Daddy Type - Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen {09-2019 to 11-2019}

"Thanks for taking me out to dinner," Cody said as we got to the restaurant. "I would have been fine with dinner at home."

"It's your birthday. We wanted to do something special," Luke said.

"Café Renaissance," Cody said as we pulled up to the shopping center.

"It's much better inside," Luke said. I'm sure he was concerned with the shopping center's less than stellar look.

"You've been here?" Cody asked.

"He brought me here for my fortieth birthday," I explained as we climbed out of the Jeep.

We walked into the place and turned towards the host stand. I looked past and saw Casey, Kyle, Caleb, and Zack at a table.

"We're with them," I said to the host.

"Welcome. And who is the birthday boy?" he asked.

"This one," Luke pointed to Cody.

"Happy birthday," he said.

He followed us to the table and handed us menus. A waiter approached quickly, and we had our drink orders placed.

"What's good here?" Cody asked.

"We had Le Chateaubriand Pour Deux last time," Luke said.

"That does sound good. Anyone?" Cody asked.

"I'll do it," Luke replied.

A few minutes later, the table had its drinks, and we'd placed our dinner order.

"What did you do today?" Casey asked.

"Worked," Cody replied.

"Not following in Luke's shoes of not working on your birthday?" Kyle asked.

"Not at this point. I want to hold onto my vacation for other things. I haven't earned very much as yet," Cody explained.

"That makes sense," Zack said.

"While we're waiting for food, how about presents?" Caleb asked.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Cody said.

"We'll take it back," Zack said with a laugh.

"Aw."

Caleb reached down and then handed Cody a small, wrapped box. As I'd come to expect, Cody carefully removed the wrapping and then opened the package.

"This is cool," Cody said. He pulled a very high-end-looking pen and then a black leather pen holder.

"The pen is made of brass," Zack explained. "It should last your lifetime."

"Sweet," Cody said. "This will look so cool on my desk."

Casey reached down and then handed Cody a box.

"Oh wow," Cody said as he opened and pulled away the tissue paper.

"We went in on it together," Casey explained.

Cody started pulling out different pieces of the leather desk set.

"My cubicle will look amazing," Cody said. "Thank you all!"

Luke reached down and pulled a box out of our bag. He handed it to Cody.

"This is so nice," Cody said. "I'm going to look really sharp."

He turned the box so everyone could see the V-neck sweater with a coordinating polo shirt. He started to set the box aside.

"Look under," Luke said.

"Oh, man!"

Again, he turned the box so everyone could see the zip-up sweater with a coordinating dress shirt.

"Snazzy," Zack said.

"One more," Luke said. He handed Cody a larger box.

With it open, Cody stared for a moment.

"Pull it out," I said.

"This is amazing!" Cody exclaimed as he pulled out the leather messenger-style bag.

"It's got a lifetime warranty. It has a padded space for your laptop, several zippered pockets, and a holder for your phone and pens," I explained.

"This is so wonderful! I've got an awesome family!"

I noticed the waiter approaching with a tray full of food. I said, "We need to get everything out of the way."

Our meal served; the conversation slowed as folks enjoyed.

We'd all finished when the waiter returned. He looked at Cody and asked, "Room for dessert?"

"Always."

"Our chef is offering something special tonight. It's a sampler of all our desserts. It's our gift to you for your birthday."

"Oh, wow. That's nice."

"Anyone want a dessert?" I asked,

The table ordered, and the waiter left. A while later, the waiter arrived with a cake stand and set it front of Cody. On it was a sample of each of the night's desserts. Another waiter arrived with a tray, and the rest of us were served.

"This is so cool," Cody said.

After he would sample an item, he would comment on them.

"You have to try this one," he said to Luke. "I want us to learn to make this."

"Umm... okay..."

"It's a cake with some sort of cream and," Cody stopped.

I signaled the waiter.

"Which one is this?" I asked, pointing to the sample.

"It's a chocolate genoise cake with a raspberry meringue foam between the layers and a dark chocolate ganache glaze."

"It's amazing," Cody said.

I leaned over toward Luke and said quietly into his ear, "We'll work on it."

"Thanks!"

-----

Friday night, Cody walked into the kitchen as Luke and I were cleaning up after dinner. He had some papers in his hands. He asked, "You two got a few minutes?"

"Yes," I replied. "What's up?"

Luke nodded his head.

"I want you to look at a few tattoo designs."

Luke said, "Okay." I nodded my head.

"Here's the first one," Cody said.

"Interesting," Luke said.

"Kinda cool. Looks like ripped skin exposing the text underneath," I said.

"I was thinking if I chose something based on the design, I'd move it higher. More on the shoulder and bicep."

"What about the text?" Luke asked.

"I've really thought about it. I would write about the loves of my life."

That made me smile.

"Here's the second one."

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"Look at it closely," Cody urged.

"Its letters intertwined," I said.

"Yep. It's your initials," Cody explained. "My mom had this brass thing you put hot food on."

"A trivet," I said.

"Yeah. She got it at Colonial Williamsburg. It gave me the idea."

"It's cool," Luke said.

"Do you like it?" Cody asked.

"I do. I think I like the other one better," Luke replied.

"I have another one," Cody said. He swiped to the next image.

This one showed a sleeve with cartoon characters.

"That one is wild," Luke said.

"When we first met, you said you were a geek. You've never seemed geeky to me," I said. "This is cool. Does it express you?"

"Yes. The plan would be to do a short sleeve from my shoulder to my elbow with my favorite characters."

"In the end, it's up to you," Luke said.

"I know. I just want feedback."

"The first one has the cool, edgy factor. You'll get folks staring at it, reading it, and touching it. The second one is more artistic. Folks might ask you what it represents. The third is more an art piece and a reflection of one aspect of you," I said.

"Question," Luke started. "What about when you get older?"

"What do you mean?" Cody asked.

"How will, hmm," Luke stopped and looked at me.

"Are you trying to ask how he would feel with cartoon characters on his arm at fifty?"

"Yeah!"

"Remember on Big Bang Theory how Penny would rag on the guys for their collections. I'm not saying she's right, but this will be permanently on your body. Are you comfortable with that?"

Cody's face scrunched up a bit.

"Think of it this way," I said. "Years ago, tattoos were almost only on guys in the military and what you might consider the fringes of society. Over the years, they have become very accepted. But in the end, whatever you choose has to be something you're comfortable wearing constantly and barring a lot of work, forever."

"It boils down to edgy, artsy, or fun," Luke said.

"Thanks. You two gave me a lot of feedback. Now to mull it over."

"Now that we've worked through that, I want to bring up a topic we keep discussing then dropping."

"The car needs replaced," Cody said. "It's in the shop yet again, and this can't go on. I've been thinking about it. Let's rule out the small stuff like the Civic or the Mazda 3."

"I think we can rule out the high-end," Luke said.

"Unless we get a certified used car," I interjected.

Luke nodded his head then said, "Like Cody, I did my research. Looking at our price point, if we're doing certified used, I say we try the BMW 3 Series or the Cadillac ATS-V. If we're buying new, my choices would be the Dodge Charger or the Chrysler 300."

"Interesting choices," Cody said. "Why those?"

"Good looks. Good reputation. Good room. I could go on, but I like them."

"What about you, Coulter?"

"Justin does speak highly of the ATS, and the V-model is supposed to be a performance car. Plus, it has a manual," I said with a grin. "I like the Charger. Not as sure about the 300. It seems more formal."

"Other than that, my only add was the VW Passat," Cody said. "It has good space, good gas mileage, but it does scream family car."

"So, a weekend of searching and test drives?" I asked.

"Deal!"

-----

The next morning, I was sitting in the den drinking my coffee when Cody walked in. As he sat and snuggled, he said, "I see you're checking out vehicles."

"Yep, I'm not letting this drop."

"We understand. It's about reliability, safety, and you not compromising on your standards."

"You nailed it."

"What did you find?"

I turned my tablet towards Cody and showed him the tab I had up.

"Wow, my dad always said no red cars."

"As long as you're not flying down a highway, I wouldn't worry, but I think in the age we're in, technology lets the police nail the real speeders."

"It is a pretty car. Four doors, nice interior, in our price range."

"Flip to the next tab; I have three cars loaded."

"That's a pretty shade of blue. Again, it's a sharp-looking car. The interior seems more umm,"

"Pedestrian?"

"Yeah."

"Difference between a luxury brand and a mid-tier brand."

Cody changed to the last tab and said, "Ick. Don't like this one."

"It might be the color or it might be the car," I said.

"I thought about what Luke said last night. I think it's the family car look that I don't like. I'm also not a fan of that beige color."

I chuckled, then said, "Titanium beige metallic is what VW calls it. It's still beige. Their colors are more subdued, but the red and the blue were nice. I just couldn't find one with what we wanted. We could test drive and then search more."

"Fair, but I'm thinking we drop the Passat. That's not the car of my dreams."

With Cody snuggled up, we searched a few dealers and added a couple other cars to show Luke. He'd been quietly lying beside me when he said, "This is a little scary."

"What?"

"Buying a car."

"It'll be just like buying the Jeep."

"You did most of that."

"Yes. And I can lead us through the process for this one as well."

