A Fool and His Manny

by Amy Lane

  Sunset Beginnings

  IT took the “grown-ups” an hour to pound out terms. Dorothy Gregory swept out of the office, Mr. Corso in tow, and grabbed Cal by the upper arm without warning, hauling him away.

  Dustin stood up and shouted, “Hey!” but they were gone by then, and he sat back down, seething.

  The conversation between Quinlan and his brother had broken his heart.

  He’d always known he was lucky. He’d always known he was blessed. But if he hadn’t, knowing Quinlan, swaggering his way into the fortress of Quinlan’s heart, would have shown him that the center of his swagger, the core of his confidence, came of being a much-loved child in a family that loved all children.

  Dustin sank down into his chair and wrapped his arm around Quinlan’s shoulders and held him tight. “We’ll see him again,” he soothed.

  “Next weekend,” Channing said cheerfully—but he squeezed Quinlan’s other shoulder carefully as he walked up. “We’ll tell you the details at dinner.”

  “Dinner? Oh my God, I’m starving!” Felicity walked up to Channing, Letty in tow, and they started the exodus. Channing told Dustin to head on to dinner—a steak house in Old Town—and they’d talk about the particulars in the morning.

  “Good,” Dustin said quietly. “Quin’s done.”

  “You held up really well in there,” Channing said to Quinlan. “I….” He glanced around, making sure they were unheard. “We had to go through family court, when Sammy was a kid. It’s rough. It’s harder than you even think it’s going to be going in. And you made good decisions and then left the rest to people you trusted. You did good.”

  Quinlan nodded at him and smiled faintly. “Thank you. I… there’s not a good way to say thank you for this. For what you did. For… for any of it.”

  Channing shrugged. “It was worth it to make sure Elena and Belinda have you next year.” He grinned then, and Dustin saw the same glow in his face about the new children that Dustin had seen in Quinlan’s. “We’re going to have babies again. Tino will be thrilled.”

  Quinlan’s smile grew stronger. “He’s welcome to help.”

  Channing tilted his head back and laughed, and was still laughing as he rounded up Tino and Mr. Wainscott and urged everybody back to their waiting vehicles.

  Dustin pulled Quinlan quietly out of the law offices and down to the street. They walked in the lowering light of the city before footsteps behind them drew even. Dustin had been waiting for them.

  Sammy met Dustin’s eyes and he looked at Quin, who had been silent most of the way.

  “Q, you up to a walk across the park?” Sammy asked.

  Quinlan shook himself and noticed Sammy and Cooper next to them.

  “Sure—you guys with us?”

  “Well, Tino took the kids, and Channing wants to dish with Mr. Wainscott some more. I don’t understand anything they’re talking about. God, I was glad you bailed.”

  Quinlan chuckled, the sound warming Dustin’s heart. “Well, it takes a good friend to sit with you through something like that. I was only doing my part.”

  “You’ve been the best, Quin,” Sammy said, sincerely enough to give Dustin sugar shock. This was why Quinlan needed a Dusty in his life—someone with edges, a little bit of gruffness. He was tougher than he thought, and putting up with Dusty only proved it.

  “Well, you know, you lent me your entire family—least I could do,” Quinlan joked, but Sammy wouldn’t hear of that.

  “Lent? Like, you borrowed them? No, no, no, no—you need to own us, Quinlan. Nobody in that room is going back. Me and Dustin need to hear you say it.”

  Quinlan’s smile was oddly peaceful—and Dustin, who had been feeling butterflies in his stomach all day for a totally different reason than the ordeal they’d just weathered, suddenly felt calm.

  “Not giving back,” he said. “I said it already—keeping everybody.”

  The Capitol Mall was a really lovely place, even in the fall. Many of the trees were perennials, but the few deciduous trees were dropping gold leaves already, and some of the others boasted purple or scarlet foliage. At the end of the mall, by Fifteenth and L Streets, stood the Vietnam memorial and the rose gardens.

