by Trina Solet
Introductions were made, but Benji's attention was all on the dog. Rosie was excited by the visitors at first then went to lie next to the tree, almost like she was guarding the gifts under there. Joanna greeted Miles very warmly and acted like Gavin's big sister in general. That was fitting considering what Gavin told him.
"Joanna and Dave are Benji's honorary aunt and uncle," Gavin said as he introduced them.
"That means you must have gotten him some seriously cool presents," Miles said with a grin.
"The coolest," Dave said right away but his wife looked at him funny.
"So this must be a gift only a guy could love," Gavin concluded based on her look.
"Benji will love it," she said with a shrug.
"I'm already petrified," Gavin said.
"You'll love it man, you'll love it," Dave assured him with a clap on the back, but Gavin didn't look like he believed that for a second.
"No snow, huh?" Miles said. The only snow was the fake stuff that surrounded some of the decorations.
"We had some flurries but, as you see, nothing to show for it," Dave said and seemed as disappointed as any kid.
"They'll have more than enough at the B&B," Joann said then showed them to the two small guest rooms. Once there she noticed Benji bring out Momo from his backpack. "I see you brought a friend."
"It's Momo. I lost him then me and Miles found him in a store," Benji said and hugged Momo tightly.
"Sounds like Miles has been good to you guys," she said.
"Yes," Benji agreed, then he exclaimed, "Cookies!"
Gavin laughed. "Miles and I will go get them and the rest of the stuff too. You wait here."
"Get the presents," Benji told them. "But no shaking."
"Yes, we'll get the presents and no shaking, I promise," Gavin told him.
Before he left, Miles had one piece of advice for Benji. "Don't let Rosie play with Momo. Dogs use their teeth to hold things, and that wouldn't be good for Momo."
Benji looked worried until Joanna said they could leave Momo in the guest room and close the door.
Once they were outside, Gavin kissed Miles. "Good thinking back there," Gavin told him. "I think you might have prevented a tragedy."
"It wasn't a huge leap from toy to chew toy," Miles said with a shrug.
"I like how you know what's important to Benji and you look out for him."
"Does that mean you'll carry the heavy stuff?" Miles asked as they unloaded some of their things from the car.
Though Miles had arrived there worried about what kind of impression, he would make, he had no trouble relaxing around Joanna and especially the easygoing Dave. Rosie was no problem, of course. Dinner was a rolled pork dish with herbs, prosciutto and dried fruit. Benji had exactly one bite and made up for it by eating plenty of rice and snow peas. Not wanting excellent food to go to waste, Miles asked Benji if he could have his piece of rolled pork and finish it for him. Benji gave it up gladly.
As he took it from his plate, Miles noticed Joanna looking at him funny. "Sorry. I probably just broke some serious rule of etiquette, didn't I?" he said sheepishly and hoped he hadn't embarrassed Gavin or their hosts.
"Oh, no. Not at all," Joanna told him. "But finishing a kid's food is so parental. I see my friends do it all the time with their kids."
Miles wasn't sure what to say to that, but Dave jumped right in. "It's a compliment to your skills, hon. That's some good stuff you cooked up."
"This is really great food," Miles said, but what Dave said made him think of Gavin cooking for him. There was something really special about eating food made by the man he loved. No matter how good, nothing else would ever compare.
Chapter 22
After dinner, when it was time for Benji to go to bed, he didn't go easily. He went over to sit next to Rosie and leaned his head against her like he was fine sleeping right there, cuddled up next to her. "She's warm. I'll be OK with her," Benji claimed.
While Miles took pictures of the adorable scene, Gavin used Momo to lure Benji to bed. "Should we leave Momo all alone then?"
At the mention of his beloved bear, Benji jumped to his feet and hurried off to the guest room. While Gavin stayed with Benji to make sure he wouldn't wake up alone in an unfamiliar place, Dave went to walk the dog in the freezing cold and Miles helped Joanna with dinner dishes.
