by Trina Solet
Leading out of the kitchen door was a path made of stone steps. It curved slightly at first then turned into a switchback path further down the slope. Stone retaining walls marked off three different levels of the garden. Planted mostly with evergreen bushes, the garden was orderly and well maintained.
"It's nice out here," Rob said while enjoying the view. "It could use a table and some chairs so you can drink your coffee in the fresh, morning air."
"I'll order some," Julian decided.
"Really?" Rob was surprised at how fast Julian wanted to make his words a reality.
"It's a good idea," Julian told him.
Rob pointed down to a spot on the lower level. "What about a bench down there so you and Danny could sit and enjoy the view?" he said and gave Julian a challenging grin.
Julian asked Danny's opinion on that. "Should we have a bench?"
"OK," Danny agreed.
"I'll order that too," Julian made note of it on his phone.
"I better stop," Rob said and Julian chuckled.
Despite being pretty cheerful this morning, Julian looked like he hadn't slept a wink. During his sleepless night, he had been with Danny the whole time. He was one dedicated big brother.
Figuring that coffee was done, Rob went in and brought out two cups with coffee and a coffee cup with orange juice for Danny.
"It was easier to carry three cups," he explained as he let Julian take a cup with coffee from him. Rob handed Danny the cup with juice. "Did you think I brought you coffee?"
"I didn't know," Danny said and started sipping his juice from the coffee cup.
"What's the plan for today?" Rob asked, though he wasn't sure if any plans would include him. It was Sunday, so he should be on his own today. But really, he didn't know what he would do if left to his own devices.
"I thought we could go out for breakfast. But first, Mitch will be here soon, and we'll get to meet his fiancé. They work together," Julian said. "I got a text from him a little while ago. Danny and I were watching for them to drive up."
Rob was surprised. "They're working on Sunday?"
"Apparently. Mitch will be going to Ashbury today. That's the next town over. It's quite a bit bigger than Peach Tree. That's where he's getting some supplies. I added a few more things to Mitch's list since he was here yesterday. He wanted to do some more measuring."
"He doesn't slack off," Rob said.
"He wants to get started Monday, and I'd like this house in order as soon as possible."
"I guess you're two likeminded guys," Rob said.
A few minutes later they saw Mitch's car make its way up the hill. Going around the house, they went to meet him in front. They got their first look at Mitch's fiancé as he got out of the car. He was tall and very good-looking with dark hair and hazel eyes. Rob realized they had seen him in town yesterday with a little blond girl.
Mitch made introductions. "This is Julian Brenner and his little brother Danny. This is his assistant Rob Gerric. This is my fiancé, Enrico Del Rio."
"He's Mrs. Del Rio's grandson," Julian told Rob as they both shook hands with him.
"Nice to meet you, Enrico," Rob said.
"Rico is fine," he said then he squinted at Julian. "Thanks for letting us get married up here. But I can't believe the guy who owns the orchard looks like you. I was picturing you all wrong. Look at him, Mitch. He's not a silver fox or a pudgy middle-aged beardo. He's a hot, young beardo."
"I've already seen him," Mitch said evenly and gave his fiancé a wry grin.
If Mitch was serious and dedicated like Julian, Rico was like nobody else. He just met them and he was already shooting his mouth off at will.
"This whole time, I figured Dracula lived here, but it's just you guys," he said, pointing at the house.
"Dracula?" Danny said though Rob didn't know if he knew who that was.
Not wanting to scare him, Rico corrected himself. "I meant Count Chocula."
Danny knew who that was and he nodded. "He doesn't live here, just me, Julian and Rob," Danny whispered to set Rico straight, and he laughed.
Julian looked surprised that Danny was so talkative. Maybe he was responding to Rico's maturity level.
"Speaking of, we're going out for breakfast," Rob said. He took the coffee cup from Julian and then he addressed Danny. "Let's go put away these cups and get your yellow hat and my jacket while these guys discuss business. Is that OK?" He looked at both Danny and Julian for their OK. Julian left it up to his little brother, who looked up at Rob and gave him his free hand.