"But we're truly buying this car. I know, I know. You tried very hard to keep Luke and me involved in the Jeep process. This time, we're helping; we're truly involved; we're on the hook."

"I can see the differences. Think of it this way: as you get older and more mature, you'll get to do more of the adult things in life."

"Like have a full-time job. Be responsible for a house. Be in love with two wonderful guys."

I just smiled and ran my fingers through his hair. We lay there quietly talking about adulthood until Luke joined us. He walked in with his mug of coffee and said, "Morning."

"Morning," we replied.

"I'll be honest, I'm dreading today."

"No reason to," Cody said. "It's part of being an adult."

Luke gave Cody a funny look. Cody patted the sectional next to him, and Luke snuggled in.

"Show him what you found," Cody said.

I picked up my tablet and gave it to Luke.

"Ick," Luke said.

"Same thing I said," Cody responded.

"Ugly color, which makes the styling on it less appealing. Seems like a suburban mom's car."

"So, we scratch that off the list," I said.

"Yep," Cody responded.

"This one is fun. It's sporty. I like the blue. The interior is nice."

"Look at the next one," Cody urged.

"Woah. That's a sexy red. Sharp-looking and..." He paused for a moment. "That leather interior is sharp. This is a really nice car. It looks way too expensive."

"I'll admit it is at the top of our price point. It's a certified used car with really low mileage. The dealer does one of those comprehensive inspections. It's still under warranty, and they offer an extension. It looks like it's been sitting on their lot for a while since it's a manual; we can negotiate."

Luke flipped back and forth between the two cars for a while. Finally, he said, "I can see advantages to both."

"We'll test drive them both," Cody said.

We stayed snuggled up a bit longer.

"How about we grab breakfast out, then start our car shopping?" Luke said.

"Sounds good."

-----

"I'll admit it is nice to have a car that's not on the verge of breaking down," Cody said as he entered the kitchen after work Monday night.

"It also fits the three of us a lot better than the Aerio," I said.

"Yeah, it will be a more fuel-efficient way for us to get around comfortably than the Jeep," Luke added.

"It's not fun to drive; it's a blast," Cody said. "That thing has amazing acceleration!"

"That's what Caddies are known for," I said. "Having the six-speed manual means you can accelerate faster."

"Umm? What?" Cody asked.

"When you're accelerating, stay in the lower gear longer and punch it. You'll fly," I explained. "In the lower gear, you'll get more RPMs. Just make sure there's nothing in front of you and you don't go over the speed limit. Maybe go to the mall one morning and try it out."

"Yeah, no tickets; we don't need higher insurance!" Luke said.

"I won't get any tickets. But I do want to try this out."

"This weekend at the mall," I said.

"What about a quiet road?" Luke said.

"Lemme think," I replied. I grabbed my phone and sent a text to Justin. A few minutes later, I got a response. I explained, "Justin gave me the names of a few roads that he goes out and drives on. Evidently, these are also where Kyle test drove his Subaru when he got it."

"Cool!" Luke said.

"Eat and then drive?" Cody asked.

"A little later might mean less traffic," I suggested.

"Eat first it is," Luke said.

The three of us pulled dinner together quickly. With things cleaned up, I looked at Cody and Luke and said, "Who's first?"

"I get to drive it regularly," Cody said. "You or Luke first."

I handed Luke the keys. As I thought, traffic was far lighter as Luke got us onto Ox Road. He headed south, and I pulled up maps on my phone to direct him to the roads Justin recommended.

"Where are we?" Cody asked.

"Somewhere between Lorton and Clifton. A park called Fountainhead Regional is coming up on the left. It looks like a big park that's up against the Occoquan River. Justin said when this dead ends into Henderson Road to take a left, which will lead us towards Clifton."

"Cool," Luke said. "And Cody's right, this is a fucking blast to drive."

"Low, wide, hugs the road," I said.

"And killer acceleration."

"It's a twin-turbocharged V6 that produces 464 horsepower," Cody said. "It can do zero to sixty in just over four seconds."

"You're all in, aren't you?" Luke asked.

"I did my research!"

It took a while, but we pulled into Clifton. Luke pulled into a parking lot and said, "Switch."

I looked at Cody.

"Like I said, I get to drive it a lot. And yes, I'll get to have fun with it!"

I climbed into the driver's seat and thanked Luke's foresight to move the seat back when he climbed out. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove sedately through the town. Once I cleared civilization, I decided to test the car out.

"Woo hoo," Cody said as I took a curve tight and fast.

"It is a blast to drive," I admitted.

I did about half the trip back to Ox Road and pulled into the end of someone's driveway. "Switch," I said.

Cody and I did a quick swap, and he took off.

It was a fun night!

-----

"What style is their house?" Cody asked.

"It looks like it is a classic split-level. More specifically, it looks like it is a tri-level."

"I don't remember them in our area back home," Cody said.

Luke nodded his head in agreement.

"First, both your neighborhoods are newer, so even if there are split levels, they would have a different look. This is a classic my guess, is from the late sixties or early seventies. They became unpopular as open floor plans and the McMansion boom started."

Parked, the three of us climbed out of the car.

"Why's that?" Cody asked.

"My guess is that the upper, right level is where the bedrooms are. The main living is on the single level to the left, and the lower, right level is a rec-room and other basement space," I explained.

We got to the front door, and Cody rang the bell.

"As to why out of favor, they tend to be smaller with more segmented rooms, thus not part of the open-concept trend."

Chris opened the door and said, "Welcome!"

"Thanks for inviting us over," I replied.

"Thanks for coming. We put a lot of thought into our dinner for tonight. We hope you enjoy," Chris said.

"I don't think either of us are the cooks you three are," Josh said.

"I'm sure it will be wonderful," Cody said.

"We brought this for you," Luke said as he handed Chris a bottle of wine. The three of us followed our hosts into the main living space.

"Bedrock Wine," Josh read. "I'm not familiar with this one."

"The vines were planted by the father of William Randolph Hearst. The current owners did extensive mappings of the varieties when they bought the vineyard. It's supposed to be one of the top wines from last year."

"I look forward to savoring it," Josh said.

"These two have been exploring quality alcohols of all sorts."

"Not you?" Chris asked.

"I will try what they get, but I'm not in search of the next best. I don't think my palette is that sophisticated when it comes to alcohol."

"Makes sense," Josh admitted.

"This is a great space," Cody said. "I'm guessing you've updated it some?"

"We're not after a huge, open concept floorplan, but we did want a larger entertaining space," Chris explained. "The original floorplan had this area as the living room, the back corner to the left as the dining area, and a closed-off kitchen to the right."

"Due to the sliders," Josh said. "We didn't want to try to move the kitchen, but we did want it more open. We worked with a contractor and removed the walls, separating it from the dining area and the living room."

"I'm assuming that was a lot of work," I said.

"There's a beam in the ceiling to replace the load-bearing wall," Chris said. "The island was positioned to give us some division but still make things practical. We built a pantry area in the laundry room in the basement to make up for the cabinet space we lost."

"I'm guessing it made the stairways to the upper and lower levels more accessible to each other?" I asked.

"Yes. To go from the bedrooms to the laundry used to mean you had to go through the living room, dining area, and kitchen. Now you just turn right," Josh said.

"Nice design," Luke said.

"Thanks," Josh said. "What can I get you to drink?"

"Soda or tea for me," Cody said. "I'm driving."

"We have unsweetened and sweetened tea," Chris said. "And a selection of sodas."

"As in southern sweet tea?" Cody asked.

"So sweet your spoon will stand up in it," Josh said.

"I'll try that."

"Rum and diet," I said.

"Gin and tonic," Luke said.

"We have plain or I have a sparkling cucumber," Josh said.

"Cucumber, please."

"It smells good in here," I said.

"We're having a traditional Swedish dinner tonight," Chris said. "We decided to base things on my family's traditions."

"Speaking of which, let me put out our appetizers," Josh said. With that, he turned to the fridge and pulled out some trays.

"Okay, what's what?" Luke asked.

"This is toast skagen," Chris explained. "Essentially, a slice of toast with diced shrimp in a mixture of mayo and sour cream on top. As my mom would put it, this is the fancy version, so there's caviar on top."

"Wow," Luke said.

"The other tray is sill and knackebrod," Chris explained. "Sill is pickled herring, and knackebrod is a crispbread."

"Lots of new to try," Cody said.

"We're having artsoppa, which is a yellow pea soup with bacon. Then, kottbullar with raggmunk for dinner," Josh explained.

"And that is?" Luke asked.

"Swedish meatballs and a potato pancake. The potato pancake is served with bacon and lingonberries," Chris explained.

"No, we didn't buy the meatballs at Ikea. We made them from his mom's recipe," Josh explained.

"I know you love chocolate," Chris said to Cody. "Therefore, we're having chokladbollar, which are Swedish chocolate balls;, chokladbiskvier, which are chocolate cookies; and kladdkaka, which is a sticky chocolate cake."

"I'm in heaven," Cody said.

"I'll warn you it's either a full-on love or a full-on hate for the herring," Josh said.

"I'll give it a try," I said.

With that, we started filling our little plates with appetizers.

Cody took a bite of his skagen and said, "This is good."

I watched Luke take a taste of the herring. The look on his face was interesting. Finally, he said, "I don't think this is for me."

"Like I said, you either love it or hate it."

