According to Design

by Nicole Dennis

  “Sorry about that,” Wyatt mumbled against the back of Keegan’s neck where he’d tucked his face. “Just ignore it.”

  “They do have a mind of their own.”

  “And always pointed toward one thought.”

  They laughed together.

  When he didn’t feel Wyatt’s arm, Keegan fumbled under the covers until he found Wyatt’s hand and tugged it over him. He snuggled further and smacked a pillow into shape. “Hmm. Better.” He kept their fingers clasped as he slipped back into a far more peaceful sleep in Wyatt’s embrace.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Since he didn’t want to leave Keegan alone when he was supposed to be keeping an eye on him, Wyatt went to his studio in the morning, signed off on whatever paperwork he needed to with Marissa, then boxed up enough supplies, tools and designs to work on the smaller pieces for the Charm. He tossed a special cloth in the trunk to protect the table at home. He looked around the downtown area.

  Fabulous spooky decorations filled the streets—jack o’ lanterns, spider webs, bales of hay with pumpkins and scarecrows, ghosts and creatures of all types flying from trees, signs and posts. He checked the gallery windows. Marissa had turned the gallery into a haunted shop once again.

  “When is Halloween?” he called out.

  Marissa leaned off to the side with raised eyebrows. “Are you kidding me?”

  He shook his head.

  “Of all people to forget.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Next Saturday. The big costume party and festival is happening in the clinic’s parking lot. Starts at three with trick-or-treating for the little kids and goes from there. You always have a crazy costume and go with your friends.”

  “Shit. A lot has been on my mind.” Wyatt raced back inside his workroom and looked around at all the different odds, ends and pieces he’d stored. “Costume. Costume. Costume. Crap, I have Keegan and Collin. Would they even…?” He waved his hand and grinned. “What could be better than them? Zombie-fied.”

  “Is that even a word?” Marissa asked.

  “As of five minutes ago, yes!” Wyatt crowed. “Everything has to be zombie-fied.” He rubbed his hands together and let out an evil cackle.

  “Oh shit, what are you planning?” Marissa asked when she heard his cackle.

  “Nothing,” Wyatt sing-songed as he dashed about to get what he needed.

  “I feel so sorry for your poor victims.”

  “Shad-up, this will be awesome!” Wyatt stared at what he’d got and thought about what he had back home, ticking down a mental list and coming up short. “Damn, I need to get to the stores.” He grabbed what he could then raced away. “Bye!”

  It took another hour to get the pieces for his fabulous set of costumes from the different stores. He managed to carry everything inside the house and dropped it all over the dining table.

  At the far end, Keegan scooped up his netbook, probably to make sure no one could knock it around. “What is all this?”

  Collin climbed over the sofa then crossed the room to poke into the bags. “Whoa! What’s all this crap?”

  Wyatt smacked his hands together then rubbed them again. “Halloween. Boys, we got work to do.”

  Keegan blinked once. Twice. Then he looked at Collin. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

  Collin shrugged.

  Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Halloween is next Saturday. The town always goes big. Haven’t you noticed all the decorations filling the streets?”

  “It’s for kids. Little kids so they can get high on sugar,” Collin said.

  “Puh-lease. That’s the simplest part of the celebration. Kids can go trick-or-treating earlier in the day. For the older folks there is far more than a sugar high. There is a huge set-up in the clinic’s main parking lot. Booths galore, games, haunted houses, a hayride, contests for costumes, carving pumpkins and anything else. There will be music and dancing throughout the night.” Wyatt rubbed his hands again. “I can’t believe I almost forgot Halloween was coming up. I’ve been lost in so many projects. I’m usually prepping my costume for weeks. Now I have to rush through it and bring in the both of you.”

  “What? Bring me into what?” Keegan asked.

  “You’re gonna do what?” Collin asked.

  Wyatt turned and faced them. He planted his hands on his hips and glared. “Please tell me you two aren’t going to hide indoors and miss out on all the fun. I’m not going to listen to excuses.” He lifted a hand to point his finger back and forth at them.