She was pulling warm dishes from the dishwasher while Miles dried pots and pans. He was working hard to make a good impression.
"Thanks for lending a hand. I need clean dishes and an empty dishwasher for tomorrow," she told him.
"It's just my way of saying thanks for inviting me," Miles told her.
"Any boyfriend of Gavin's is welcome," she said. "Gavin and I were friends since college. After his father, I guess stepfather, disowned him and then his mom died, I vowed to be his family. When I got serious about Dave, I made him take the same vow."
"That's great. I can't believe you two are cooking another dinner for tomorrow," he said seeing how she stacked the serving dishes to the side, ready for their Christmas Day dinner.
"Tonight was just a dress rehearsal. We have a bunch of nieces and nephews coming tomorrow. That will be something. I wish Benji was going to be here to play with them," Joanna said then sighed. "It’s nice to have kids around, but Dave and I are still dragging our feet about having kids of our own. It's scary. But Gavin really surprised me when he decided to adopt Benji and then again with you," she said and turned to beam at Miles. "I think Gavin did good."
"He has good taste," Miles said with a smirk, but he might have been blushing a little.
Going back to the living room, he found Gavin checking his phone and bragged to him. "Joanna approved of me."
"I'm not surprised. She did once advise me, 'Forget these boring, business types. Get yourself a cute boy toy.' And you are as cute as they come." Gavin gave him a sly grin then kissed him on the cheek.
"Boy toy," Miles grumbled. A boy toy wasn't someone you stuck with for life, and that was what he wanted. Damn. How did his thoughts turn serious all of a sudden? Judging from his questioning expression, Gavin was wondering the same thing.
Dave came back from walking Rosie, and Joanna joined them so Miles didn't get the chance to talk to Gavin until they retired to the guest room for the night. Miles and Gavin were sharing the same room, though they wouldn't be at the B&B. It might be smaller, but the B&B was still basically a hotel.
That's why Miles wanted to make the most of his time here, sharing a bed with Gavin. Being called a boy toy had unsettled him and brought back all his insecurities about being taken seriously by Gavin. As soon as the door to the guest room was closed and they found themselves alone, Gavin asked him what was on his mind.
At first Miles couldn't even answer. His heart burned with too much emotion that he couldn't express. Finally he managed to say what was on his mind. "This trip and everything we've been doing together means that we're serious, right?"
"Yes, it does. I already told you as much before," Gavin told him and took hold of his hands.
"Right. I just want to make sure that you know I'll stick by you," Miles told him earnestly and looked into his eyes. With only one lamp on in the room, the blue of his eyes was darkened but still beautiful.
"Same here. I wouldn't have told Benji we were boyfriends and I wouldn't be dragging you all over the countryside if I didn’t love you."
"Love me?" Miles was stunned and speechless. He had to remind himself to breathe. "Then I can say it too. I've been dying to tell you I love you. And also this." He gasped out the words then he grabbed Gavin and kissed him. "You made me so happy," he finally said turning earnest and maybe even a little teary eyed. "Wait. When did you tell Benji we were boyfriends?"
"Didn't I mention that?" Gavin asked innocently.
"Yes. That's why I'm so surprised to hear it," Miles said, but he couldn't hide how happy he was. He had been so worried that Gavin would never take him seriously. Now he didn't want to stop kissing
him. He threw his arms around him and joined their lips in a tender kiss.
"You are kind of an unexpected gift," Gavin said as they paused to breathe, and his cold hands slipped under Miles' clothes.
"Cold, cold, cold," Miles complained.
"They'll warm up," Gavin told him and continued groping him mercilessly. As promised, his hands did warm up and his touch turned blazing hot. The feeling spread all through him, burning him up from the inside out.
Just as he had him panting, Gavin pulled away. "I don't know if I can do it in front of an audience." He pointed all around at the pictures of an old lady. "That's Joanna's beloved great-grandmother."