"It's not horrible."

Both Cody and I took the opportunity to try the herring.

"Not bad," Cody said.

"I kinda like it," I admitted.

"It's funny," Chris said. "I hate the stuff. My mom got Josh hooked on it."

"I'll stick with the skagen. It's really good," Luke said.

With appetizers in hand, Josh and Chris gave us a tour of their place.

"It's a really nice place," Cody said. We'd just returned to the main floor.

"We'll celebrate ten years in the house next summer," Chris said.

"Congrats," Luke said. "You two have been together a long time. I know you said, but."

"Seventeen years," Josh stated.

Both Cody and Luke got odd looks on their faces.

"Yes, you were both six," I said. "Young'uns."

"How big are the lots?" I asked.

"Third of an acre," Chris explained. "We only have neighbors on two sides as the backyard butts up against Daniels Run Park."

"Nice," Cody said.

As we moved from appetizers to dinner to dessert, the three of us requested recipes.

The five of us ended up in their living space after dinner.

"Anything fun coming up for you two?" Cody asked.

"We're going down to the farm for Thanksgiving," Josh said.

"The farm?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, Double Trails. We talked a bit about my old roomies from college. It's their farm. For me, it's a second home," Josh said.

Luke got an odd look on his face.

"I recall you said you were cut off from your family," Luke said.

"Beyond Chris and his family; Ryan, Will, Erik, and Tracer are my family."

"You built an extended family like I did," Cody said. "And my friend Casey."

"This year Thanksgiving is going to be a huge family reunion," Chris explained.

"Reunion?" Cody asked.

"Well, of course Ryan, Will, Tracer, and Erik live at the farm. Will and Tracer's brother Patrick and his wife live an hour north. They'll be there with their three sons. I'm guessing Will, Tracer, and Patrick's parents are coming. Then Ryan's half-brother Christian and his wife are coming from Wyoming along with their two kids. Oh, and Christian's dad is coming. Who'd I forget?"

"Kirk and Chet will be there, and of course that means Jacob and his wife Molly plus their kids. With Kirk there, that means Noah and his family will be around," Josh said.

"I'm getting lost," I said.

"Extended family," Josh said. "Kirk was kicked out by his racist, homophobic dad when he was still in high school. He lived with Erik and Tracer until he started at William and Mary."

"Where Will introduced him to Chet. They've hit fifteen years now? Jacob is Kirk's brother. After the folks kicked Kirk out, Jacob divorced his family. Noah works for the farm, but he's a good friend of Kirk's. Without meeting them all, it can get confusing. Suffice it to say there will be more thirty of us at the house. It's great people who all think of each other as brothers, cousins, or whatever," Chris explained.

"Family. Like I said, it's my family beyond Chris and my in-laws."

"Sweet," Cody said.

"What about you three?" Josh asked.

"Halloween first," Cody said.

"Do you get many kids?"

"Not worried about the quantity," Cody said. "It's about the experience. Growing up, Halloween was a forbidden holiday. My dad's family has some crazy religious beliefs."

"We're thinking Thanksgiving at my folks," Luke said. "But I need to have a discussion with my brothers first if we're doing that."

"Huh?" Chris grunted.

"My parents know about the three of us; my brothers do not."

"Gotcha," Josh said.

"Christmas is at home," I said. "We're probably going to Virginia Beach between Christmas and New Years."

"Sounds like some good plans. Ready for dinner?" Chris asked.

"Sure."

Chris and Josh cleared the appetizers and set out the food for dinner.

"We figured we'd do it buffet style," Josh said.

After everyone plated their food and sat down, Chris looked at me and asked, "Do you have a large family?"

"I am the only child of only children. My parents died when I was younger. At this point, you're looking at my family."

That put a big smile on Luke and Cody's faces.

"What about you?" He asked Luke.

"I'm one of five boys. Our extended family is probably more like your extended family, big and boisterous. Of course, then add my husbands and Cody's extended family."

"Five boys?" Chris' face showed a bit of astonishment.

"Yep."

"Tell'em," Cody urged.

"Tell us what?" Josh asked.

"Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Peter, though not in that order. Actually, it's almost in reverse order. Peter, Luke, John, Mark, Matthew."

"Your family is strongly religious?" Josh asked.

"Nope. Good Lutherans, not like Cody's."

Josh and Chris looked at Cody for further explanation. He said, "My dad's family isn't Conservative Christians; they are ultra-wing-nut-conservative. I think they make the Duggar family from that whatever kids and counting show look liberal."

"Where's your dad's family from?" Josh asked.

"Not too far from Wacko, I mean, Waco, Texas. A tiny town called West. It's the home of the Czech Stop."

"Check stop?" Chris asked.

"Czech as in the people from the Czech Republic, not as in a point where someone checks things. It's a bakery that has been there a long time. There is this Czech truck stop and a bakery at the Interstate."

"Cool. I did not think about Czechs living in Texas," Josh said.

"Czechs started moving to Texas in the early days of the Republic. If I remember correctly, that increased in the mid-1800s after several revolutions in the Austrian Empire of which the Czech territories were a part."

"Are you Czech?" Josh asked.

"I'm a half Czech," Cody said. "My mom's family is all descended from Czech immigrants in that first wave. On my father's side, his father's family are descendants of French Huguenots, which I think is where the radical attitudes came from. His mother's family are descendants of Swiss immigrants, which ties closely to the Huguenots from what I understand."

"What about you?" Josh asked Luke.

"I don't know. Coulter asked me once. I need to ask my folks. My from East Coast of the US folks."

"You're Scottish, right?" Josh said. "Anything else?"

"Scottish on top of Scottish on top of whatever is hiding back in the history of Scotland."

"What about you two?" Cody asked.

"I'm mostly a Scandinavian mutt – Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and then a bit of Dutch, German, and Icelander," Chris explained.

"Thus, his height," Josh said. "His heritage is from a lot of the countries with the tallest people on average. Me, on the other hand, my ancestors came from short-people countries."

"Hey, watch it," Luke said.

"Just kidding, I'm an Anglo-Saxon mutt, but my ancestors weren't particularly tall."

"I'm the tallest in my family," Luke said.

The conversation moved on to other topics, and we had a lovely evening.

-----

"What are you singing tonight?" Darryl asked as I sat down.

"What She Wants Tonight by Luke Bryan. Well, it'll be what he wants."

"Not familiar with it."

"It fits the theme for tonight, and it let me think a bit outside the box."

"In what way?"

"Since we can have one non-singing participant, I'm going with that. The song is about sexy and seductive, so I'm playing it up."

"Who's joining you on stage?" Phil asked. "Let me guess, Luke."

"Nope, he's doing something with Team Ginger. I got Kyle to play the role."

"This I'm looking forward to seeing."

It was about fifteen minutes later when Justin, Angus, Casey, and Kyle walked in. I could see that Kyle was dressed for the occasion. Darryl and Phil's jaws dropped as the guys walked over to the bar to grab their first drink.

Darryl leaned close to me and said, "I know he's studly, but he's always dressed conservatively. That outfit. That makes him look like six feet of sex."

"That was the idea. Excuse me a moment, I need to get ready myself."

I grabbed my bag from under the table and went into the restroom. When I came out, I got quite a few stares. I walked over to the signup table.

"I'm not sure which is hotter tonight, you or Kyle," Georgia said.

"Well, you'll get to see us both in action."

"Together?"

I nodded.

"You two are going to melt the stage."

I walked back to the table, and shortly after the lights flashed.

"I chose to do something very different tonight," Georgia said. "Tonight's theme is sultry and seductive. A variation on our old standby, sex sells. Another difference is that each act may have one and only one non-singing competitor. First up, we have Kris-Kross with Ms. Tango."

The first group got on stage, and the night began. The two guys did a great performance of a song I'd never heard before, Orange Blossoms by JJ Grey and Mofro. Ms. Tango was dressed in a long orange dress and played the part of the young love interest. It was definitely an interesting choice for sultry and seductive. They got a good round of applause.

As the evening progressed, it was interesting to see what folks felt was sultry, seductive, or the two intertwined. Finally, Georgia got on stage and announced, "Earlier, I commented that this duo might melt the stage. Here's Coulter and Kyle doing Whatever He Wants Tonight, a variation on Luke Bryan's original."

I walked onto stage while Kyle walked off to the back of the club.

The music started, and I sang, "He walks up, velvet rope unhooks, he snaps his fingers, and a drink comes."

As I sang, Kyle walked slowly, seductively through the crowd.

"He locks you down with just one look. He's got this whole club undone."

As he moved through the crowd, Kyle's form-fitting black spandex jeans clearly showed the muscles in his legs. His snug, black and silver Lurex shirt was unbuttoned way down his chest. As he moved, it let his pecs show and hinted at the six-pack abs below.

As I got to "He wants my hands on his body," Kyle joined me on stage and nestled his body up against mine. I wrapped an arm around him as I sang the rest of the song. He stayed spooned to me as we undulated together in what we thought was a sexy, sultry, and seductive way. As I sang the last line, "And I get to be what he wants tonight, tonight." He spun and wrapped his arms around me.

The applause was loud.

"Stay," Georgia said as she joined us on stage. "I said this would melt the stage. I'm sure I'm not the only one having hot flashes."