  “All clipped for the year,” Dustin remarked sadly as they passed. “I was hoping they’d let them get all overblown like my mom’s.”

  “Yeah, but this way it’s prettier in the spring. Where are we going?”

  Dustin continued to pull on his hand. “Here—see? Here’s where they set up chairs for weddings, and here’s where the processional happens. One of the guys from the garage got married last year. I was surprised how easy it was to have a wedding here.”

  He stopped at an arbor that faced east, so the sun—which was even with the horizon behind them—didn’t lance through their eyes with bloody intent. Dustin looked around, pleased. It was exactly as he remembered it from his buddy’s wedding.

  It was exactly what he’d thought of when he thought of this moment.

  “So, Q—what about it?”

  Quinlan looked around the space, that serene, quiet smile still in his eyes. Peace. His Quinlan had found peace. Good. Their lives together were going to be filled with a certain kind of chaos—kids and jobs, dreams and plans, traveling and a whirlwind of love and excitement and wanting to do all the things with all the people.

  That kind of life was only fun if the people involved were centered inside, at peace with the lives they’d chosen.

  “What about what?” Quinlan asked.

  Yup. Dustin and his mother had been right. Cute—and even smart. But a little dense about himself and how much he was cared for.

  How much he was loved.

  “Would this place be good to get married in during the spring?”

  From the corner of his eye, he watched as Sammy and Cooper backed up and pulled out their phones, and for the first time in his life, he was afraid of absolute humiliation. Getting caught wanking in Quinlan’s bed had nothing on how he would feel if this backfired. Today had been a pretty big day—was Quinlan ready for the big romantic gesture? Could he handle all the happiness on top of all the stress?

  Shit.

  Dustin hated this feeling, this squirmy flop-sweat feeling of rethinking all his life’s decisions. But Quinlan had faced down the person who’d made him feel like nothing that day. He’d stood up for himself and for the little brother he hadn’t known he had.

  He’d been magnificent.

  If he could do that, then Dusty could do this.

  “Yeah,” Quinlan said, limpid brown eyes open and pretty. “It would be really beautiful—I’d like to see a wedding here.”

  Dustin couldn’t help it. He rolled his eyes. “Would you like to be part of a wedding here?” he asked, trying hard not to die inside.

  Quinlan’s eyes opened and closed and opened again. “I thought Belinda was getting married over Christmas. I mean, she’ll be really pregnant in the spring.”

  Fifteen feet away, Dustin heard Cooper snicker and Sammy say, “Oh my God, I don’t believe this.”

  “Oh Jesus.” Dustin had no choice. He dropped to one knee and pulled the goddamned ring box out of his goddamned pocket. “Quinlan Alexander Robbins-fucking-Grayson, would you maybe marry me here in the springtime?”

  Quinlan stared down at him blankly, and then—finally—Dustin saw understanding in his eyes. Quin held one hand to his mouth and tried to control his breathing, and Dustin wondered how many men had just expired in this position.

  “Q, I’m dying here. Please tell me it’s a yes!”

  “You had a ring?” Quinlan asked, palming his eyes. “You… you had a ring in your pocket this whole time, and you… you sat in that room with a ring in your pocket?”

  “Yeah, baby. You had some shit you had to do. Now, yes?”

  Quinlan started nodding. “Oh my God.” He reached out for the little box and opened it to the plain platinum bands inside. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes—”

  Dustin stood up an
d held him, captured his quivering chin, took his mouth.

  He pulled back. “Yes,” he whispered.

  “Yeah, Dusty. Yes. I will marry you.”

  Dustin smiled, closed his eyes, and rested their foreheads together. “I love you so much. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah. I love you back.”

  Both their pockets buzzed at the same time, and they’d check their phones later.

  Sammy had captured that moment, eyes closed, foreheads resting together, the westering sun shooting skyrockets into the gathering clouds.

