Anything Could Happen (22 page)

“What?” she asked, hands on hips. “You don’t really want to sleep in your sleeping bags on this cement floor, do you?” She turned to Guy. “Do you?”

Guy took a deep long breath and smiled. “This’ll be fine,” he said. “Thank you, mmm—Grams.”

She smiled again and reached out and patted his cheek. “Of course it will be. Just as fine as paint.” She swiveled her big hips around and faced her grandson. “You two get settled and I’ll see you upstairs. We’re gonna watch
A Christmas Story.
” She glanced at Guy. “It’s a tradition.”

With that she left the room. “Don’t forget Lucille’s bed, Austin,” she called as she clumped up the stairs.

Austin stared at the bed.

Full-size to be sure, but not a lot of room for two full-grown men who weren’t comfortable sleeping together. He looked up at Guy. “I-I… I’m sorry. I’ll sleep on the floor,” he said.

Guy shook his head. “No, you won’t. I will if either of us does.”

“No,” Austin insisted. “That floor is as hard as—”

“Cement?” Guy offered.

As hard as cement was right, throw rug or not. Crap. What the hell was Grams thinking?

“It’ll be fine, Austin. Now let’s get upstairs. Lucille needs her bed too.”

T
HEY
sat around the living room—with its burning fireplace and a real Christmas tree dominating one corner—and watched
A Christmas Story
, and laughed, and had a wonderful time. The line “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid,” never seemed to get old, nor Flick getting his tongue stuck to the flag pole, nor Ralphie getting a pink bunny suit from his aunt, nor his brother falling in the snow and not being able to get up, nor the dogs stealing the Christmas dinner and the whole family eating at a Chinese restaurant. They’d all seen the movie at least a dozen times, but it was still a delight.

Austin’s grandmother had not-so-subtly made sure the only place for him and Guy to sit was next to each other on the couch. She even squeezed in next to them so they had to get close. The only way they really got comfortable was when Guy put his arm around Austin’s shoulder.

Wilda was also sure to serve her hot buttered rum—another family tradition.

“Crap, Grams,” cried Austin, barely suppressing a cough. “You sure made this strong enough.”

“You’re old enough now. I thought you should have it the way me and Frawley always has it.” She gave a hoot. “You like that, Guy?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am, I do,” he said, taking a good sip.

“I make it with french vanilla ice cream and more butter than you can shake a stick at!” She howled. “Get it? Shake a
stick
at?”

Guy laughed. “I get it, Grams.”

“And you’re finally gettin’ what to call me!”

Wilda kept the hot buttered rum coming, and after the movie, brought out more Dreamsicle pie. Then she asked “the boys” to finish decorating the tree. “Austin was always the one who could do the icicles. I can’t hang ’em right and Frawley just puts ’em on in big ol’ clumps.”

Frawley shook his head. He didn’t talk all that much. There was no point. Husband he may be, and from a different time, but Wilda ruled the Chandler homestead.

The boys didn’t argue and had soon opened the box Wilda gave them and began hanging the long silver tinsel in a way they hoped would please her.

“Real tree, huh?” asked Guy. Austin thought he heard a disapproving tone to his voice.

“It’s live,” Austin replied.

“It is?”

“Yup,” said Frawley. “We been doin’ it for years. We plant them after. Got the hole dug already in case the ground froze.”

Guy smiled. “That’s pretty cool.”

“We planted a tree every year of Austin’s life,” he said, stepping closer and giving Guy a long look. He then turned to the tree and finally his grandson.

“We’re mighty proud of you, son,” he said.

Austin pivoted around. “You are?”

His grandfather nodded and adjusted his black glasses.

“Why?” What had brought this on? Austin wondered. He looked at the man who had been there for his whole life, a man he thought of as more of a father than anything else. Was he frailer? Or was that merely a trick of the eye, having not seen the man for a few months? Was he a little balder? Had his snow-white hair receded a bit more? Was he okay?

“Because of all you’re doing. Making a new life for yourself. All the work you do for Bodie. He says you’re amazing.”

Austin gave a shrug, blushed a little, and barely avoided saying, “Ah, shucks.” Instead he said, “It’s all you, Gramps. You taught it to me. Taught me everything.”

“But you got a natural talent, son. You look at things and just know how to fix them.”