That made Kyle blush.

"You've only performed once before, but I hope this is the start of more."

Kyle got a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

I took Kyle's hand, and we walked off the stage.

"Our next performer..." Georgia started.

As we got to the table, Casey wrapped Kyle in a big hug and then kissed him deeply. After he sat, Casey leaned over to me and said, "Thanks. Getting him into that outfit was a breakthrough. I don't want him to dress like a slut, but this is such a sexy look."

I just chuckled. Luke came over and tapped my shoulder. I pushed back from the table a bit. He leaned in and whispered, "That was something else. I wish I hadn't committed to Ginger before you figured this out. But honestly, I can't out stud Kyle."

"You're my stud," I replied. "You and Cody, and I love you both deeply!"

"Thanks!"

With that, he sat in my lap.

After the show ended, we were collecting our stuff when Georgia walked up to our group.

"I have a favor to ask," she said, looking directly at me.

"If I can, I will."

"The Thursday after Thanksgiving is my birthday. In celebration, it's going to be an all-country night. I'll announce that next week."

"What do you need from me?"

"I want to start the night off with a bang, and it's clear you know how to do that. Can you figure out something that would start the show right?"

"For you, definitely. I do have one condition. I get to host the part of the show when the crowd sings you Happy Birthday."

"Deal."

I pulled one of my personal cards out of my wallet and handed it to her. I said, "E-mail or text me and we'll work out the details."

"Thank you. This means a lot to me."

"It's going to be a blast. Oh, one other thing, is the opening act the only one for the group that performs?"

"No, that's my birthday blowout number."

"Good, then I can create something big."

"Oh, I knew you were the one to ask."

She gave me a hug and walked off.

"You heard all of that?" I asked Luke.

"Yep. We're going to have to get everyone involved."

As we walked out to the car, Cody asked, "What was going on with Georgia?"

"Her birthday is the Thursday after Thanksgiving and it's an all-country night. She asked that I figure out how to stage a big start for the night. She'll announce it all next week."

"Sweet. Any ideas?"

"Yep. But let me stew on it a bit. I'm open to anything folks can think of."

"You've got two months to get it pulled together," Luke said.

"Yep."

We climbed in, and I pointed us to home.

-----

"I can work from home on Monday," Cody said.

"I can too," Luke said.

"Me three," I said.

"Internet fast enough for the three of us?" Cody asked with a laugh.

"Remember, we may be on a well and septic system, but we do have fiber optic internet service."

That got both guys laughing.

"Shame we can't do it more often," Cody said.

"Luke and I can do it one to two days a week. What's your group's policy?"

"Supervisor permission for your first six months. Then I can schedule a work-from-home day. We're all able to work from home for Columbus and Veteran's Day. Why don't you work from home more?"

"I like the interaction, the quick checks with folks when they stop by my cube, things like that. If I worked from home more, I'd miss out on the social aspects of work. I mean, it's not like we have forced social activities, and none of the folks at work are my social friends, but it is nice to speak face-to-face."

"Is it wrong to have friends at work?" Cody asked.

"Not at all. Luke has some. You have one. I'm also in a different position. It's harder for me to socialize with those that report to me. That reduces the pool of candidates. I think the other thing we should think about is where everyone works when we're all home," I said.

"We have our rooms. You have the office," Luke said.

"Are you comfortable there?"

"For a day, sure," Luke replied.

"Well, if I'm not home and you want to use the office, feel free."

"That is a more comfortable chair, that's for sure," Cody said.

"Maybe we think about getting you both more comfortable chairs at some point," I suggested.

"Nothing urgent at this point," Luke said. "None of us work from home that often."

"Fair enough," I agreed. "Anything you want to do this weekend?"

"Decorate for Halloween." Cody's statement sounded more like a question.

"I'm game," Luke replied.

"Halloween is on a Thursday this year," Cody mentioned.

"Yup. Want to trick or treat?" I teased.

"Do you want to decorate if we're not going to be around?" Luke asked.

"Well, miss a night of karaoke or miss a night giving out candy," Cody replied.

"You've got a reputation," I said. "Last year put the house on the map for big candy bars and decorations."

"I guess missing one karaoke out of fifty-two isn't a bad thing," Cody said.

"We have more skeletons, more parts, more gravestones, and more lights," Luke said.

"Tomorrow is supposed to be nice. Why don't we pull everything out, map out where we want things, then start setting up?" Cody asked.

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed.

After breakfast Saturday morning, Cody started bringing boxes around from the basement. He looked at me and asked, "Can you grab the fencing?"

"Do you want to take down what we have?"

"Huh? I thought that was the plan."

"Hear me out. I know it's an easy-to-install fencing system. It also wasn't that expensive. We could get more of it this year and use it around the graveyard, then use it elsewhere."

"I don't think we really need it anywhere else in the yard," Cody said.

"I guess you're right," I admitted.

"Suggestion," Luke interrupted. "Why don't we buy more of the posts? That way you can leave those bases and the posts where they are around the herb garden. Then you aren't pulling them out and putting them back in each year."

"That seems reasonable," Cody agreed. "We can't leave these in though; the lawn mower would hit them."

"True, but you can move the graveyard, change its shape, whatever each year."

"Got it," Cody agreed.

"Do you want to add some of the fake cobwebs around the fencing?" Luke asked.

"I read you shouldn't use it. Animals get stuck in it," Cody explained.

"Okay, how do we make this creepier?"

"Body parts coming out of the ground. Maybe we can splatter fake blood on a tombstone or two," I suggested.

"If we do it in that area, could we make it look like we're digging a new grave?" Cody asked.

"Old shovel, pick axe, and such?" I asked.

"Yeah, that would work."

"Could we do something to the headstones that makes them glow?" Luke asked.

"Spot lights?" Cody asked.

"Glow in the dark paint? Black-light paint?" I asked.

"Something," Luke said.

"I'm game," Cody said.

We spent a good part of the day getting the house set up for Halloween.

-----

"How's your day going?" Luke asked as he joined me in the kitchen.

"Quiet. I'd guess about fifty percent of staff took today off. No meetings. Not a lot of chatter. In fact, things are really quiet."

"What about you?"

"Quiet as well. They rolled out a lot of new tools this past weekend."

"What did you get?"

"They moved us to Office 365 and off Office 2013. We also got this new thing called Teams."

"We've been using it for about six months," I said. "Good for meetings."

"At least we're done with Skype," Luke said. "I was never a fan."

Cody walked in at this point and said, "Man, busy, busy morning."

"You're always busy," Luke said. "Oh, wait, that's dizzy! You're always dizzy."

Cody did a fake slap to the back of Luke's head and said, "Hardy, har, har."

"When does the audit start?" I asked.

"Friday night. I think we're ready. Documentation is in order. Systems are updated. I can't think there will be many findings."

"I'm sure there will be some," I said.

"Huh?"

"It's the goal of an auditor to find something. They need to prove they did their job. It may be nitpicky details or the findings may be inaccurate, but you'll get a list. Is HHS doing the audit?"

"No. The hospital hired a company to come in and perform a compliance audit. This will provide third-party validation that our HIPPA standards are being met. That way, if HHS comes in, we should be squeaky clean."

"Smart," Luke said.

We finished getting plates filled and heated, then sat down to eat.

"Have you given any further thought about Thanksgiving and Christmas?" I asked.

"Yep, Mom emailed me about it," Luke explained. "I asked her about telling my brothers."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"You're a guest. What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom."

"Okay."

"I think she's concerned about Matthew."

"He's what seventeen?"

"Yeah. I'm going to call Peter. Then I'll talk to Mark and John when we're there. I'll gauge what to do about Matthew."

"Fair enough," Cody said.

"How are you on leave?" I asked Cody.

"Let's see, I've been there five pay periods. I've got thirty hours so far."

"Sick leave or annual leave?" Luke asked.

"We only get one paid time off bucket."

"Will you have enough time off to take Wednesday and Friday around Thanksgiving off?"

"Of course," Cody replied.

"We can drive down Wednesday morning and drive back on Sunday morning," I suggested.

"Cool," Luke said.

-----

"Is it me, or is Cody wound up like a top?" Luke asked.

"As they said down home, he's wound tighter than a three-day clock."

That got Luke laughing. Once he recovered, he asked, "How long is this audit going to last? He's at work crazy hours getting ready, and I'm a bit worried."

"I think he said they'd be on site for a week. Remember, they can't impact hospital operations, so most of their scans and checks are being done after hours."

"Hospitals run twenty-four hours a day."

"True, but a lot of the work is done during the day. Less staff, less administrative work means less server stress."

"So, a scan doesn't slow things up any more than a busy period during the work day. I didn't realize they were doing vulnerability scanning along with this."

"They are ensuring the place is solid. No private health information should be lost."

"Got it. How do we help him?"

"It's supposed to be one week. He goes in at seven; he gets home at seven."

"We get thirty or forty minutes in the evening and about the same in the morning."

"I asked him about food. He said having meals that he can grab and take would be great."

"He's done Friday?"

"No, supposed to be done first thing Monday morning. Then he's off till Wednesday."

"Is Chris involved in all of this?"

"From what I understand, the entire team is."

"They are going to take two days off and then start on the remediations."

"Which means he'll be really busy again?"