  He’d added a caption: He said yes.

  And then he’d sent it to the entire family, and the rest of their night at dinner was bananas.

  But it was okay. Quinlan was okay. He was the man in the center of the photograph for once—and he was good at it. He smiled shyly at everyone and repeated the engagement story again and again. He texted Bobbie and Chrissy and told them about it. He got his back slapped and his hand shaken by everybody at the dinner, and the proprietor of the steak house heard about it and gave him and Dusty a free bottle of champagne.

  And Dustin watched him the whole time, heart so full, chest so tight, he wasn’t sure he was still breathing.

  He’d always been lucky. He’d always been blessed. But until this moment, the family he loved giving their blessing to the man he’d fallen in love with when he was eighteen, he hadn’t realized how much good there was in the world.

  A little bit of evil too—while Sammy had taken the pretty picture, Cooper had captured the actual proposal for everybody to hear—but Dusty could live with that. He could live with going down to Redwood City twice a month to take Quinlan’s little brother to family events or hiking or to the beach. He could deal with his stupid sister having the first grandchild because she’d gotten knocked up like family tradition said she would. He could deal with the psycho kittens and the idiots at the garage who brought in perfectly good cars that had been driving on bald tires until the chassis melted.

  Dustin could greet pretty much everything in his life cheerfully, because Quinlan would be in the center of their own adventure, right by Dusty’s side where he belonged.

  THAT night they hung up their suits to be cleaned and crawled into bed, exhausted. Dustin ran his hand back and forth along Quinlan’s shoulders as they dozed off.

  “Q?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You good?”

  “Are we sleeping in tomorrow?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m great.”

  “You didn’t lose it. I thought you would.”

  Quinlan grunted. “You taught me.”

  “Taught you what?”

  “How not to be afraid. Of everything in my heart, you know? I love you—and it’s huge and scary, but… but you love me back. So I can deal.”

  Dustin smiled. “You know what I was thinking?”

  “What?”

  “We’re going to have so many adventures. It’s like I got butterflies, thinking of all the things in our lives we’re going to do together.”

  “Dusty?” Quinlan’s voice wasn’t so smooth now.

  “What?”

  “I’m… oh man….”

  And he cried. From happiness this time. Pure, unfettered joy.

  Proudest moment of Dusty’s life.

  So far.

  AMY LANE is a mother of two grown kids, two half-grown kids, two small dogs, and half-a-clowder of cats. A compulsive knitter who writes because she can’t silence the voices in her head, she adores fur-babies, knitting socks, and hawt menz, and she dislikes moths, cat boxes, and knuckleheaded macspazzmatrons. She is rarely found cooking, cleaning, or doing domestic chores, but she has been known to knit up an emergency hat/blanket/pair of socks for any occasion whatsoever or sometimes for no reason at all. Her award-winning writing has three flavors: twisty-purple alternative universe, angsty-orange contemporary, and sunshine-yellow happy. By necessity, she has learned to type like the wind. She’s been married for twenty-five-plus years to her beloved Mate and still believes in Twu Wuv, with a capital Twu and a capital Wuv, and she doesn’t see any reason at all for that to change.

  Website: www.greenshill.com

  Blog: www.writerslane.blogspot.com

  Email: amylane@greenshill.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/amy.lane.167

  Twitter: @amymaclane

  By Amy Lane

  DREAMSPUN DESIRES

  THE MANNIES

  #25 – The Virgin Manny

  #37 – Manny Get Your Guy

  #57 – Stand by Your Manny

  #62 – A Fool and His Manny

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Now Available

  The Virgin Manny

  By Amy Lane

  The Mannies

  Growing up and falling in love…

  Sometimes family is a blessing and a curse. When Tino Robbins is roped into helping his sister deliver premade dinners when he should be studying for finals, he’s pretty sure it’s the latter! But one delivery might change everything.

