Page 29 of Peach Tree Family

"Seth," Theo told him and watched his little brother's face fall. "According to their website, this place should be open. Let's get you a phone."

"Can I afford it?" Seth wondered as they got out.

"We'll see what they have," Theo said and he led the way inside. He knew he should let Seth take the lead, but this couldn't wait.

Of course Seth noticed how impatient he was. "You can't abide the idea of me not having a phone."

"The thought of not being able to look up whatever you want, whenever you want..." He shook his head and shuddered.

"Can't live without your research," Seth teased him.

As they went in, Ace had advice for him. "Get a cool phone with games."

Seth didn't though. He ended up with a low-end model with the cheapest plan. Seth and Ace didn't mind, or didn't know any better.

"Thanks," Seth said to Theo. "I don't know when I would have got around to it."

"I put my number in," Theo told him offhandedly.

"So I can text you," Seth said and then he sent a text thanking him again. It just said, "Thanks Theo."

Looking at it shouldn't have made Theo's heart speed up, but it did.

Next they hit a thrift store. Seth was an asset in there too. Any other guy would have been bored with the kind of shopping they were doing, but Seth was really smart and practical and knew what they needed.

He headed straight to the back and then returned to let Theo know, "There's a pair of mattresses they just got in. They are pretty thin but the lady who works here says they look brand new, no stains."

"That's how I like my mattresses – no stains," Theo said as he went to have a look. "They'll do. We just need one more."

He was looking over the other mattresses they had, when Seth asked, "One more?"

It was Ace who gave him the obvious answer, "There's three of us, Seth."

"I'm good on the floor," Seth claimed and Ace huffed.

"Theo, he's always saying that. 'I'm good. I'm good.' He always wants to leave himself out," Ace complained.

"Alright, alright," Seth said. "I'll get that mattress and I'll pay for it."

Now Theo objected. "That doesn't make any sense. It's not like you can take it with you if you have to move on for a job." He didn't like thinking of that, but it was a fact that Seth would probably leave.

"Look, Theo, I can't please everybody. So I'll get the mattress like Ace wants me to," Seth said.

"Ha ha!" Ace said celebrating his victory while Theo shook his head at Seth for twisting things around on him.

Theo made sure the mattresses were set aside for them then he saw that Ace was showing Seth a brass lamp in the shape of a long legged bird, its head hidden under an ill-fitting, black lampshade. Theo hated it, but he did tell them they could choose the other lamp. He left them to it and went to look at the shelf with used books.

His eyes were running over the spines, when he noticed another guy was also looking at books. Colorful canvass sneakers, dark purple skinny jeans, denim jacket with lots of patches sewn on the back. His hair was shaved to above the ears with the rest hanging over his face in platinum blond wisps. He was slim, and not bad looking.

The guy slowly reached for a book right in front of Theo and seemed to be studying his reaction. When Theo didn't move away, the guy smiled. "I know I haven't seen you around. I would remember," he said.

"I'm new," Theo told him. "If you're from around here, maybe you can tell me some good places to check out." Theo let him interpret that however he wanted.

The guy looked unsure so he stuck to the safe topic of thrift stores rather than good places to meet guys. "There's a thrift store on Marsh Street you should check out. That's the good one. Here it's mostly household stuff, but I've found a bunch of Stanislaw Lem novels here and some other decent stuff."

"I'll definitely check out that other one," Theo told him.

The guy smiled. "I can tell you about some other places. Maybe over coffee. There's a coffee shop down the block. If you..." He trailed off and stared just over Theo's shoulder. His smile turned from warm to cold and he started to back away.

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