"Unless they find something huge, I would think not."

"Good! This is ridiculous."

"Remember when you were doing the testing environment project?"

"Yeah." He thought a minute. "Oh." He looked a bit chagrin.

"It's the type of work we're in. There are going to be evenings, weekends, and overnights for deployments, audits, and mitigations. Hopefully, they are few and far between."

"Let's make some special meals for him to take to work with him. Is there any way to make our bedroom dark?"

"As far as the special meals, I'm on board with that. Maybe a pan of brownies that he could take in with him. For the bedroom, not really, but he could sleep in his room, and those windows could be covered pretty easily."

"I guess we're not going to see him much for a while."

"We could change that. What if we work from home?"

"Would we make too much noise?"

"Work from the office. I can do Tuesday and Thursday, and you could do Wednesday and Friday."

"That's a great idea."

"I do have them once in a while," I said with a laugh. "I'll let Lucinda know my plans."

"Cool."

"What to do with the rest of our Monday night."

"That's easy. Follow me and I'll wear you out!"

"Works for me."

-----

Tuesday morning, I kissed Luke goodbye before he walked out the door and headed into the office to get my day started. It was about fifteen minutes later when I heard the motion sensor signal that someone was in the cul de sac. A few minutes later, I heard Cody open the front door. I walked to the foyer to find him dropping off his stuff.

"What are you doing here?"

"Luke and I talked about it last night. We're going to alternate days for work from home, so we'll get to spend some time with you."

"That's sweet." He moved close and put his hands around my neck. He looked into my eyes and then gave me a very deep kiss. "Love you."

"Love you too. Do you want some dinner or breakfast depending on how you look at it?"

"Whatever is easier."

"I can heat up leftovers from last night, and you can have dinner. I can heat up breakfast casserole, and you can have that."

"What are my leftover options?"

"We made pasta and sauce with meatballs and a tossed salad."

"That sounds good."

"Go get cleaned up and ready for bed."

I got the food ready. He came back into the kitchen wearing a pair of boxers.

"That smells good."

"Sit. I'll get a plate in front of you in a moment."

"I was concerned."

"About?"

"Not getting to interact with you and Luke this week."

I sat the plate of food in front of him. He took his first bite as I continued, "Now you will. We also put some material over the windows in your bedroom to keep it dark."

"Thanks. Now I just need you to snuggle with me."

"I can snuggle with you till you fall asleep."

"You don't have to."

"I don't have to. I want to."

"I'll make you breakfast this evening and pack you a lunch as well."

"You two take such good care of me."

"I said to Luke this could happen to any of us, to be honest. In a way, it has me with deployments and him with that project."

As he finished up eating, he started yawning.

"Follow me," I said. I put my hand out and led him to his room.

"Nice and dark."

I slipped out of my trainers, pulled my polo shirt and pants off, and finally slipped my underwear off. Cody stripped his boxers off, and we climbed onto the bed. I took the big spoon position and wrapped my arm over him. I held him much the same as I would any night. About fifteen minutes later, I could tell that he'd drifted off to sleep. I lay there for a few more minutes, then carefully rolled away from him.

I dressed quietly, and I went back to the office to get my work day started. About four thirty, I heard a bit of noise and figured Cody was up.

"Sleep well," I asked as I walked into the kitchen.

He finished his drink of coffee and replied, "That I did."

"Ready for breakfast?"

"You done with work?"

"At five."

"I can wait thirty minutes. Go finish your day and I'll get caffeinated."

I wrapped up my day and joined Cody.

"How's your work going?"

"Other than really long hours, it is going fine. The scans aren't impacting production. They are finding things, but nothing that cannot be easily resolved. At least, that's the case so far."

"Any areas of major concern?"

"Not at my level. My stuff is going smoothly. My boss, she's stressed, but I can understand why; there is a lot to cover, and this project presents a lot of risk."

"The risk being impacts to production if something goes wrong?"

"That, and if they find something significant, that will cost a lot to mitigate."

"Makes sense. What do you want for breakfast?"

"I'll eat whatever you two are having for dinner," he offered.

"Buttermilk pancakes, bacon, and eggs?"

"Dude. I'm trying to be easy."

"And we're trying to pamper you."

"Then yes, that sounds good. I'll get the bacon ready."

"Make the entire package," I said.

"Um... okay."

"Luke and I are having the same thing for dinner. Another thing we talked about, at least for tonight. The rest of the week, we're planning dinners that will turn into good leftovers and lunches for you."

"Cool."

As we got started on the food, I asked, "Is the entire team working these crazy schedules?"

"No. My boss, Chris, and I are on the night shift. The others are the day shift."

"Is the contractor working twenty-four seven?"

"No, but we have to support daytime operations, so the newbies are supporting the audit with the boss and the rest are supporting operations."

"Got it."

We had everything ready when we heard the signal go off. Minutes later, Luke walked in.

Cody walked over, put his arms around Luke's neck, and gave him quite the kiss.

When the kiss ended, he said, "Thanks for thinking this up. It means the world to me."

"You're welcome, dude. I'm hungry. Do you two have brinner ready?"

"Brinner?" Cody asked.

"Well, it's either brinner or dinkfast."

"Whatcha you talkin about?"

"Well, the meal between breakfast and lunch is brunch. And we're having breakfast at dinner so I figured it was brinner or dinkfast."

That got both Cody and I chuckling. It was nice to get some Cody time.

-----

"What are you doing on your days off?" Luke asked.

"Playing catch up; on rest, on chores, on enjoying life."

"Sounds reasonable," I said. "Did you earn comp time?"

"I had a choice. I could earn straight time for the hours worked or comp time. I chose the comp time so I'd have more hours built up for the holiday season."

"How many hours did you earn?" Luke asked.

"Forty four hours from the audit and scans. I might earn more during remediation."

"How much of that will be at night?"

"For me, none. It will be the system administrators that have to work at night. We just have to figure out if the finding is valid, how to mitigate it if it is, and if we want to mitigate it or not."

"Why wouldn't you mitigate it?"

"Cost, impacts to business operations, inability to perform the mitigation."

Luke had a puzzled look on his face.

"If the mitigation would impact the hospital's ability to meet patient needs in a timely manner, not happening. If it put a patient at risk, not happening. If it costs so much as to significantly impact the bottom line, we might find another way to do it."

"Got it."

"You going to sleep that much?" Luke asked.

"Probably none."

"Huh?"

"I said catch up on rest, not sleep. I want to get my sleep pattern back to normal as fast as I can. I'll lounge, relax, destress, unwind, and all the stuff, but I will stay up and go to bed at my usual time."

"That makes sense," I said. "Mental rest then physical rest."

Luke nodded his head.

"What time do you two leave? Or are you working from home?"

"We should be out the door soon," I said. "We figured giving you the house to yourself would let you truly rest. You'd have to be quiet and careful if we were around."

"Understood, but I could sit on your lap all day if you worked from home."

"How much work do you think either of us would get done?"

"Not my problem," Cody replied. "I think it would be fun."

"We should be heading out," Luke said.

"Do you want the car or Jeep?" I asked.

"Whichever, I doubt I'll leave the house."

"We'll take the car then," I said.

We each gave Cody a kiss and then headed to the car.

My commutes and work were typical. I met Luck on the upper level of the third car; we talked about our day and drove home.

When I opened the door, my nose got whiff of some amazing smells.

"Wow," Luke said as he entered.

"I know. He must be cooking up a storm."

We dropped our stuff, put away our jackets, and headed for the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked.

"Cooking therapy," Cody responded.

"Huh?"

"I find cooking therapeutic, and I decided to cook a meal to say thanks for all the support you two gave me last week. Meals, snuggling, massages, I truly felt pampered."

"What are you making?" I asked.

"I made a beef tamale pie with a cornbread topping. Then there's a bacon-ranch chicken enchilada casserole. For sides, I have charro beans and Tejano rice. Finally, there's a spicy watermelon drink."

"Sounds amazing," Luke said.

Cody went over the fridge and pulled out a pitcher. He poured us each a beverage.

"Woah, this is spicy," Luke said.

"I know it has watermelon. What else?" I asked.

"Tequila and serrano peppers."

`It is really good," Luke said.

"How'd you decide what to make?"

"I searched top dinner ideas. I found a couple ideas and went further with the Tex-Mex idea. I've got the table set and the foods ready."

We got things to the table pretty quickly and sat down.

"Did you get some relaxation today?" Luke asked.

"I did. I really did. I feel refreshed."

"That's great," I said.

We talked about our days at work while we finished up dinner.

After cleaning up from dinner, I turned to my guys and asked, "TV?"

"Nope, I want what I haven't gotten in too long," Cody said. "Naked Luke and Coulter time."

Cody took both Luke's and my hands and led us towards the bedroom. Once there, the three of us stripped down. I grabbed a couple big towels and spread them on the bed.

"Face down," I said to Cody.

He got into position, and Luke and I climbed onto the bed on either side. Luke grabbed the massage cream from the nightstand, took a dollop, and handed the container to me. I took a reasonable amount and rubbed my hands together. I looked at Luke; he motioned towards Cody's back, and I nodded my head.

With that, we put our hands on Cody's back and started our tandem massage. Luke and I were each working on Cody's back, him on the left and me on the right. At times, we'd work the same muscle group, and other times, we'd be at either end of his back.