Miles hadn't taken stock of the room before, just stashed his duffel bag in there. Now that he was taking a good look around, Miles saw what gave Gavin pause. It wasn't just one framed photo. Pictures of the little white-haired great-grandma were everywhere. "Why are there so many?" Miles wondered. "It seems like overkill."
"To discourage what we were about to do, maybe?" Gavin said.
"That is diabolical. And sort of effective. Let's turn the pictures face down," Miles said.
"Or we can just go to sleep. We leave early tomorrow," Gavin suggested, giving up way too easily.
"Is this what it's like to be a responsible adult?" Miles asked.
"Yes."
"This shows you how much a love you. I'm sleeping in a room full of grandma pictures and not getting any. There is no greater proof of love," Miles told him. "OK. Let's just go to sleep."
"I agree. Now let me help you get ready for bed," Gavin said and began undressing him.
"Is that what you are doing?" Miles asked as his sweater went over his head.
"Exactly. But my hands might go astray." Gavin demonstrated by brushing his hand over his crotch and then squeezing his ass. When Miles glanced sideways at the grandma pictures, Gavin told him, "Close your eyes. Don't open them no matter what. I'll take care of everything."
And he did. Afterward they were both satisfied and asleep in each other's arms.
Chapter 23
Gavin set his alarm to wake them so early, they were up before Benji on Christmas morning. That must have been a first in human history. When Gavin went in to wake him, Benji sat up hugging Momo with one arm while rubbing his eyes with the other. "Is it snowing?" he asked.
Miles wondered if he had dreamed about it.
"Not yet. But it will be where we're going," Gavin told him. "Let's go get ready."
As soon as he remembered what day it was, Benji grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and scrambled out of bed. Snow or not, it was Christmas morning and there were presents waiting under the tree.
Joanna and Dave were strict about opening presents on Christmas morning so that's what they did after they had breakfast and before they left for the B&B. They were all sitting in a semicircle in front of the tree, surrounded by balled up wrapping paper. Benji insisted on grabbing all discarded papers and balling them up. It was his little neat freak thing kicking in. There were still a few gifts left to unwrap, but Dave already unpacked the remote controlled car he got Benji.
"Yes, Dave does know you live in a fairly small apartment," Joanna said.
"He can play with it at the store," Dave said.
"The customers will love it," Gavin said.
Dave didn't pay any attention to his sarcastic tone. He was busy showing Benji how to work the controls though it might have seemed as if he was just playing with the toy before he had to give it up. Rosie followed the car with her eyes while resting her head on her paws and generally not understanding what all the fuss was about. She already got her gifts, including an actual big bone.
Next up was Miles' gift to Gavin. "This is from both me and Benji," he said as he handed it to him shyly.
Hearing his name Benji came over to see his dad opening the gift.
"This is wonderful," Gavin said and smiled at what he saw – page after page of pictures of him and Benji. "What more could a dad want?"
Still, Miles felt the gift fell short in one department. "Maybe not the most romantic gift..." he started to say but Gavin stopped him with a kiss.
"No. It is romantic. It really is. This gift says that you get me. It's perfect," Gavin told him.
"OK, good. And, as you can see, I picked only the goofiest pics of you," Miles pointed out.
"As long as Benji is in them, I don't mind."
"I'm in all of them," Benji said, sounding surprised.
"You're an important guy," Miles told him. Then he flipped to the back where he had a picture of Gavin, Benji and Momo.
"Momo!" Benji said happy to see him.
"He's an important guy too," Miles told him.
"OK. Your turn," Gavin said and handed him a large box.
As with some other big things, Miles was both scared and excited. He unwrapped it and saw that it was a coffee maker. Not too big but slick. "Dude. You are a god," Miles said and gave Gavin a kiss. "Talk about knowing what matters to a guy."
"Glad you like it," Gavin said.
Dave nodded in approval, but neither Benji nor Jonna were impressed.
"That is such an old, married couple gift," Joanna said.
Miles turned to her with a grin. "Then it suits my ambitions perfectly." After last night, he was a lot more hopeful that this whole old, married couple thing was in their future.
