"Now can I hug them, Rob?" Danny asked Rob, who looked at Julian.
Reluctantly he agreed then watched the whole operation like a hawk. It went fine though, and Danny was a happy little guy as he hugged the doggies and they sniffed at him.
"He's good at hugging," Gloria declared.
"She is the hugging expert," Wyatt said as he and Lara came out of a door that led to the kitchen.
"And there's Noreen now," Lara said waving to someone behind them.
Through the open door they could see a petite brunette coming up the drive. There was a big contrast between the two women with Noreen being skinny and small and Lara being tall and very curvy.
"This is Noreen Kurtz," Lara said as Rob and Julian shook hands with her.
"That's the scary teacher," DJ whispered to Danny as he, Julian and Rob were introduced to her.
Despite her reputation, Danny shook hands with her just fine. DJ was impressed.
"You're not scared of the scary teacher?" DJ asked him.
"No," Danny said.
"He's a brave one," Wyatt said and he winked at Noreen. She seemed used to all this scary teacher stuff.
"Now you met everyone," Wyatt told Julian and Rob. "Let's go build some sandwiches."
"You do the building. I'll do the drinking," Noreen told him.
"We have hard apple cider," Lara told her.
"You know how I feel about sweet booze," Noreen said.
"We have beer," Sam said.
Lara and Noreen stayed in the dining and living room area with the kids and the dogs. All the guys ended up in the kitchen. Rob and Julian were shoulder to shoulder as they tried to stay out of the way. When Rico and Mitch arrived, they joined them in there and Rob and Julian ended up jammed even closer together. Rob had absolutely no problem with that.
But seeing that the kitchen was packed, Julian tried to escape. Rob was going to follow his lead. He was thinking they might find a quiet spot to sit together, but Rico cut them off.
"Not so fast, you two, or do you want a sandwiches with everything on them?" he told them.
"That's no joke," Mitch said seeing the mountain of food Sam and Wyatt were still unpacking.
"This is Wyatt's doing," Sam claimed while Rob and Julian gave up and just hung out with beers in their hands.
"You are not innocent in all this," Wyatt threw in. "You got every kind of olive and pickled pepper. And caponata."
"We need something to put on the sandwiches other than meat," Sam said.
"Look at them arguing like an old married couple." Rico gave them an indulgent smile. Then he snapped at them. "We know you're married. Stop flaunting it."
"You have some reason to be jealous?" Mitch challenged him in a growly voice.
Rick jumped. "No," he said hurriedly. He then gave his fiancé a grin and swooped in for a kiss.
During all that, Julian and Rob stuck close together like they had a mutual defense pact.
"Take your pick over here," Wyatt said to the two of them and gestured at the food.
Julian only glanced at the choices. "Anything is fine," he said recklessly. Rico was already rubbing his hands together and wearing an evil grin.