If we dug into a knot or hit a sore spot, Cody let out a moan or groan.

Thirty minutes into the massage, I used my head to point towards Cody's legs. Luke nodded, and we started on the lower half of his body.

Each of us taking a foot, we again matched our massage as best we could. As we worked up his leg muscles, we focused on each group. Finally, we both moved to longer strokes that started either at the base or top of his leg and worked up/down fully. With each full stroke up, Luke and I both extend onto Cody's ass cheeks.

As our full strokes increased in distance, my hands started working over his ass cheeks. After a few strokes, I let my fingers glide down his ass trench. Luke started mimicking my motions.

I noticed that Cody's dick was pointing down and was hard. I began teasing his shaft as my hands worked across his butt and down his legs. This elicited a shiver from Cody. Luke followed suit leading to more shivers.

"Time to flip," Luke said.

He and I moved back slightly to allow Cody to turn.

"Y'all are good at this," he said.

Flat on his back, he closed his eyes. I moved up and worked his shoulders and pecs, while Luke worked his legs. His leaking dick was lying on his tight belly, and we both carefully avoided it.

Luke started working Cody's legs with only one hand. With the other, he reached over and grabbed the lube. He stopped massaging Cody long enough to lube up his ass.

Luke nodded to me. I moved slightly and started a long stroke down Cody's chest and abs. As I got to his cock, I used my thumbs to point it straight up. At the same time, my cock was now resting on Cody's face.

I felt Cody's tongue flick on my dick as I held his cock up. Luke positioned himself and started sitting on Cody's dick.

"Oh, fuck," Luke groaned as his ass rubbed into Cody's groin.

"You need to fuck my face," Cody said.

I moved around and dropped my cock between his lips. I started fucking his face while he fucked Luke.

Luke had been bouncing on Cody for quite a while when he said, "Can we try another position?"

"Sure," I replied.

I pulled out of Cody's mouth and found that Luke had dismounted. Cody rolled out of the way, and Luke lay down. He grabbed his thighs and pulled his knees to his chest.

Cody got into position and started fucking Luke's hole.

I climbed off the bed for a minute. I moved around behind Cody and climbed back on. I put my hand on Cody's back to stop his fuck motions. I pushed my lubed up dick against his hole and slid in.

"Of, fuck!" Cody groaned.

I started fucking Cody, which got him pounding Luke harder.

"I'm not going to last long," Cody warned. "It's been toooooo long."

His body started shaking and I realized he was pumping Luke full of cum. As he did this, his ass clamped down on my dick, milking it. That triggered my explosion, and I cut loose with, "Oh, FUCK!"

I guess having Cody and I shoot triggered Luke, because he started cussing as his dick sprayed cum.

"That was fuckin awesome," Cody said as we decoupled.

"Damn right. Anyone up for another round?"

"Let's see in half an hour or so, says the old man."

"Deal."

-----

"What's your game plan for today?" I asked.

"I want to make sure everything is perfect for Halloween. It looked like some critter was playing in the graveyard, so I wanted to reset things. I'll go get candy. Then we're ready for Thursday."

"You're okay with missing karaoke?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's not an easy decision, but like you said, we've become a destination, and I don't want my fans to miss out. Plus, if we go dark, they might not come back."

"That would be my concern. Anything I can do?"

"I'm good. What do you want for dinner?" Cody asked.

"There's a pork loin and a bottom round roast in the fridge. Pick one, and then pick a plan. The bottom round will need some sort of slow cooking process."

"Got it."

"Have fun today," I said. I gave him a kiss and headed for the door. "Luke!"

I heard Luke come running from the bedroom. He ran past me and into the kitchen. A few moments later, he joined me in the foyer.

"Had to snog Cody."

"Understood, here's your lunch."

"Thanks."

We took off in the Jeep and were soon on the train. We'd just pulled out of Burke Center station when Luke turned to me and said, "I e-mailed mom about Thanksgiving. I also explained your idea for Christmas."

"Sounds good. Did you ask her what we could bring?"

"I figured I would ask her closer to the time of the trip. I doubt she has her meal planned out."

"Fair enough."

"Are you planning to dress up for Halloween?"

"I wasn't. I think of Halloween as Cody's night."

"He said something to me about us participating more. I think he wants it to be more an us thing than a him thing."

"Fair, but Halloween was never a big thing for me. Growing up on a farm, we weren't really close to any other houses. No one came to get candy; and except a couple times, I don't remember really trick-or-treating."

"Did you feel left out?"

"Not really; it was a town thing, not a farm thing. There were things that those of us on farms got to do that the town kids didn't and vice versa."

"Makes sense. Growing up, I got to trick-or-treat, and then after I aged out, I took my younger brothers out or stayed home and gave out candy for my folks."

"I enjoy decorating the house. I like seeing the kids at the door. I don't see myself dressing up to hand out candy."

"Again, makes sense."

As the train approached the tunnel, I stood and got my things ready. As the train entered the tunnel, I leaned over, kissed Luke, and said, "Love you."

"Love you," he replied.

With that, I headed to the exit.

When we got home, the house again smelled good. I found Cody in the kitchen and asked, "Anything I can do to help out?"

"Pour water. Grab whatever drink you and Luke want. Dinner's ready."

"It smells good," Luke said as he entered the kitchen.

I got beverages on the table and found Cody and Luke walking in with serving bowls and platters.

"What all did you make?" I asked.

"Beef burgundy with carrots. I did cheesy mashed potatoes and green beans with almond slivers."

"I agree with Luke; it smells delicious."

We served ourselves, and the dinner conversation started with how Luke's and my days were. After that, we talked a bit about Cody's relaxing day.

"Back to work tomorrow," Luke said.

"Yes, but it shouldn't be too bad. We'll go through the findings, prioritize them, determine mitigations, and more. Lot's of research."

"You'll learn a lot," I said.

"I have been. There's so much that wasn't covered in my classes," Cody said.

"I'll take a page from our wise partner," Luke said. "College taught you a number of facts, but mostly it taught you how to research, learn, analyze..."

Cody got a big grin on his face and said, "At least he didn't call you the wise old leader."

We all laughed at that.

"Changing the subject, is it okay that I hog handing out the candy?"

"Yep," Luke responded.

"Sure. I do like seeing some of the costumes, but you usually call us if there's something special."

"I didn't want to exclude you."

"But this isn't something you got to do."

"Yeah. How did you handle it at the farm?"

"It wasn't a big thing. I recall my mom driving me into two a couple times when I was little so I could trick-or-treat, but at some point, that stopped."

"Why?" Cody asked.

"I was trying to explain to Luke this morning. There were town things and farm things. We weren't particularly close to town, so a half-hour drive in added to the time impact."

"What were farm things?" Cody asked.

"Driving before you got your license."

"What?"

"Oh, on the farm I started driving tractors, farm trucks, and other equipment when I was young."

"How young are you talking?" Luke asked.

"I got started on the small ones when I was twelve. I was tall enough to run the controls and knew all the steps. I graduated to the bigger one when I was fourteen."

"Your dad," Luke started.

"My dad was doing some repairs on the back part of the farm. It was February, so nothing crop related. He had the small tractor and was pulling a trailer. Being winter, things got dark early, and my guess is he misjudged how close he was to the irrigation ditch."

"That must have been hard," Cody said.

"Mom needed to go to work that night, so she asked me to feed dad when he came in. I was doing homework and didn't think about how dark it had gotten at first. I took one of the ATVs out and found him."

"Was he?" Luke started and stopped.

"Yes. The tractor flipped into the ditch and landed on top of him. My guess and my prayer were that his injuries killed him quickly. The coroner indicated it should have been very quick."

"Why was your mom going to work?"

"Her choir practice was in the evenings."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"Back to the original topic: driving young, hay rides, bonfires, camping under the stars."

"You don't like camping," Luke said. "I remember that comment."

"I did when I was young. Camping on soft farmland isn't too bad. As I got older, my bones didn't like camping on firm soil or rock. The luster wore off."

"Gotcha."

"That sounds so fun," Cody said. "I mean hay rides and bonfires."

"It was, but like many things, the grass is always greener. I didn't get to spend time at the beach. Summer vacation was working the farm, not traveling. I had friends, but none really close, and being an only child, there was no one to play with."

"I won't complain about my brothers," Luke said.

"Or all the kids in the neighborhood," Cody added.

"What about friends from school?" Luke asked.

"I had them, but it meant a thirty-minute drive to play."

"Isolating," Luke said.

"I don't remember feeling isolated or lacking. My childhood was a happy time. Just a different upbringing, I guess."

"That's good. I wouldn't call mine happy," Cody said. "I felt left out. I felt like I missed out. I felt like I couldn't do half the things I wanted to do."

"Jealous of everyone else?" Luke asked.

"Yeah."

"I guess I feel lucky," Luke said. "I see what you mean about the grass is always greener. There were times I wished I was an only child. There were times when I wanted solitude."

We continued our discussion of our childhoods as we cleaned up after dinner.

-----

Cody called from the door, "Guys, you need to see this group."

We went to the door. The group made it to the door as we did and the little ones said, "Trick or treat." Each of the kids was dressed like a candy bar.

"Very nice," I said.

