“Not much, Theo,” Daniel said. “You?”
“Thanksgiving madness. Sam’s here because her dad doesn’t do the whole turkey thing.” Theo hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “We’re watching the game. Lions-Bears. You got afavorite?”
Daniel shook his head. “Nope.”
“That’s good. Be Switzerland. Sam’s a Chicago fan, and they’re losing, so if you’d said Detroit, I might have had to separate youtwo.”
Daniel grinned. “You may still. It’ll be nice to give the sass queen a taste of her ownmedicine.”
Theo grinned and clapped Daniel on the shoulder, leading him toward the house… and leaving mebehind.
“Daniel!” I called. “Can you come here, please? I need help with the…thing.”
“Ah, come on, Jules,” Theo said, shaking his head. “You can carry your own shit. Let the man have somefun!”
I sucked in a breath to tell him off, but I didn’t haveto.
“Theo, do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend?” Daniel said as he jogged back tome.
“No,” Theo admitted. “Not…exactly.”
“Uh huh. Well, trust me when I tell you, I like helping Julian.Genuinely.”
Theo snickered. “Guess he makes it worth your while,eh?”
“Theodore Antonio Ross,” my mother exclaimed from the doorway. “What are youdoing?”
“Uh.” Theo stood up straighter. “Nothing?”
“Exactly.Nothing. Not a single thing. And meanwhile, I specifically asked you if you’d get drinks for your Aunt Teresa and theothers.”
“But, I…” Theo’s face fell. “Sorry,Mama.”
Theo shuffled back into the house after my mother as Daniel reached my side of the car and I handed him a brown paper back from the backseat containing half the components of mydessert.
“So will you?” he teased in a low voice, hefting the bag in hisarm.
“What?”
“Will you make it worth my while?” He wiggled hiseyebrows.
It wasnotcute.
“Daniel, since when are you and Theo besties?” Idemanded.
“Besties.” He snorted. “I gave Sam a job cleaning out the shed on my property, remember? They’ve been by a couple times in the last week or so.” He shrugged. “She brings Theo along as, I dunno, moral support or cheap labor orsomething.”
“And you don’t think this was a crucial thing for you to mention to me, yourboyfriend? That you guys chat alot?”
“You’re overthinking things,” he said, lifting his free hand to rub at the back of my neck. “Where’s calm, collected DoctorRoss?”
I shot him a look. “You know that’s not actually me, right? I might look calm,but—”
“Sometimes it’s you. I’ve seen it. When you’re in your office, or making a plan. And other times…” He grinned. “Other times we end up down a conversational rabbit hole and I end up learning facts about mammals. I like all the versions of Julian equally, but Doctor Ross is the one to channel right now.Okay?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah, right. Okay. Onward.” I hefted the bag containing the other half of dessert, as well as Daniel’s bottles ofwine.
“You make it sound like we’re facing a firing squad,” hesaid.