  “I’m a teen—”

  Wyatt let out a nasty buzzing sound to stop Collin. “Kids from the high school swarm all over the place. No excuses for being a stuck-up attitude-filled teen.”

  Collin gave him a nasty face that spoke of payment. The bad type of revenge payment.

  “I don’t do crowds or costumes, Wyatt.” Keegan held his hands up in defense. “Never.”

  “You’ll be with me. Please, pretty please,” Wyatt said, batting his lashes.

  “Oh, like that is not just damn weird,” Collin said.

  “Should I give in?” Keegan side-whispered to Collin.

  “If not, he’ll get worse.”

  “Come on, have some fun with me. Lemme show you the fun side to Shore Breeze,” Wyatt said.

  “What exactly are you planning for a costume?” Keegan asked. “I can’t wear a mask with my glasses. Plus, masks have a tendency to freak me out. I’m being truthful of that.”

  “What about a wig?”

  Keegan blinked again and fiddled with his glasses.

  “Do you need your glasses on all the time? Or are they for reading or something?”

  “All the time,” Keegan said.

  “We can work around them. Would ruin things a bit, but…” Wyatt tapped his foot.

  “You’re not taking my glasses away.” Keegan said.

  “We’ll work with them.”

  “Uncle Wyatt,” Collin said, stretching out Wyatt’s name until he looked at his nephew. “What are you planning?”

  “Zombies.”

  Collin lifted an eyebrow.

  Keegan stepped back and wrapped his fingers around the edge of the table.

  “What? What’s wrong with zombies? We’ve watched The Walking Dead together every week since you got here, Collin. We’ll introduce it to Keegan,” Wyatt said.

  “The Walking Dead? That crazy TV show? Oh no. No. I don’t think that’s my style,” Keegan said.

  “Keegan,” Wyatt said on the edge of a whine. He sighed and stepped over to Keegan. He cupped Keegan’s face with his hands. “Why are you being so scared, hon? You don’t have to fear things. You wade through the most horrible crime scenes to find that one piece of evidence that nails the sneakiest criminal. You stand in front of multiple classrooms full of cranky teenagers to show them science is all around them.”

  “Hey,” Collin said and stopped when Wyatt glared at him. “Okay. I’m umm… I’ll go back to the sofa until this little moment is done.” He took a few steps back until he ran toward the living room and leaped over the back of the sofa.

  “Collin, would you please stop doing that? You’re going to get hurt,” Wyatt said. He added a shake of his head. He concentrated on Keegan.

  Keegan’s eyes remained closed with tears streaming down his cheeks. He wrapped his arms around his body, almost shaking.

  Wyatt stared at him. “What the hell?”

  Laughter burst out from Keegan when it escaped. He collapsed to the ground, holding his belly as he continued to laugh harder. He waved a hand toward Wyatt’s face. “Your…face… Expression… You thought…” He tried to talk but the total glee overwhelmed him.

  Wyatt crouched down and poked Keegan’s side with a finger. “Why you little…” He stopped when he realized what Keegan had done to him. “You’re horrible.”

  Keegan continued to roll with his laughter.

  “Did you know anything about this?”

  Collin peeked over the sofa.
/>   Wyatt caught him in the act. “Nephew…”

  Raucous laughter erupted from the sofa.

  Wyatt threw his hands in the air and plopped on his ass to wait them out. He tapped his fingers on the floor as he stared at Keegan. “Are you done yet?”

  Keegan pushed himself to a sitting position, tucking his feet Indian style and let out a happy sigh. “Ahh. I needed that. Collin and I talked while you were out. He knows you’re a Halloween nut and said we should play off on it. It was all him.”

  “Hey! You weren’t supposed to tell!”

  Keegan waved Collin’s shout away. “Guess we got you pretty good.”

  Wyatt grabbed Keegan’s shoulders and yanked him for a hot kiss. Keegan let out a surprised ’oomph’ sound but happily returned the kiss. When he pulled back, Wyatt lifted an eyebrow. “Does this mean you watch The Walking Dead?”

  “Until I saw you, Daryl Dixon was my man. Such a crush on him. Though, it’s between him, the dashing Captain America and the snarky Star-Lord. So many to choose from,” Keegan said, followed with a sappy sigh.