After Cody dropped a full-sized candy bar and a few-snack sized bars into their bags, one of the kids gave a very loud, "Thanks!"

With that, the group headed back to their parents. I was about to walk away when I saw another group walking up. Luke and I stuck around to see the little ones again.

"Good crowds tonight," I said.

"It's going to be the biggest group ever," Cody said.

After the children ran off, Luke and I returned to watch television.

"He couldn't be happier," Luke said.

I gave a nod and a smile.

"Do you have any Halloween-appropriate music?" Luke asked.

"Nothing on the NAS, but I'm sure we can find something to stream. Why?"

"Use the outdoor speakers; play spooky music. Since there's nothing behind us, we can go loud enough it can be heard out front."

"We could play on all the inside speakers. It's not too cold out, open the windows?"

I grabbed my phone, found a long Halloween music track online, and started things playing. A few minutes later, my phone dinged.

`You rock' Cody's message said.

`Luke's idea' I replied.

Luke's phone dinged.

"He said thanks! Have you ever thought of putting speakers on the front of the house?"

"I did, but decided it wasn't worth it. I usually use some portable speakers when I'm working in the front beds; otherwise, I'm not out front enough."

"It wouldn't be that costly or hard, would it?"

"A small set of speakers would run about two hundred. The size I have out back would be four hundred. Running the wire through the crawl space isn't fun, but on a cool day, not a huge project."

"Let's talk about it," Luke suggested. "When we have parties, the music could start before the guests enter."

"That means we could host more parties," I replied.

"I know, I'm not the party person, but my husband is."

I had to chuckle at that.

"I do enjoy them. I just don't actively seek them out."

"Fair enough."

"You know he'd love it if we hosted more parties," Luke said.

"I know. Maybe we can host a holiday party to start things off."

"That would be fun."

It was a few minutes after nine when Cody walked in.

"That was so fun!"

"How many did you get tonight?" Luke asked.

"Seventy three. Several parents said we got a reputation. They also said that we've corrupted the neighborhood."

"Corrupted?"

"They were kidding. I guess a lot of houses now have lights on and give out treats. It's a lot of walking, but the neighborhood is making it work. The music was a huge hit tonight."

"All Luke's idea," I said. "In fact, we talked about adding speakers to the front of the house."

"That would be great for parties. We could have the music playing out front to match. I love the idea. Thanks."

"Wasn't my idea," I said. "It was all Luke again."

He moved over and gave Luke a hug and kiss.

-----

As Cody entered the kitchen, he said, "Happy All Saint's Day."

"And to you," I replied.

"We weren't allowed to celebrate Halloween, but we had to be solemn on All Saint's Day."

"What was involved?"

"School days weren't much. A Saturday or a Sunday was as boring as hell."

"No more of that."

"I know, but last night got me thinking about it."

"Something to talk with Andi about during your next session."

"Yep. What's going on this weekend?"

"I don't really have anything. We could start taking down the Halloween décor. It's supposed to be nice out, so something outdoors would be good."

"It won't take too long to get everything down. We could take a walk or go hiking. Something active would be good."

"I'd be up for a hike."

"I need to get a bike."

"We could go shopping," I offered.

"There's what I want and what I can afford."

"We can afford what you want, I'm sure."

"I'm trying to live within a reasonable budget."

"How much is this thing?"

Cody pulled out his phone, tapped a few things, and handed it to me. I looked at the bike, quickly committing the brand and model to memory, and then said, "Ouch. I see why there's what you want and what you can afford. You can start saving for what you want."

I heard Luke coming toward the kitchen, saying, "I guess it's time for us to get our commutes started."

Cody glanced at the clock and replied, "Yeah. I need to get going."

I went, picked up my stuff, and met Luke at the door. After he got us headed toward the train station, I grabbed my phone and searched.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

"Cody and I were talking about plans for the weekend. We discussed taking down the decorations and going hiking. Then he mentioned wishing he had a bike."

"Oh."

"He said, there was what he wanted and what he could afford."

"What does he want?"

"It's a road bike from Trek that costs twenty-four hundred."

"Ouch."

"I pulled it up and bookmarked it. I'm thinking Christmas present."

"Great idea!"

"Are you up for taking down décor and then doing some hiking?"

"Sure. Where do you want to hike?"

"Great Falls, Turkey Run, Sugarloaf Mountain, Cunningham Falls, or Shenandoah Park would be good options."

"I know some of them; where are Sugarloaf and the Falls?"

"Both are in Maryland, but not any further than Shanandoah."

"By falls, you mean a water fall?"

"Yep. It is very pretty."

"Let's do that."

Luke pulled the Jeep into a parking space, and we walked to the platform. We'd been standing there a moment when I noticed Luke had his phone out. He did whatever it was he was doing and then put it away.

"I found a site with info on Cunningham Falls and sent it to Cody."

The train pulled up, and we climbed onboard. We'd been sitting there a few moments when Luke's phone chimed.

Luke looked at his phone and said, "He likes the idea of the Falls."

"Great, we have weekend plans."

-----

Cody and I were sitting in the den drinking coffee when he asked, "When do you want to head north?"

"Why don't we spend a couple hours this morning taking down some of the decorations? Then we can drive up, maybe have lunch in Frederick, then spend a few hours hiking before coming home."

"Sounds like a plan."

Cody shifted on the sofa a bit to snuggle closer to me.

I wrapped my arm around him, holding him while we sipped our coffee.

"We could stay like this all day," Cody said.

"If he walks in here, I think our husband is going to get upset with one or both of us for getting busy with his husbands."

That made Cody laugh.

About thirty minutes later, Luke joined us. He said, "I should be trying to figure out why you're getting busy with my husband. But I'm going to focus on getting in the middle of this snuggle time. With that, he pushed Cody and me apart and snuggled in between us.

"Hey," Cody said. "That wasn't right. Now you're getting busy with my husband!"

"I can get busy with you too, husband. I know the late guy always has to catch up. What's the plan for the day? Eat, take down some stuff, eat, hike, eat, sex?"

"Wow, that's tame for you. Usually it would be eat, sex, take down stuff, sex, eat, sex, hike, sex, eat, sex. Are you losing your sex fiend edge?" Cody asked.

"No, but we only have so much daylight, and if we get things done today, then we have all day tomorrow for sex."

That made me chuckle.

We sat there snuggled up for a bit before Luke's stomach growled. As I started to stand, I said, "I'll get breakfast started."

"Nooooo... Snuggle," Luke said.

His stomach growled again.

"Your stomach disagrees," I said with a laugh.

I walked to the kitchen and found that Luke and Cody were right behind me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Breakfast sandwich," Cody said.

"Fried egg?" Luke asked.

"Sure. We have bacon already fried; add that and some cheese and put it in the oven, then top with an egg," I said.

"Bread? English muffin? Bagel?" Cody asked.

"Bagel," Luke replied.

"You know me. No to bagels. How about an English muffin?"

Luke got started on the eggs while Cody and I got the rest of the sandwich ready and in the oven. It was long till the kitchen was tidy, post breakfast.

"Clean up, then take down stuff?"

"I'm pretty clean," I said. "I'd rather take down stuff, hike, then clean up."

"Sounds reasonable," Luke said.

We got dressed and spent a couple hours taking everything down. With everything put away, we headed north. We were about fifteen minutes from Frederick when I asked, "Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"I found a cute little Mexican place that gets good ratings. The comments say it's a good place for a quick meal," Cody said.

"Works for me," Luke said.

Cody gave me directions, and we did have a good, quick lunch.

At the park, I paid the fee, then parked the Jeep and asked, "Which trail?"

"Let's take the Lower Trail to the falls," Luke said. "It's only a half mile and supposed to be easy. Then we can come back on the Cliff Trail, which is supposed to be more challenging. It's a bit over a mile for the loop, and you get to see the falls. If we want more, we can move to another parking area and do the Cat Rock Trail."

"Sounds like a plan," I replied.

We grabbed our packs and headed off.

"That wasn't hard," Cody said.

"No, not as much a hike as a good walk," I concurred.

"The Cliff Trail is supposed to be more strenuous," Luke reminded us.

"Can we climb the falls?" Cody asked.

"There's an inclined walk to the top, but you're not supposed to climb the falls," Luke explained.

"I'm guessing climbing the falls is a bit risky," I said.

After snapping some pictures, we did the inclined walk and found the wide creek that fed the falls and great views of the rocks below.

"This is great," Cody said. He sat down on a dry spot and looked around.

While he was sitting, Luke and I were taking pictures. Cody rejoined us, and we took turns getting some snaps of each other. I was about to suggest moving on when these two guys came up the path.

"Would you mind taking a pic for us?" I asked.

"Sure," the taller guy said.

I handed him my phone, and he took a few shots for us. I put my arms around my guys, and they did the same to me. I figured worst-case scenario: the guys would think we were father and sons.

After the taller guy handed back my phone, the shorter guy asked, "Would you do the same for us?"

"Sure," I said.

When he handed me the phone, I noticed that the phone case was a pride flag. I took a few shots but noticed the guys weren't getting very close to each other.

"Any other photos you two want?" I asked.

They looked at each other. The shorter just barely shook his head. The taller responded, "Thanks, that should be it."

Before I could say anything else, Cody said, "You two have about the same height difference that Luke and I have. I'm Cody, by the way, and that's Coulter."