By the time, the two of them were ready to go, Julian had come in to get his own jacket. Together, the three of them headed out to his car while Mitch and Rico got to work inside.
"I gave Mitch a key to the house so he can do his work even when we're out," Julian said.
"Mitch seems like a serious guy, but what about his fiancé. Talk about opposites," Rob said while Julian buckled up Danny.
"After meeting his grandmother, you expected Rico to be the shy, retiring type?" Julian asked.
"Good point," Rob said.
Once again he was sitting in the back with Danny, but the little guy wasn't too nervous. Still Danny was relieved when the car ride was over and they got out on Main Street, a block from the cafe. As they walked up the street, they spotted a group of three kids and two good-looking guys. One guy was blond and more muscular. The other had sandy hair and a trim physique. The kids were all a little older than Danny and kind of noisy. The noisy group was clustered on the sidewalk ahead of them. As Julian, Rob and Danny approached, one of the kids pointed their way.
"Him!" a little blond girl exclaimed. "It's the boy with the yellow hat, the one I saw." She was the same kid who had been with Rico and waved at Danny the day before.
"I saw his hat too when he got out of that car," the little blond boy said.
"I saw him before before," the little girl told him.
"Don't fight. You'll scare him," a sandy haired boy told the two younger kids, but Danny didn't seem scared of the loud bunch.
Looking up at the two guys, the blond boy demanded, "Uncle Wyatt, we have to talk to that kid over there."
The blond guy, whose name must have been Wyatt, eyed the kids. "You have important kid business with him?" The kids all chorused a yes. "OK. Let's go."
The other guy with him balked, but the kids were already running over.
"See, it's him. The boy with the yellow hat," the little girl said, proud of her discovery as the kids clustered in front of Danny.
Danny looked up at Julian but didn't seem to be scared. It was more like he was looking for permission to talk to these kids.
"Do you live here?" the older boy asked Danny, who didn't answer.
Julian answered for him. "Yes, he does. We live up on the hill."
"Then he can be my friend," the younger boy decided.
"I saw him first," the girl told him again.
"Don't fight. We don't even know his name," the older boy told the other two.
"I'm Danny," he told them. Surprisingly, he didn't seem too intimidated by them or their noisy arguing.
In the meantime, the guy named Wyatt introduced himself and his husband, Sam, and Rob realized they were the guys who got married on the hill. They confirmed it when they thanked Julian for letting them get married up there after he introduced himself and Rob.
Then Wyatt gave the names of the kids from youngest to oldest. Sammy McEvers was the little blond girl. Riley Hayes was the blond boy with brown eyes and his older brother was DJ Hayes.
"He's Sam. I'm Sammy," the little girl told them and pointed at Sam and herself to make sure there was no confusion.
"And your name is McEvers. Like Mitch McEvers?" Rob said.
"That's my dad. Do you know my dad?" Sammy wanted to know.
"We do. We just saw him this morning," Julian told her.
"We're waiting for him and Rico for a group excursion to Ashbury," Wyatt told them.
"They shoul
d be here soon," Julian said.
In the meantime, the kids were getting acquainted. "That's a good hat," Riley told Danny and all the other kids agreed.
That made Danny smile shyly. "Julian got it for me."
"Who's he?" the kids wanted to know, though he had just been introduced.
Danny pointed him out. "Him. He's my big brother."
"That's just like you," Riley said to his own big brother, DJ, then he looked from him to Julian like he was comparing them. Finally Riley came out with his verdict. "He's bigger."
"That's because he's a grown-up big brother," DJ huffed.
Riley got thoughtful like he was trying to decide if that was a good enough excuse. Then he turned to Julian again. "But you don't have the good ears like him," Riley said to Julian while pointing at Danny.
Danny touched his ears and looked from side to side like he was trying to catch sight of them.
"Those are good ears," Sammy agreed. "Like a teddy bear."