“So do
you
. You taught me
how
to look.”

“He fixed my clogged sink in no time at all,” Guy added.

Frawley looked him deep in the face once more, brows closing in on each other a bit. “He’s a good boy.”

Guy nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re taking good care of him?”

Austin’s eyes went wide. His grandparents really thought they were together. That Guy was his boyfriend. He needed to do something about it. This was going to get embarrassing.

“Austin takes good care of himself, Mr. Chandler.”

Frawley nodded. “Yes, I know. But people need to watch out for each other, don’t you think?”

“Sure,” Guy answered. “Of course.”

“Good. Now you two finish the tree. I’m goin’ to bed. Big day tomorrow.”

“God,” muttered Austin quietly. “They think—”

“Yeah,” Guy said. “I see that. Of course that’s probably why they put us downstairs together, huh? One bed. Private.”

Austin nodded. “Crap.”

“Austin.” Guy reached out, his hand full of tinsel, and took Austin’s shoulder. “You’re lucky. You know that, right? I haven’t seen my family in a long time. If they ever wanted to see me, you wouldn’t be allowed—even though we’re not… you know. Lovers. They sure wouldn’t put us in the same bed. It doesn’t matter that we aren’t… a couple. The point is, your grandparents accept you. They accept me as if I were….”

“I need to set them straight,” Austin said, going back to hanging the long silver strands. He wanted to get it just right. And not think about this subject at all.

“Do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why tell them? Don’t confirm or deny.”

Austin gave a laugh. “If I don’t say something, they’ll be buying us his-and-his robes and towels.”

“So what if they do? I’ll just let you have mine and maybe you’ll give them to Todd.”

Austin froze.
Todd. Crap. Todd.
He shook his head. “I’m never going to find him anyway.”
And you don’t want me
.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“Maybe we could go try his parents again,” Guy suggested.

Austin spun on him. “Are you crazy? His crapping stepdad might shoot us.”

“I’ll take my chances,” Guy said, “to help you.”

Austin shook his head. “Why? You want to get rid of me? Is that it?”

Guy looked as if he’d been slapped, and Austin straightaway regretted his words.

“No, Austin. I… I do not want to get rid of you. You have no idea.”

“Then why…?”

“Because, Austin! If we…. If you find him after, I don’t want you to regret it. I couldn’t stand that.”

Austin looked into Guy’s eyes. Regret it? Would he? Could he?

Maybe?

He was so confused. Months ago all he’d wanted to do was find Todd. He was in love with him, wasn’t he?

“One more hot buttered rum before I head up?”

Austin jumped, then spun around.

Of course, it was only his grandmother. “Did I scare you, Austin?”

Austin gave a half laugh and rolled his eyes. “Startled me.”

“You okay, son?” she asked, concern clear on her face.

“I’m okay.”

She stepped forward, patted his cheek, and smiled big. “Then how about that rum?”

“Sure,” he said. Why not? He was already pretty damned tipsy. That was probably a part of why he was acting like an idiot.

“Guy?” she asked.

“Sure, Grams. I’d love one.”

“I’ll be right back.” She winked and turned around and headed out of the room.

Austin gave Guy a weak smile. “Sorry.”

“For what?” Guy carefully pulled more icicles out of the box.

“If I’m acting weird.”

“No weirder than usual,” Guy quipped and threw some tinsel in Austin’s direction.

“Hey,” he cried, and threw some back.

When Wilda returned, there were more icicles on the laughing young men than on the tree.

A
USTIN
was a little nerve-wracked when they went down to bed. He didn’t know what to do, what to wear. He normally slept in nothing more than his underwear, but somehow that didn’t seem to be the right thing to do tonight. But he wasn’t sure what else he’d brought. Thank God a quick ruffle through his bag showed he’d packed a pair of sweatpants for getting up in the middle of the night to pee, so he supposed he’d wear those and a T-shirt and…

Guy was undressing!

Austin quickly turned his back.

“Relax, Austin. I’m not going to flash my goods.”

Austin blushed. “You said you were… umm… free… ah….”

“Freeballing?” Guy laughed. “I was just changing my shirt. I actually brought sleep pants and was going to change into those around the corner, okay?”

“Okay.”
God, I want to crawl under the covers and die!

“And I promise to stay on my side of the bed.”

