AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, I didn’t tell you this so that—”
“You don’t feel like you’re, what? That you’re part of this family? That we’re a family? That we’re a couple?”
“No, of course that’s not—”
“That you’re a replacement or something for Ian?”
“Theo, I told you this because I needed to tell you. Not because I need you to fix it. Not because I need you to apologize. And you’re going to make me mad if you keep trying to turn this into a Theo thing.”
The struggle twisted Theo’s good looks, and it clearly took an effort for him to smooth out his expression, to take a deep breath. He nodded.
“I’m going to work on it,” Auggie said. “Do you understand me? We don’t have to have a baby just because I’m having, I don’t know, a teensy bit of an identity crisis.”
Theo nodded again.
“I’d like some words, please.”
That jarred a small smile out of him. “I understand what you’re saying. But I also want you to know that I hear you, and I know that having a child is important to you, and I’d like to talk about it some more when I’m in a better place. That’s not me putting you off. That’s a promise, and I want you to hold me to it.”
“We can talk about it. But I promise, it’s not a deal breaker for me.”
Theo nodded. “And I know you told me this is an Auggie thing—”
“No, stop, why can’t you be the good kind of old, with dementia and you forget everything I say as soon as I said it?”
“I’m going to remember you just called me old, and I’m going to remind you about it the next time I hear something along the lines of ‘But I need my big, strong man to carry in the groceries.’” Theo wet his lips. “You are my family. I want to say it so you hear it and you know it’s true. You are my one love, my life, my everything. Anything that has let you believe differently is a failure on my part, and I’m going to do better.”
Auggie blinked back tears, and emotion clotted his voice as he said, “You realize this is you ignoring all the stuff about this being an Auggie thing, right?”
Theo made a noise that sounded a little smug and a little amused, and then he tipped Auggie’s head back and kissed him. The kiss was short and soft, and when Theo pulled back, the question lingered around his eyes. Auggie gave a nod, and some of the worry eased.
“I don’t know what to do right now,” Theo said.
“We’re both exhausted. And if we go back to Emery and John-Henry’s place, we’re going to have to deal with North and Shaw.”
Theo made a face.
“And Jem.”
His expression screwed up a little more.
“I know, I know,” Auggie said, laughing as he patted Theo’s chest. “Could we just—could we lie down for a little while? In our room, I mean.”
“I’d really rather stand out here in the blazing sun while I face the magnitude of how much I’ve screwed up everything important in my life.” Something must have shown on Auggie’s face because a little lopsided Theo smile came back. “See? Do you like it?”
“It doesn’t matter if I like it, Theo. I’m the designated smartass in our relationship. It’s a cross I carry.”
Theo laughed quietly as Auggie led him inside, their index fingers hooked like the last link in a chain. Or, Auggie thought, the first link in a new one.
The house still smelled of smoke, but opening the windows had reduced it to annoying rather than overpowering. In their bedroom, Auggie hopped out of his shorts and turned himself out of his shirt and was down to his trunks by the time he reached the bed; Theo, of course, was still unlacing one shoe, grinning openly as Auggie bounced on the mattress.
“Is it an Auggie thing or a California thing,” Theo asked as he started on the second shoe, “this ability to get naked in the blink of an eye?”
“I’d say you’ll have to do some research, but you’re limited to a sample size of one.”
Theo made a noise of acknowledgment as he undid the waistband of his jeans.
“It’s for your own good, Theo.”
