Page 50 of Peach Tree Family

It seemed to Seth that Theo would be disappointed if he put it away so he agreed. "All right. But I'm going to jump into the shower first."

"Ace and I will start dinner." Theo was already getting stuff out of the fridge, but Seth tried to stop him.

"I can do it. I'll be quick."

"It's been a while since I made quesadillas with Ace. We'll have them with a salad," Theo said and he went to change too.

Seth looked down at the sweater and felt kind of teary-eyed. It wasn't just because it had been so very long since anyone bought anything for him. He was feeling all choked up because this came from Theo.

If it was up to him, he had a feeling he would box it up, keep it as a treasure and never wear it. Good thing Theo said he wanted to see him wear it, and that gave him a warm feeling too.

Out of the shower and dressed in his new sweater, Seth joined the others in the kitchen. The kitchen was pretty warm with the stove going. Theo was working on dinner and Ace was keeping Butter away from the food.

"Theo doesn't want hair in his food," Ace said to Seth.

"I'm picky that way," Theo said then he looked at Seth in his new sweater and gave him a smile.

"Thanks again," Seth told him. "I'll get the plates."

"Butter likes your sweater," Ace said as the cat strained toward him.

"It's a nice one, and it's from Theo, so I'll let Butter admire it from a safe distance." Seth did pet her though.

"Hear that, Butter? You can't get hair on the sweater either," Ace told her.

"We should light a fire, right?" Seth asked Theo.

"I almost forgot. Ace, you want to help with that, right?" Theo said.

Seth knew how to work a fireplace so he showed them how it was done. Soon they had a good fire going to keep them warm while they ate.

As they ate dinner, the weather outside only got worse. What started out as a little rain turned into a howling storm. Clearing up the table, Seth noticed that Ace and Butter were sticking close together. Ace kept turning toward the sounds of the wind and the creaking noises the house made and reassuring Butter that it was nothing.

"Ace is not liking that storm," Seth said as he went into the kitchen to help wash dishes.

"He is a little jumpy. He has Butter to cuddle with. Sitting by the fire, watching some shows will distract him."

"We have those marshmallows. This might be the night to break them out," Seth suggested.

"Good idea."

All of them sitting on the floor by the fire with marshmallows on sticks had Ace feeling much braver about the howling of the storm. But at his bedtime, Theo went to sit with him. Ace claimed he didn't need to, but Theo did it anyway and stayed with him until he was asleep.

"He's curled around Butter and sleeping soundly," Theo reported when he came back.

Seth was still enjoying the fire. "Now I wish I got more firewood before all this rain hit."

"It's nice to have a fireplace. Thanks for showing us how to use it. Did you used to have one?"

"No, but our neighbor, Moira, did and I helped her with it," Seth said as he poked at the fire and made sparks fly.

"I picture our granddad sitting by this fire in an armchair with a book in his hand. It's too bad Ace never got to meet him. Granddad was always bad at taking care of his health, hated doctors, just ignored his bad heart," Theo said sadly. "And Ace doesn't remember our dad. He was so little when we lost him."

"That's why you play your dad's music for Ace," Seth said.

"This was Dad's too." Theo picked up the PSP 3000 that Ace used to play his video games. "This belonged to our dad. I saved it for Ace and hid it from our aunt so she wouldn't sell it."

"Your dad must have been cool," Seth decided.

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