  Channing Lowell’s charmed life changes when his sister dies and leaves him her seven-year-old son. He’s committed to doing what’s best for Sammy… but he’s going to need a lot of help. When Tino lands on his porch, Channing is determined to recruit him to Team Sammy.

  Tino plans to make his education count—even if that means avoiding a relationship—but as he falls harder and harder for his boss, he starts to wonder: Does he have to leave his newly forged family behind in order to live his promising tomorrow?

  Now Available at

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Now Available

  Manny Get Your Guy

  By Amy Lane

  The Mannies

  Starting over and falling in love.

  Tino Robbins’s sister, Nica, and her husband, Jacob, are expecting their fifth child. Fortunately, Nica’s best friend, Taylor Cochran, is back in town, released from PT and in need of a job.

  After years in the service and recovering from grave injury, Taylor has grown a lot from the callow troublemaker he’d been in high school. Now he’s hoping for a fresh start with Nica and her family.

  Jacob’s cousin Brandon lives above the garage and thinks “Taylor the manny” is a bad idea. Taylor might be great at protecting civilians from a zombie apocalypse, but is he any good with kids?

  Turns out Taylor’s a natural. As he tries to fit in, using common sense and dry wit, Brandon realizes that Taylor doesn’t just love their family—he’s desperate to be part of it. And just like that, Brandon wants Taylor to be part of his future.

  Now Available at

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Now Available

  Stand by Your Manny

  By Amy Lane

  The Mannies

  Learning to trust and falling in love.

  Sammy Lowell has his hands full juggling his music, college, some pesky health problems, and making the uncles who raised him proud. He needs help fulfilling his after-school duties with his siblings. Nobody can be in two places at once—not even Sammy!

  An injury puts Cooper Hoskins in a tough spot—if he can’t work, the foster sister he’s raising can’t eat. But years in the foster system have left Cooper short on trust, and opening up to accept help isn’t easy.

  Luckily, family intervenes—Cooper needs a job so he can care for Felicity, and Sammy needs someone who can see past his illness to the wonderful things he has planned for his life. Each heals the damaged places in the other’s heart. But falling in love is a big responsibility for young men deep in family already. Can the two of them get past their fear of the immediate future to see forever with each other?

  Now Available at

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Coming in August 2018

  Dreamspun Desires #63

  The Missing Ingredient by Brian Lancaster

  It can take losing everything to
realize what you had all along.

  Up-and-coming London chef Marcus Vine is poised on the edge of success, but the only men courting him are investors. That leaves Marcus with some free time—which is fortunate, because his godchildren need him.

  A year ago, a horrible accident killed Marcus’s best friend, Raine, leaving her children without a mother and her husband, Tom, without a partner. Consumed by grief, Tom has been going it alone, refusing help, but when Marcus sees him out with the children, it’s obvious that Tom and his two daughters need someone. His persistent caring finally wears Tom down, allowing him to accept the comfort Marcus offers. Soon Marcus is up to his elbows in homework, home-cooked meals, and after-school activities. Over time he helps them rebuild their world, until soon their lives are approaching normal.

  Then the unexpected happens: Tom confesses he has romantic feelings for Marcus, and nothing can ever be the same.

  Dreamspun Desires #64

  Rocking the Cowboy by Skylar M. Cates

  Opposites who go together like country and rock and roll.

  Long before he was a superstar, Remy Sean had a secret crush on Jed Riley. But Jed sees Remy as a spoiled pop rocker and an extension of his father’s control. Still, Jed is willing to let Remy hide from the press on his ranch—but only as a way to get his father out of his life and business for good.

  Used to being admired and fawned over, Remy keenly feels the sting of Jed’s dismissal. Can he make Jed see him as more than a pain in the ass? Or is Jed too tangled up in his ranch to see past his old hurt?

  Jed doesn’t believe someone desired by so many fans could want him, a simple cowboy. But Remy is determined to change Jed’s mind and steal his heart….

  Coming Soon to

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com