Page 63 of Peach Tree Family

"I might pet him a little," Seth said, but he wasn't fooling anyone.

He was all over Huey, the dog, but he had some competition from the kids as they were introducing Ace to Lucy and the dog, though Ace recognized him.

"Lucy is our baby friend," Riley said.

"And Huey is our dog friend," Gloria said while hugging the dog.

Eventually Theo got to greet his bosses. "With that throng of kids, it's like you are a celebrity bodyguard, Mr. Copeland," Theo told him.

"I'm only Mr. Copeland at work," he said so Theo risked needling him a little.

"So I can call you Mr. C?"

He laughed. "How about Leo?"

"Alright."

"You're just in time to eat burgers we're serving up on Sam's homemade buns," Rico said to Andy.

"We got held up by a tug of war. My aunts wanted to keep Lucy there until your grandmother arrived and they could taunt her with how cute the baby was."

"Yeah, they're off having old lady fun and scratching each other's eyes out," Rico said and clapped Andy on the back. "Now let's eat. Want a burger, little baby?" Rico took the baby's tiny hand and she smiled at him.

The kids were the first to line up for the burgers, and Ace was a big fan of the "real burgers from a fire!" as he called them. Tasting the burgers for himself, Theo had to agree.

"These are outstanding," he told Mitch and Rico, and included Sam too. "And these buns are just great."

"Makes you realize how much you need a grill," Seth said to Theo.

"You know what he's getting at," Rico said and he nudged Theo with his elbow. "Nothing like grilling together with your man." Rico looked over at Mitch, gave him a beaming smile and leaned into him. Returning his smile, Mitch put his arm around him but then he frowned and looked up.

In a second, they all felt drops of rain hitting them, and Mitch announced, "Let's move things inside for dessert."

They went in and Theo got a look at the house inside. It was older but well taken care of with traditional furniture and pretty big.

"This is a really nice house," he told Mitch.

"We have it thanks to Rico's grandmother. She had me work on it, and let me and Sammy live here when we had nowhere else to go," Mitch said.

"And now you've helped us with the house and haven't charged for it," Theo said.

"Seth traded for the work on the porch by helping me on another job," Mitch told him.

"That means the two of you helped me out together, and I owe you both. Let me know what I can do to repay you," Theo told him then he looked to see what Ace was up to and noticed that Seth was standing nearby with his head down.

Was he upset? Theo was going to ask him, but then he heard the kids yelling. Rico had asked them if they wanted whipped cream with their fried apple pies, and they were all clamoring for it.

While different conversations were going on, the kids were trying to persuade Andy and Leo that the baby should have whipped cream. Seth was sitting on the end of a sofa next to Huey, running his hand through his fur. He didn't look happy though. He had been subdued since they came in, or did it start before that?

They stayed for a while, but Theo couldn't draw him out. Ace had a great time though and couldn't stop chattering on the whole drive home. Then he told Butter all about it even while he was brushing his teeth.

"You'll get toothpaste everywhere," Theo told him.

It took Ace a while to settle down and go to sleep, but Theo was glad he had so much fun. Now he wanted to find out what was on Seth's mind.

He didn't find him in the house though. It turned out he had gone out on the porch.

"Enjoying the porch?" Theo said as he came out.

"It's nice out here, but it's still cold. It will be a treat to hang out here when the weather gets warm." Seth had his arms wrapped around himself as he looked out into the dark. Then he said what Theo had been afraid of. "Too bad I won't be here for that."

"You might still find a job. Give it more time. Or is there some other reason you want to leave?" Theo questioned him and he couldn't keep the edge out of his voice.

"I just think it might be time to cut my losses," Seth said. "I haven't had any luck here."

Theo shut his eyes. Maybe he shouldn't take that personally. Seth was probably talking about his job search, but Theo couldn't help it. Seth didn't see any reason to stay. He didn't want to be here any more.

As Seth went inside, Theo didn't follow him in. Left alone out there on their newly repaired porch, Theo wanted to smash it to pieces.

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