Page 58 of Peach Tree Family

Chapter 14

On Sunday morning, Seth was making pancakes and Ace was challenging him to make different shapes. Occasionally Theo would look over Seth's shoulder only to see some lumpy shape that didn't look like anything. The game made Ace happy, and when they sat down to eat, the pancakes looked weird but tasted fine.

The day before, Mitch had been by and dropped off some extra tools they could borrow. He also measured the window and put in an order for a new one, promising Theo to find the cheapest possible option.

Today, Theo and Seth planned to take off the rotten boards from the porch. Mitch had marked them off so there would be no guesswork. Theo hated to admit it, but he was looking forward to working side by side with Seth. It was only because he was easy to hang out with and hot, and not because Theo was hung up on him.

In the middle of breakfast, Seth got a text. He looked at his phone then stood up. "Hannah is dropping by," he said and went outside to meet her.

Theo's good mood evaporated and he wondered if Seth would go off with her now. He knew better than to think that the blowjob in the kitchen meant anything, so that wouldn't keep Seth around.

"Is Shawn with her?" Ace wondered and went to the window to watch as she parked.

Hannah was the only one who got out though. She spoke to Seth for a while then she hugged him for way too long. Seth then walked her to her car with an arm around her shoulders while she had her arm around his waist. Theo seethed.

His mood didn't improve even after she drove off and Seth came back in. While he was hiding his reaction, he almost missed how gloomy Seth looked. But then Ace was asking him if he was going to finish his spaceship pancake, and that was when Theo noticed that Seth was sitting at the table but not eating.

Ace was done first and ran off to see what Butter was up to. That left him and Seth at the table, and Theo asked. "Why do you look like that?"

"The reason Hannah came by. She wanted to give me a heads up that the waitress I was covering for was coming back in three days. Rico was going to talk to me when I went into work, but Hannah took it on herself to break the news."

"That was good of her," Theo said, mostly meaning it. Of course this upended their plans for the day. "Forget the porch. You need to spend the day looking for work."

"Yes, sir," Seth said and gave him a lopsided grin.

"Sorry, but getting a job is a priority."

"They still need me at the cafe for the next few days," Seth said.

"You know I did research on potential employers in the area. You can use that." Theo got his laptop, setting it up on the table and pulling up the file he put together. "I'm doing the breakfast dishes. No arguments," he said because he knew Seth was going to insist on doing them.

After that, he had to keep Seth from getting to work on the porch. The best way was to drag him to Ashbury. Plenty of places didn't advertise, just stuck a sign in the window, so they drove there then went past every storefront and even asked around.

Ace got into the hunt for Help Wanted signs, treating it like it was a game. It wasn't a game though. Theo was worried that Seth might not be able to find work in the area, and who knew where the search for a job might take him.

***

Knowing full well that his job wasn't going to last, Seth still got settled in and too comfortable with Theo and Ace. Then there was what he and Theo did. Seth was still figuring out what it meant, and now he didn't even know if he could stay around.

He had no luck finding another job since he stopped waiting tables at the café. That left him time to fix some things around the house. He wanted to work on fixing the porch next. After dropping off Ace at school and Theo at the inn, Seth went to get some supplies.

Coming out from the hardware store in Peach Tree, he ran into Mitch and told him what he was doing. "I was thinking of tackling the porch. Theo and me watched a ton of videos on how it's done."

"Videos are all well and good, but I would like to help you guys with that. First I have a fence to put up north of here. If you come and help me with that, it will go faster and I can help you with the porch," Mitch said. Mitch wanted to pay him, but Seth wanted to do a straight exchange.

First he had to run it by Theo. He didn't jump to say yes but agreed when Seth pointed out Mitch could be one more reference for him.

Theo sure didn't like taking free help. Seth liked his pride, his taste, his hands all over him. Damn he couldn't think about him like that, not when he didn't know how long he could stick around.

In the end, it was a full day's work, but it made Seth happy that Theo got to come home to a fixed up porch.

"It looks good, and it feels solid," Theo said but Ace was the one giving it a real test.

"Mitch helped with it, so you know it is," Seth said.

"Thanks so much for doing this."

"It was a good learning experience and all that. And Mitch mentioned that he has a lead on a window that's a good price. He said it won't match the others, but he can frame it out so it won't be noticeable. He'll text you when he has the deal nailed down."

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