Oh crap!
Austin tried to laugh and was terribly conscious of how fake it sounded.

He listened as Guy padded away, and as soon as he was gone, Austin quickly scrambled out of his jeans and shrugged into his sweats. It was all rendered pointless when he heard Guy call out, “Is it safe for me to come back?”

“Yes,” he answered, flustered.
I need to act like an adult here. Why am I acting like this?

Guy came back looking gorgeous. Austin wasn’t sure how he did it when it was just some silly Superman sleep pants and a tank top, but he did. For the first time, Guy wasn’t wearing something baggy. Austin could see he had a well-developed chest with a light covering of dark-brown hair, very nice arms, and damn, even his feet were sexy. Who knew bare feet could be so sexy?

I did. I always liked how manly Todd’s feet were.
Broad, with a bit of hair on top and a little over each toe. Austin dared a quick look down at Guy’s, and damned if they weren’t a lot like Todd’s. Maybe a little bit hairier. Nothing gross or Hobbit-like. Just strong, manly feet. Feet you’d never mistake for a woman’s.…

“Is there something wrong with my feet?” Guy asked. “Are they dirty or something?”

Austin looked up, mortified that he’d been caught staring.

“God, they don’t still stink, do they? I ran down here and changed my socks. Even rinsed my feet in that sink by the washing machine, and believe me that was awkward. I almost fell—”

“No-nothing… I….”

“What?”

Austin shrugged, so embarrassed he wanted to shrink away and disappear. Then, doing a Todd again, he blurted it out before he knew what he was saying. “You have nice feet,” he said. “Some people have some pretty gnarly feet.”

Guy looked down, wiggled his toes (and God, even that was sexy), and said, “Oh. Thanks. Yeah, some people do have some pretty fugly feet. Let me see yours.”

“Huh?” What did he just say?

Guy walked around the bed and Austin half ducked his feet under the bed.

“Austin!”

Now he was even more embarrassed.
What are you crapping doing?
He slowly pulled them out.

“Nice.”

Nice?
He didn’t dare look up. “Nice?” he repeated out loud. He looked down at his feet. Were they nice? They didn’t look much like men’s feet. One more thing about him that wasn’t manly.

“Nice.” Then Guy walked back around to his side and climbed in. “I’m assuming you’re on that side for a reason?”

“Closest side to the bathroom in case I need to go.” He didn’t tell Guy how many million times he’d peed in the utility sink.

“I’m surprised you just don’t piss in the sink,” Guy said. “It’s not like anyone washes clothes or dishes in it. And we are the male animal.”

Austin burst into laughter and looked at Guy over his shoulder.

Guy grinned and winked. “It’ll be our little secret.”

Austin got in under the covers, turned off the bedside lamp. Then: “Oh—you weren’t going to read or anything, were you?”

“Nope. I’m exhausted.”

“Good. Me too.”

“Good night, Austin.”

“Good night, Guy,” he managed.

They were silent for a moment.

“Austin?”

His heart skipped a beat. “Y-yes?”

“Thank you.”

Thank you?
“For what?”

“For this. For Christmas. This will be the first time I’ve woken up in a house full of people in, like, nine Christmases.”

Oh God!
That hurt Austin’s heart. “You’re welcome, Guy. I’m glad you came.”

Then Guy was leaning over him to give his cheek a gentle and quick kiss. An instant later, he was on his side, back turned to Austin.

Austin’s heart was racing again.
He kissed me.
The stubble on his upper lip had felt so… real.

I am never going to fall asleep!

Fortunately, Austin was wrong, and the long day took him almost instantly into a deep and untroubled sleep.

A
USTIN
awoke to Gram’s voice calling down the steps. “Boys? This is your fifteen-minute warning! I’m making breakfast!”

He also awoke to find Guy spooned up behind him, one arm around his waist, holding him close.
Oh God….
He started to move and then was shocked when he felt the hard knot pressed up against his butt.
Oh my. That’s his hard-on!

Guy began to stir. “Was that your grandmother?” he muttered, rolling over onto his back.

“Y-yeah,” Austin answered, and looked to see Guy rubbing at his eyes. “Breakfast in fifteen.” He scrambled out of bed, realizing he, too, had a morning woody. He snatched up his jeans and made a run for it. “See you upstairs!”