Page 70 of Peach Tree Family

Sam left, and Theo eyed Seth wondering if he would find some other reason not to go, like the fact that it made them seem like a couple to be going places together.

"Butter spit up a hairball!" Gloria announced and all the kids clustered around to see it.

"You guys, don't do anything weird with that hairball!" Wyatt warned them.

"Like what?" Ace wondered and all the kids looked eagerly at Wyatt like they wanted to know the answer too.

Lara hissed at Wyatt, "Don't you dare give them any ideas."

Wyatt laughed.

"I can't think of anything weird to do with a hairball," Seth said.

"You don't have a wicked mind," Lara concluded.

Seth went over to the kids, and Theo went to talk to Rob and Julian over by the table with the food and drinks. Theo kept looking over at Seth and telling himself to stop doing it. But he also caught Seth glancing his way.

"I see the porch is good as new," Rob said. "You're in the home stretch."

"The window is scheduled to be fixed, but we still need a lot of furniture," Theo said and tried not to pay any attention to Seth. Still he couldn't help noticing when Wyatt and Lara went over to the kids, and Seth came over to the picnic table to fuss with the food.

"Furniture? We can hook you up," Rob said and nudged Julian.

"I have kind of gone crazy redecorating, so we're getting rid of a lot of furniture," Julian said. "I don't want things around that belonged to my grandfather. Bad memories."

That was the opposite of how Theo felt. "And I've been wishing there was more of my grandfather's things left here."

That's when Seth spoke up unexpectedly. "The house is here for you and for Ace and that's the must important thing. It's like your grandpa is sheltering you and taking care of you."

Theo smiled and the guys stared at Seth making him get embarrassed. "That's a good way to think of it," Theo told him.

"You guys should come by the house and pick out some furniture," Julian said.

"Do it when you can bring Ace over," Rob added. "Danny will be thrilled."

Julian and Rob were telling them what they planned to get rid of, the changes they were making. They had just started talking about their upcoming wedding when Danny and Ace came over, both of them looking upset. Danny was hugging Lenny to him, and Julian picked up both of them to hold them in his arms.

Sitting at the picnic table, Theo drew Ace to sit next to him. "What happened?"

With a sad expression, Ace looked at him then at Seth, who stuck close by. "Ry found a dead bird and he got sad. Wyatt told him that anything that's alive has to die and it's only natural. Then Ry said that his dads couldn't die. But that's not true, is it? Anyone can..." Ace stopped and lowered his head.

Theo pulled him into a hug. "Just because something bad can happen doesn't mean that it will. We have to think positive." He stroked Ace's hair and kissed the top of his head.

Looking over at Danny who was being consoled by Julian and Rob, Ace put on a determined face. "Yeah. I'm gonna be positive."

"I was thinking I might make a skillet cookie," Seth said.

"A what?" Ace asked, very interested.

"We can't bake a cookie without a working oven, but we can make a cookie on the range," Seth told him.

"One cookie?" Ace said.

"One big cookie."

Ace was all for it. He called all the kids over and they followed Seth into the kitchen and watching as he made a big cookie.

"I'm glad he found a way to distract them," Julian said, but he was still watching Danny closely.

---