Joshua said, “One for your office, one for mine, because your mess is too much to deal with. How you can be such a neat freak everywhere else but in your office, I don’t know, but I need my own space.”
Neil had offered to move to Scottsville, but Joshua had dismissed the idea immediately. “No,” Joshua had said. “You’ve got your work here, and I’ve got good employees at the lumberyard. It can practically run on its own. Scottsville is my home, but it’s got lots of memories attached to it—good ones and bad. I want a fresh start. Just you and me together.”
Neil hadn’t argued. He’d considered it, but the idea of trying to go to Scottsville, not just for visits or family weddings, but to live in the shadow of the years Joshua had belonged to Lee, didn’t appeal. Neil felt grateful and glad that Joshua seemed able to let all of that go.
“And that extra room?” Neil braced himself, visions of nurseries dancing in his head. It was a little soon to be planning for that in Neil’s opinion. They’d only just found each other again.
“A guest room,” Joshua said. “For when my family comes to visit.”
“Oh,” Neil said. He didn’t know if he was relieved or even more horrified. A baby would’ve been too much to even consider right now, but Joshua’s family was very real, and from what he remembered, very conservative.
“What?” Joshua looked worried. “Why do you sound that way? I thought you wanted to live together? Are we rushing it? We can slow down.” Joshua sounded like slowing down was the last thing he wanted. “I mean, this house I saw is great—perfect—but there will be other houses.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “Get the house. And slowing down isn’t an option. I’ve waited twenty years for you. Get a house, get a dog—definitely get a dog—just don’t go anywhere.”
“In any other circumstance, statements like that would seem pretty controlling,” Joshua said.
“Yeah, well, we’re unique.”
“You can say that again.”
Neil rested his forehead on Joshua’s chest, rubbing his nose into Joshua’s chest hair, smelling him and kissing his nipples softly.
“So,” Joshua said, shoving him off. “Don’t you even want to look at the place first?”
Neil shrugged. “Sure. The extra room will be nice for my mom, too. If she wants to stay the night at Christmas or something. She’d probably like that.”
Joshua’s eyes sparkled, and Neil cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. He’d talked to his mother every day since she’d advised him to call Joshua and go to him at the hotel immediately. “Don’t miss your chance at this, Neil,” she’d implored. But he still hadn’t introduced her to the man himself. It felt too much like letting the streams collide. It was simultaneously too real and too unreal.
“I want to meet her, Neil,” Joshua said. “Today.”
Neil rubbed a hand over his face. “Were you always this bossy?”
“No.”
“Huh. I guess you’ve matured.”
“And you’ve immatured,” Joshua said, tweaking Neil’s side.
Neil laughed.
“What’s up? Are you afraid she won’t like me or something?”
“She’ll love you,” Neil said vehemently. “And that’ll be the problem. She’ll call you up and talk to you on the phone, and ask you if I ate my vegetables, and if I’m taking vitamins, and if I’ve smiled enough lately.”
Joshua’s eyebrows went up.
“Trust me,” Neil said. “She will.”
“She called Derek,” Joshua said knowingly.
“She still does.” Neil sighed. “She says he’s got a boy he’s seeing already, which is great. He’s needed a real boyfriend. He’s basically a sex maniac, and without me, well… He was probably hard up the last few days, and I just hope he didn’t choose an idiot.”
Joshua’s mouth hung open a little. “He’sa sex maniac?”
Neil shot Joshua a look and said, “Yes.”
“You’re not going to distract me,” Joshua said after a moment’s hesitation. “I want to meet your mother. And I want to meet her today.”
