’d been working with that day, so he always kept a change of clothes, and, hey, the bathrooms had been the first things remodeled, and there was shower shit in there. He even had flip-flops so he didn’t have to wear his boots, and while the more rational, saner part of his brain was muttering,This isn’t a date, this isn’t a date, don’t get your hopes up, he’s a widower for God’s sake, the part of his brain that hadn’t been laid in a year was like,Hey—his husband seemed like sort of a tool anyway.
It was an unworthy thought; he hadn’t known the guy, but his grandmother had sort of prejudiced him with that “his husband put him on a yarn diet” thing. It smacked of Allegra’s shitty ex-boyfriend, who used to try to put her on a food diet. Like he should have any say over what went into his sister’s mouth, period!
And itreallyreminded him of his parents, who had tried to puthimon a boy diet, because boys shouldn’t want to taste other boys, or his friend Jimmy Bob’s phobic ex-girlfriend, who had wanted to put Jimmy Bob on a Luca diet because she thought he would make Jimmy Bob gay.
Basically Luca had a problem with obsessive, controlling assholes, and, well, he couldn’t seem to get over that look on Isaac’s face when he’d said he really didn’t want to finish that sweater.
The mixture of grief, relief, and vindication in his eyes, in his posture? Lucareallywanted to get to the bottom of that.
“OH WOW!You got all spiffed up!” There was no grief, relief, or vindication in Isaac’s eyesnow, Luca noticed as he opened the door. Just a blatant appreciation that Luca rather enjoyed. “I’m sorry, I… well….”
“Our work clothes are pretty different,” Luca said with a wink. “You’re fine. I didn’t want to track dirt and drywall dust into your house is all.” He glanced around, liking the sturdy woodwork in pale colors and the cream furnishings with the gentle sage green of the rug. The whole place spoke of class and understatement and… well, it was a little bland.
Isaac followed the direction of his gaze and sighed. “It’s… boring,” he muttered. “So boring. Sorry. I… that’s what you get when you spend more than a decade with somebody who thinks mauve is a statement.”
Luca’s eyebrows raised, and Isaac buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry!” he wailed. “I swear I don’t make it a habit to trash-talk my late husband. Today is an exception, Ipromise!”
Luca had to laugh. “Hey, no skin off my nose. I never met him. I guess I’m surprised because my nonna’s got, like, a sixth sense for that sort of thing. I’m surprised she never gossiped.”
Isaac let out a frustrated sigh. “We…. Todd and I kept things private,” he said after a moment, leading Luca through to his white-tiled, white-walled, gray-countered kitchen, where a pot of fragrant bean soup was simmering, as well as—oh wow. Was that homemade bread? The smells made up for the sterility, Luca thought… or, well, hoped.
“Was that a you thing or a Todd thing?” Luca asked perceptively, and Isaac let out a whimper.
“You really don’t want to hear this,” he murmured. “Come on in. Is it okay if we sit at the island?” He gave a nod to the kitchen table, which while notpiledwith stuff, did have a healthy stack of mail on it. “I keep meaning to get to it, but until I get a cat to kick stuff off—” He stopped. Right there in the middle of the kitchen.
“What?” Luca asked, surprised.
“It’s like a weird barrier broke in my brain,” Isaac murmured, almost to himself. “Like, there I was, looking for my yarn stores, and Imademyself pick a project Todd would like, and that… it’s like that was the thing that broke the dam.Allthe things started spilling out.”
“I’m sorry?” Luca said, not sorry at all. “I mean, maybe this was just the day for it, right? It’s been a while since he passed, right?”
Isaac glanced at him, nodding. “Yeah, a year and a half in July. I….” He swallowed, like he was trying to swallow everything down again, and Luca had a moment of panic. No! Swallowing everything down meant working on the hated brown sweater! It meant not getting a cat—which would be a bad thing, right? It would mean….