  “You goon,” Wyatt said and smacked Keegan’s shoulder in a playful manner.

  Collin raced over and dropped to the ground next to them. “So. What’s the big idea for the costume?”

  Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “Now you want to be in on the action?”

  “Umm. Yeah,” Collin said. “Duh.”

  “All right then,” Wyatt said and held out his hands for a dramatic pause. “The Three Stooges come back from the dead.”

  Collin and Keegan stared at one another then back to Wyatt. Stupefied looks covered their faces.

  “What? Not good enough?” Wyatt asked.

  “A little cheesy, don’t you think?” Keegan asked.

  “Cheesy? But we’ll be Zombie Stooges. I got stuff for the costumes and makeup and everything.”

  “Zombie Stooges?” Keegan repeated.

  “Don’t like?”

  Keegan wiggled his nose. Collin shrugged.

  Wyatt sighed. “Come on, you guys.”

  “Any other options?” Keegan asked.

  “We have to be original. That’s the whole point of the festival. To take things up a notch in the costume department. Do you know how many Marvel, Star Wars and whatever hot movie characters will be walking around? Please…” Wyatt waved his hand. “No one will think about turning The Stooges into zombies.”

  “Not unless you’re a total dork,” Collin muttered.

  “I heard that, dear nephew,” Wyatt said.

  “Does anyone even remember The Stooges?”

  “Please. Any time a group of men get together, it’s either sports or The Stooges. It’s a tradition. We’re turning it on its head.”

  Collin dropped his face in his hands. “Mortified. I’ll be mortified. I’ll shove myself into a locker.”

  “Calm down and listen to me, dear padawan,” Wyatt said. His tone was light and teasing. He patted Collin’s head a couple of times. “Ye of little faith in the master of costumes. Your great teacher knows all.”

  “He’s the teacher,” Collin muttered, pointing a finger at Keegan. “You’re a guy who beats metal into weird shapes.”

  Wyatt blew a loud raspberry.

  * * * *

  After having fun teasing Wyatt, Keegan helped him create the costumes for all three of them. They put Collin to work on the wigs for each character. When they’d finished most of the work, Collin escaped to play Black Ops with Lucas at his place.

  Together, they went to Wyatt’s studio. Keegan settled to the side. Wyatt went straight to work on the metal and glass window for Southern Charm.

  “Can I help?” Keegan shoved his stool closer.

  “Sure,” Wyatt said. “Put the apron and work gloves on for protection.”

  Keegan tugged on the heavy apron and secured it behind his back then tugged on the gloves.

  “Good. I need you to use this heat gun to help create some stained-glass ornamentation.” Wyatt set Keegan on a different table. He placed shards of glass inside an upgraded version of cookie cutters in multiple shapes. With the heat gun, he melted the glass together inside the cutter. “Use any combination of these shards. The more variety the better. To add a bit of sparkle or gold touches, use the chemicals from the coordinating bags.”

  “Do you want anything special?”

  “Just a bunch of these seashells, starfish and coral shapes. I’ll use them to create dimension and fill in the lower levels of the beach and ocean. Set up a tray and I’ll cool them to add to the piece. Okay?”

  “Do you trust me to do all this? This looks like an important part,” Keegan said.

  Wyatt smiled and tilted close to plant a kiss on Keegan’s mouth. “Use your chemistry knowledge. Have fun. I need to finish the framing.” He returned to his table and pointed at Keegan’s project. “Get to work.”

  “Yes, sir,” Keegan said and studied the piles of colored shards. He adjusted the cutter shapes on a metal tray then dropped different shards within each piece. He looked through the bags of dust and grinned. “Oooh. You gave me chemicals to play with.”

  “Isn’t there a rule in the lab? Don’t blow up the lab?” Wyatt asked.

  Keegan grinned and chuckled. He could give Wyatt colors beyond the shards of glass. He knew how to mix the chemicals with clear glass for a multitude of shades. A few measured scoops of particles sprinkled across the shards. Each batch set in a different cut-out shape. Then it came time to add the heat. He picked up the heat gun and pointed it at the first cutter. Sparks flicked up from the cutter.