"I'm Evan, and that's Jared," the taller one said.

"How long have you two been together?" Cody asked.

The look on their faces was great.

Jared said, "Six years."

"Congrats, we're coming up on three years," Cody replied.

"Congrats to the two of you," Evan said.

"It's the three of us," Luke replied.

"Oh. Sorry. Um," Evan said.

"No worries; most people don't realize we're a triple. In fact, most people think we're a dad with two sons."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Jared admitted.

"Did you want any other pictures?" I asked.

"Yes, please," Evan said. He handed me back the phone.

This time, Evan stood with Jared in front of him and his arms around him.

"That's a great shot," I said.

I handed him back his phone.

"Thanks," Evan said. "Are you three heading back?"

"We're doing the Cliff Trail," Luke said.

"I heard that's more challenging," Jared said.

"Supposed to be, but not extremely difficult. Plus, it would be downhill, not up."

Jared looked at Evan. You could tell there was some non-verbal communication going on. I looked over at Luke and Cody. Cody just shrugged.

"If the two of you would like to join us, we can make sure everyone has a great time," Cody offered.

"Sounds good," Jared finally said.

As we got started, we found that the trail was more difficult and rockier, but it wasn't hard.

"This isn't as bad as I feared," Jared said after a bit.

"Not used to hiking?" I asked.

"No, it's my first time. It's something that Evan likes that I'm trying to open up to."

"We've done a few hikes," Luke said. "We have plans to do more."

"Are you locals?" Evan asked.

"Define local," Cody said. "We live in Fairfax."

"We live in Damascus," Jared said.

"Not familiar with it," Luke responded.

"North of Germantown and Gaithersburg, south east of Frederick," Evan explained. "We are a lot closer. I was hoping you'd be close enough we could hike together."

"Considering we drove up here for a hike," I started.

"We've done Harpers Ferry, Shenandoah, and more," Cody added.

"I'd love to do some hikes in the Shenandoah," Evan said.

I wasn't sure Jared was as on board as Evan hoped.

Jared asked, "How did the three of you meet?"

With that, we took time to explain the officially approved version of our relationship. When we got to the parking lot, Jared started talking with Cody and Luke a bit. I went to the Jeep and grabbed one of my cards. Handing it to Evan, I said, "If you want to go hiking sometime call, or e-mail."

"I will. By the way, I love your Jeep."

"It's a fun ride. We got it two years ago."

"I want one, but Jared's a bit dubious."

"Do you each have a vehicle?"

"Yes."

I raised an eyebrow. I thought about how to say what I wanted, but not knowing their situation, I left things alone.

"Well, like I said, it's a fun ride. Steps make it easy to get in and out. I love the soft top so we can do the open road thing, but of course there's a hard top option too."

"Hmmm..."

"If we go hiking again, we can get you both in for a ride so you get a feel for it."

"That would be great," Evan said. "I can't imagine dealing with two guys when it comes to what you want versus what he wants kinda thing."

"We make it work," I said with a smile. "After my divorce, I figured out that honest, open communication was the key."

"Your what?" Evan was a bit loud.

"My ex and I married in Maryland. We split before gay marriage was legal everywhere, and I filed for divorce about a week after the Supreme Court decision."

"Sorry to hear that."

"What did I miss?" Jared asked as he walked up.

"I was explaining about my failed marriage and divorcing my husband. After it all ended, I spent a lot of time making sure I learned from my mistakes, learned from what I didn't like in how he behaved, and focused on communications."

"He's big on making sure he doesn't impose his views on us," Cody said.

"Nice," Jared replied.

"We should head home," Evan said. "It was great meeting the three of you, and I look forward to more hikes."

"Keep in touch," Luke said.

We finished our goodbyes, and they drove off.

"Hiking or head home?"

"How about heading home?" Cody said. "I'd like to get a shower and relax a bit."

"Sounds good," Luke said.

We climbed into the Jeep and pointed south.

-----

I woke up Sunday morning, looked at the clock, and was a bit surprised. It was six thirty. In addition, only Cody and I were in the bed. I rolled away from him to let him sleep more and took care of a few things in the bathroom. I found coffee ready in the kitchen, poured a mug, and went off in search of Luke.

Finding him in the den, I said, "You, of all people, up first in this house."

"I didn't sleep all that well last night. I've been up since five."

"What's got you stirred up?"

"Oh, just a project at work. I woke up and couldn't get it out of my mind. I grabbed my laptop, pulled up OneNote, added some comments and thoughts on my tab for the project. Those will help me tomorrow with getting past the issue."

"Need some more sleep?"

"Yes, but it's too late. I'll catch up tonight."

"You going to be up for doing anything today?"

"Sure. I don't want anything like yesterday, but we can get out and do something fun."

"It's supposed to make it to fifty-five today. Outside? Inside?"

"Museum? Historic site? Walk around somewhere?"

"Annapolis, St. Michaels, Old Town, Winchester?"

"I like Old Town, but that's where you work. Aren't you tired of it?"

"I work in the west end of Old Town near the METRO, so I don't get down to the waterfront area much."

"We can do that art place," Luke said.

"The Torpedo Factory."

"Maybe find a place with window seating and watch the world go by."

"We could grab a blanket, get some food, and sit along the waterfront."

"Hmm... I was thinking of staying inside. It's going to be three before it warms up much."

"Fair enough."

Cody walked into the room, put his hands on his hips, and said, "What are you doing getting busy with my husband?"

I burst into laughter.

"Meh," Luke said in response. "We're not that busy, but we are formulating ideas for today."

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"Exploring Old Town Alexandria and finding a place to people watch."

"Works for me. So, what's with you being up so early? Taking on a new sleeping posture?"

"Woke up, and my mind got spinning on work. I came out here and put in some notes, getting my thoughts organized. It was just too late to go back to bed."

"Breakfast at home? Breakfast out?" I asked.

"Home. Then we aren't pushed to find some place," Cody said.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Waffles," Luke said.

"Waffles and sausage?" Cody asked.

"Sure," Luke replied.

We spent some time putting together breakfast, then cleaned up, and Cody drove us into Old Town.

"Where first?"

"I was looking at opening times for a number of places, and I think the Torpedo Factory should be first."

Cody got us parked, and we walked over to the facility.

"You haven't been here," I asked Cody.

"Nope."

"It is nice to see the different art created," I said.

"I remember walking through with you and Rob after Thanksgiving," Luke said. "I don't think I appreciated what was here."

"Art is very subjective. Isn't it?" Cody asked.

"I know there's a battle over that term. I definitely believe art is a matter of personal taste. You can love something that I hate. You can think something is creative that I find boring. It's like my tattoo."

"Huh?"

"There are people that don't like tattoos. There are those, myself included, that do not like the random tattoos of some. Same with art; some will like the classics, others will like abstracts, and some prefer the works of specific schools of art. I'm not sure about subjectivity, but it is definitely taste-specific."

"What do you like?" Luke asked.

"All sorts of things. I love Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, De Stijl, Kinetic, Naturalism, Pop, and Suprematism."

"Wait, wait, wait," Luke said. "Mister, I won't compete on Jeopardy; knows all those are types?"

"I took a class on art movements. Going to Mason, I was able to spend a ton of time in the National Gallery, Smithsonian, and more, studying."

We walked into the Torpedo Factory and into the first area.

"What style is this?" Cody asked.

"I'd classify it as Abstract Expressionism."

"You are correct," the person in the booth said.

As we walked around from booth to booth, Cody took an interest in much that he saw. Luke, on the other hand, had far few comments. At one point, I stepped back and quietly said to Luke, "Not as much your thing?"

"A lot of it looks like stuff a kid does in grade school."

I pulled out my phone and searched Jackson Pollock.

"Yeah, like that," Luke said.

"The works of Jackson Pollock," I said. "He was a leading Abstract Expressionist."

"I don't care for it."

"Understood. To me it goes to beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know others will say I'm wrong, but that's my opinion."

I did another search on my phone and

"What do you think of this?"

"Interesting. But I think I could do that. A ruler, lines, colors, not sure why it's art."

"Fair enough."

"One more," I said. I did another search and pulled up some images.

"That's what I think of when I say art. Those are great."

"These are from the Hudson River School of art."

"I could never do that."

"Question for you, do you only consider something art if you can't create it?"

"What do you mean?"

"The earlier stuff you said you could do, and it wasn't art. This you can't do, and it is."

"I never thought of that. Maybe."

"If you learned to take great photographs, would that be art?"

"I'll have to think on it."

Cody walked up to us and said, "I'm done. What have you two been over hear whispering about?"

"He was getting me to think about what is art. What do I like? Why do I like it? Making me explore a bit."

"Cool. Ready to move on?" Cody asked.

With that we continued a relaxing day together.

Copyright 2024 BndgDawg (BndgDawg@gmail.com). Do not reproduce or distribute this story without the author's permission.

This is the nineteenth chapter of the third story I have written. I look forward to positive comments, constructive criticisms and otherwise pleasantly worded feedback. Flames and attacks will be ignored and addresses blocked. (BndgDawg@gmail.com).

My other stories on this site are Double Trails (Beginnings/Rural - December 8, 2016) and Homeless (High School - July 30, 2017).