All the kids were now looking at his ears appreciatively. It seemed like Danny, his hat and his ears were a big hit. When Mitch and his fiancé came to join them, Rico noticed the same thing.
"Look how many friends you made, little dude. Good job," Rico told him a little too loudly and tried to give him a hi-five, but Danny was too shy and ducked his head.
"Rico! Did you scare him?" Sammy asked kind of sternly, and now all the kids looked up at Rico with accusing faces.
"What? I did not," Rico said defensively and looked all around for support but got none.
Only Danny came to his defense. "He didn't scare me. I'm OK," he assured Sammy.
"OK," Sammy said and she looked up at Rico like she was willing to let him off the hook just this once.
"Thanks, man," Rico said to Danny. "I owe you one."
"We better get going," Sam said. "Thank you again for letting us get married in the orchard."
"We'll see you around. We can set up a play date with the kids," Wyatt said.
"Maybe we can do that," Julian said, but that wasn't good enough for Riley.
He came up to Julian, stood straight and turned his face up to him. "You gonna let Danny be friends with us, Mister?" Riley asked while giving Julian a challenging, little kid stare.
"I might," Julian said.
"That means yes," Riley reported to the other kids confidently.
"That's a kid who knows how to turn a maybe into a yes," Wyatt said with approval.
They all went off and the kids waved to Danny, who waved back and smiled.
"Well that was..." Julian trailed off like mere words couldn't do justice to that encounter.
Rob laughed, but looking down at Danny he saw how bright-eyed he was. It did him good to be around other kids.
And Julian had a nice look in his dark eyes too. Rob tried not to think of the look as pretty or to try and imagine what his eyes might look like when he was happy or ecstatic.
"Let's go have breakfast," Julian said and led the way inside the Peach Tree Café.
Like before, the café was crowded and this time they ate at the counter. Danny seemed to like sitting on the barstool between them. Once they were done eating, Rob and Julian helped him hop down, each holding one of his hands.
They were still holding hands like that as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.
"Should we have an outing of our own," Rob asked then he realized that Julian might not want him along.
"There aren't too many places to go here," Julian said.
Rob didn't know what he meant. "There is a ton of countryside to explore."
Julian looked over to Danny. Maybe he didn't want to take him on another car ride. "You can go hiking. Maybe take a walk by the river," Rob said. He excluded himself so Julian wouldn't feel obligated to have him join them.
Julian noticed and gave him a questioning glance. "What about you? If you'd like to drive anywhere, you can take my car," he offered.
Rob wasn't really interested in a solo drive. "No. I'm good." Maybe he would go back to the house and see what there was to do online.
"You're welcome to join us on our walk," Julian said tentatively.
Rob couldn't tell if he was only making the offer because he felt he had to.
Noticing his confusion, Julian tried to clear things up. "You never have to spend time with us unless you want to."
Rob sighed as he realized that both of them were trying to let each other off the hook. "But you wanted my help with Danny, right," he reminded Julian and looked down at the little boy who didn't seem to be following their conversation. "Who knows what he might get up to."
"I'll definitely need help with Danny," Julian said while Danny waited quietly for their negotiation to be over.
They both smiled down at his patient expression under the yellow hat.
"The three of us are going to go for a walk together," Julian told him, and now Danny smiled too.
They walked over dry fields and then down to the riverbank. There was a gravelly path and some wood planks over the muddy areas. Holding both Rob and Julian's hands, Danny walked between them and squinted at everything in the bright, autumn sunshine.
"This is the same river we saw from the window at the house," Julian told him.
"Same one?" Danny said like he couldn't quite believe it.
As they walked along the river, they reached an area next to a shallow stretch of water where Julian let Danny go and play. Throwing pebbles into the river, Danny was saying "splash" after each one.
With him a little ways off, Julian said to Rob, "This is probably boring for you."
"No, it's nice. We're all getting some fresh air. On a midmorning on a Sunday, what am I going to be doing? Playing video games?" Rob said. He didn't want to say that he just liked being out with Julian and Danny, but that was the truth.