Chapter 24
When it was time to go, Benji took his time saying goodbye to Rosie. Then they loaded the gifts in the car and started off for the B&B and snow. They didn't see any for a while though.
"Are we there yet?" Benji asked impatiently.
"You'll know we're almost there when we see snow," Gavin told him.
Craning his neck, Benji looked all around and pronounced, "No snow."
"Well, there's your answer," Gavin told him.
The first signs of snow were patchy and unimpressive, but Benji still asked, "Are we there now?"
Then the views of snow turned endless. The landscape was flat with only silos sticking up into the sky. The snowy fields mesmerized Benji. He was dying to go running and rolling around in all that snow.
"The snow is everywhere," Benji exclaimed and didn't take his eyes off it the whole way.
Closer to the B&B, the two-lane road started winding through the snowy woods. It was a postcard perfect view of the green of the fir trees and pure white snow. Benji stared all around and squealed. "So much snow."
"We are going to make so many snow angels," Miles told him.
"Snowmens!" Benji said.
"Snowmens too," Miles said then he turned to Gavin and spoke with his voice lowered. "He's saying snowmens instead of snowmen."
"I tried telling him it's snowmen, but it didn't stick," Gavin said and then the B&B came into view.
It was a big, impressive house with a huge porch, but Benji only cared about the snow that surrounded it. A few cars were parked to one side of it so they weren't too conspicuous. They pulled in there next to the other cars and Benji had to be unbuckled immediately or he would burst.
As soon as he was free of his car seat, Benji darted out into the snow to the shouts of "be careful" from both Gavin and Miles. The untrampled snow on the side of the house was irresistible to him, and he had to run around in it and watch his own footprints appear behind him.
While Gavin got some of their stuff from the back of the car, Miles went after Benji. Before he could catch up to him, Benji had made a snowball and sent it flying his way.
"You're fast. But you don't have your mittens on," Miles told him and took him by the hand before the tiny, overeager boy escaped into the snowy wilds. They hadn't bothered with mittens since they were going straight inside to check in, but Benji shouldn't be playing out there without them.
The B&B had the look of a fancy, old farmhouse. Maybe it was. Miles could tell it would be interesting to stay there, and maybe a little intimidating too. When Benji stopped suddenly, Miles looked up and saw two guys come out onto the por
ch.
"Don't you remember Allan and Ron?" Gavin asked Benji who was holding on to Miles' hand.
Benji nodded but he didn't look a hundred percent sure. Gavin then introduced Miles to Allan and Ron and they welcomed them to the B&B that was named after them. They all went inside under the sign that read Allan & Ron's B&B.
"And you just used your own names. Not Country Meadow Lark Wren Forest Glen?" Miles asked them.
Ron laughed and startled Benji with his booming voice.
"We kicked around a few different names then decided to keep it simple," Allen said.
As soon as they walked in, Miles noticed that the interior of the bed and breakfast smelled like pine needles and smoke. The pine smell came from the fresh pine boughs that were decorating all the doorways in the foyer. Most of the doors downstairs stood open and Miles saw that the smoky smell was coming from the stone fireplace in the big living room. There was also a dining room that flowed right into a big kitchen.
As further welcome, Ron served them warm apple cider. He was a sturdy, middle-aged guy with thick eyebrows and a graying beard.
"Yup, we definitely have a future Santa Claus in the making," Allan said noticing how both Miles and Benji looked at him.
At his words, Benji's eyes went wide, as if he might truly be standing in the presence of the real Santa Claus.
"When I get old, I will definitely play Santa," Ron told him and Benji approved of that plan.
From the kitchen, they followed the skinny and tall Allan to the foyer to check in. There wasn't a proper reception desk only a roll top desk in the corner. Allan sat behind it and checked them in. He handed them their keys and had them sign the guest book.
"Me too," Benji said once Gavin and Miles were done putting down their names.
"Do you know how to stay inside the lines?" Miles asked him.
"Of course I do. I'm in kindergarten. I know lots of stuff," Benji said.