  “Umm. Perhaps you should use the glasses,” Wyatt said.

  “Since I’m doing some lab experiments, I think you’re right,” Keegan said in a teasing tone. He picked up the gloves and set them in place. He pulled the tray closer and concentrated the gun carefully on each piece. At times, he added a few extra chemicals to get the right shades or effects. Once he’d melted everything into the molds, he pushed the tray aside then set up a second one.

  “You’re getting the hang of it,” Wyatt said by the time Keegan had pushed over a third tray. He used cans of condensed spray to further cool and freeze the glass.

  “I like this. It’s all chemistry.” Keegan had gotten used to handling the shards and bags to get the variety—he wanted to give Wyatt options.

  While he melted more shapes, Wyatt popped the solid pieces out of their molds. After setting up the glass and metal where he wanted, and preparing them, he used flux and the soldering iron to secure everything. In time, he built a coral garden along one side of the picture. It turned into a brilliant 3D effect below the new Southern Charm logo. He’d already created bright gold and red shaded rays to build the sun. Frosted glass surrounded the letters. Metal cut-outs wrapped around the edges in a layered frame.

  “I must say, this is one of your best creations. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Keegan carried over the last tray for Wyatt to use.

  Wyatt blushed under the praise. “Thanks, I do like the way this one came out.” He coiled more copper wire around the new pieces to give the solder something to connect to the main piece. He also used the wire as decorative vines to create movement and flow. He tilted the entire window up to let the light through.

  They backed up halfway across the studio for another perspective.

  “They’ll have thin LED lights around the edges to illuminate the glass. It’s the same way with the special door markers,” Wyatt said. He crossed his arms over his chest and examined the window.

  Keegan stood next to Wyatt, leaning against his shoulder. “I think it’s perfect. Samuel, Dakota and all the rest will love it.” He turned and hugged Wyatt close.

  Wyatt uncrossed his arms and returned the embrace.

  Keegan smiled when Wyatt placed a kiss against his head. There was something special about this man. He yearned to know everything about Wyatt McBride.

  “Guess it’s finished,” Wyatt said.

  “I would say that’s a
definite yes.”

  “Okay. I need to secure and pack the window. Could you place all those keychain charms in a box and add the peanuts?”

  “Sure. I wouldn’t trust me with wrapping that creation,” Keegan said. “I’ll stick with the smaller stuff.”

  * * * *

  A very careful drive later, Wyatt backed the Soul toward the front porch. He went around to the back and picked up the box of keychains.

  Keegan followed him up the stairs. He stopped and pointed at the front doors with the etched glass inserts. “Wyatt, are these yours?”

  “Yup, delivered them the last time I was here. Looks like Sully got them in. They look pretty darn good.”

  “They’re perfect.”

  Keegan followed Wyatt inside. He stopped short when he discovered all the changes. The last time he’d been here, the walls had been ripped to the studs, wires all over place and the electricity knocked out. The sheriff continued to investigate the culprit behind the blackout since Keegan figured out someone had deliberately caused the short. He’d found the charred wires and tool the bastard had used. With the forensic evidence turned over to the sheriff and his detective, Keegan let them hunt down the suspect.

  Since then, the walls had been rearranged, built and painted. The front lobby was open and inviting with a driftwood enhanced desk. There was an opening in the wall behind the lobby where Wyatt’s beautiful window would hang in full glory for everyone to see, even those heading to the restaurant, Delights.

  “This is…” Keegan stopped since he didn’t have the words.

  “Not bad, huh?” Wyatt placed the box on the front desk. He pulled his phone from his back pocket.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Sending a text to find Sully, Dakota and Samuel. I’m not carrying the glass in myself.” Wyatt tapped his fingers on the screen.

  “Can’t you call out?”

  “Why? Everyone has a phone,” Wyatt said.

  Keegan shook his head and laughed.

  “Hey, Wyatt, got the text. Why didn’t you let me know you were coming?” Sully left the hallway leading around to the offices and kitchens.