"Our dog, Barney, was with us too," Wyatt said.
Sam saw DJ mouth to Riley, "Our dog."
"We were looking for some place to eat. My nephews showed me a good place to have sandwiches and pie. And when I looked over there, who did I see? I saw the scary berry guy."
"Oh my God," Sam said and let his head drop into his hands while Wyatt laughed.
"I didn't know your name yet. I have to call you something," Wyatt said, still laughing at him. "I was very happy to see the scary berry guy again. The end."
"But there's more," DJ objected.
"Right. I meant, 'to be continued'. I need a bedtime story for tomorrow too," Wyatt told them. "Now it's time for you guys to go to sleep. That means we need quiet time."
Wyatt turned off their light then came back to sit with Barney and Sam. He petted Barney and leaned in to whisper to Sam, "You have to be quiet too."
His breath tickled Sam's ear, but he did his best not to react, not to shiver or forget how to breathe. He reached over and petted Barney too. Scratching behind his ears, he made sure not to touch Wyatt's hand where it stroke Barney's back, but Wyatt didn't. He bumped his knuckles against Sam's and gave him a warm smile.
After the boys were asleep, the two of them left the room as quietly as they could while Barney stayed behind.
"He sleeps with the boys, but he was your dog, right?" Sam said once they were out in the hall.
"Was my dog is right," Wyatt said ruefully. "He's a lifesaver. Without him, I don't know what I would do to keep the boys in good spirits."
"I think you're doing fine," Sam told him.
"I'm out of my element in so many ways," Wyatt said as the two of them went back to the living room and sat on the couch. "You saw me in the kitchen."
"You're learning," Sam told him.
Right about now, Sam expected to be heading for the door, not sitting and talking with Wyatt. In fact, he had already stayed over longer than he thought he would.
"You're a good cook though. I'm surprised you're not the cook at the café," Wyatt told him.
"We already have a great cook, Martin. But I do fill in sometimes. Usually for breakfast," Sam told him.
"The cafe serves breakfast. I might just give up on this whole cooking thing and have us eat all our meals over there," Wyatt said.
"I'm sure Mrs. Del Rio wouldn't mind," Sam told him archly.
"And you?" Wyatt asked him and the question seemed too pointed to answer easily. Then Wyatt leaned back and eyed Sam sharply and made his question even more significant. "Would you like us over there morning, noon and night?"
Sam couldn't make his voice work to answer. What would he say? I would love it. I want to see you all the time.
He decided on something different. "You're not allowed to give up on cooking," he said to Wyatt and sidestepped the question of how often he would like to see him.
Wyatt let him off the hook and smiled wistfully. "True. The boys really seemed to like cooking, didn't they?"
"DJ is a natural," Sam told him.
"I thought so. I might just leave the cooking to him," Wyatt joked.
"I would think you might have picked up some cooking skills just by accident," Sam said to him.
"The best way to avoid a chore is to screw it up early and often," Wyatt told him with an evil gleam in his eye. "You should see what I could do to a load of laundry."
"You can't do laundry either?" Sam said.
"I can now, but when I was growing up, I turned avoiding chores into an art form," Wyatt said then he smiled sadly. "My poor bother got stuck with all the work. But there are benefits. Usually some cute guy takes pity on me and helps me out."