"But if you didn't move here, I bet you would have plenty to do," Julian said.
"Actually, I'm glad I got to get away. Things were not going great for me in the job department or personally." Rob didn't expect to tell Julian about it, but he confessed to him anyway. "I made the mistake of getting involved with my roommate. He wanted to keep pretending he was a hundred percent straight, so he freaked out on me, wanted me out of there."
"Sorry to hear that," Julian said, but Rob couldn't read his expression.
He decided to shift the focus off himself. "You must have some friends around here you'll want to look up and introduce to Danny." Rob pointed to the little guy who was throwing pebbles in a clumsy, overhand way that didn't send them flying very far.
Julian shook his head. "No. I don't have any friends here."
"No friends from school?" Rob said, surprised.
"I never went to school here. I was sent to an all boys boarding school," Julian said.
"That sounds interesting. You didn't like it?" Rob said as he remembered that Julian mentioned having a bad time at school.
"No. It was miserable. I was too quiet. I didn't fit in so I was bullied relentlessly. When my grandfather found out – not from me, from the school – he told me it was my own fault, that I brought it on myself, and to toughen up. Of course he was a bully himself. It was because of his influence I learned how not to cry in front of the bullies at school, how to put up a wall to keep the pain in and everyone else out."
That sounded so terrible. It made Rob want to revert to his younger self again and just punch the hell out of some bullies. "Wasn't there anyone who could protect you? What about your parents?"
Julian looked at Danny playing just out of earshot and looked so sad. "My mother abandoned me after I was born, and my father did almost the same thing. Though he did visit occasionally to bring me gifts, take me places, then he disappeared. Between his visits, he sometimes seemed as real to me as Santa Claus. My father left me to be raised by my grandfather. That way everyone got what they wanted. My father had his freedom and my grandfather got to mold me in his own image."
"Obviously he failed," Rob said offhande
dly. To him, it was clear as day, but Julian looked doubtful. "Ask Danny if you don't believe me. Hey Danny, is Julian a nice guy?"
"Yes," Danny said immediately.
Moving on together, they watched leaves float in the water then Rob spotted a half submerged log. "Do you think that might be an alligator?" he asked Danny.
"Crocodile," Danny said.
"So it's a crocodile. OK," Rob said. "Should we wave to him?"
Danny waved and so did Rob. But they had to stare at Julian for a little bit before be joined in. "Doing silly things is good for you," Rob told him.
Julian looked skeptical about that, and they kept going along the riverbank. Up ahead an old man with a fishing pole was sitting in a folding chair. Seeing the old fisherman, Danny pointed excitedly. "I know what he's doing. He's trying to catch the fishes."
"I think that's Mr. Jasper," Julian said, recognizing the old man. "We can go say hi to him."
Danny took his hand, and they all went over to the fisherman. As they approached and the old guy noticed them, he quickly covered up the bucket next to him before Danny could see anything. Rob had caught a glimpse of some fish wriggling. Nice of the old guy to make sure Danny didn't see them. Julian noticed and gave him a grateful smile. "Hello, Mr. Jasper."
"Huh, so you know me," Mr. Jasper said as he returned Julian's smile.
"I'm Julian Brenner."
Mr. Jasper nodded like he recognized him now. "Of course you are. Look at you all grown up and with a son," he said seeing that Danny was holding his hand.
Danny shook his head and Julian corrected Mr. Jasper. "This is Danny, my little brother."
"Nice to meet you, young man," Mr. Jasper said to him. He then blinked at Rob. "And this handsome fellow must be your boyfriend," he said to Julian, who got a little flustered. "Or is it husband?"
"I'm just Julian's assistant. My name is Rob," he told Mr. Jasper and shook his hand.
"Oh no. I got it wrong again," Mr. Jasper said and he looked down at Danny who smiled up at him.
Mr. Jasper and Julian chatted for a little bit and then the three of them continued along the river.
