by Trina Solet
"Then maybe you can check my homework," Miles said and showed him his name.
Benji squinted at it then smiled. "It's like the Miles ornament. It's good."
Allan took them up to show them to their rooms. They had the only two rooms on the third floor, which used to be an attic. The stairs leading up to the top floor were narrow and a little steep.
The bigger room went to Gavin and Benji, but both bedrooms had a their own small fireplace. Going to his own room at the end of the hall, Miles took in the cozy room as he hoisted his duffel bag onto the full sized bed. The ceiling was slanted to follow the line of the roof, the roof beams exposed. The bed was bigger than he expected, probably for the benefit of couples who stayed there.
The room might be small but it was plenty for Miles. Wood beams had been painted white but the grain still showed through. The window was narrow and tall looking out onto the woods, the treetops green and white. Not a bad view. A fresh pine wreath decorated the door and scented the room.
The decor had a whimsical, country look to it. The quilt on the bed had a stylized bird and fox motif. A cat and a ball of yarn were carved into the headboard and a wooden horse served as the base of the lamp on the nightstand. On the wall was a painting of a mouse sneaking up on a plate with half an apple and a wedge of cheese on it.
Miles wasn't sure who all of this was supposed to appeal to. Then he realized that Benji might like the décor even if he didn't. Miles went over to Gavin's room. Poking his head into their more subdued room with two beds in it, he invited father and son to come see his room.
"I like your horse," Benji said right away.
"I knew you would. This horse is a lamp. And see that mouse." Miles pointed at the painting.
"He's going to eat the cheese," Benji exclaimed then stared like he was waiting for the mouse to do just that. "Your room is good."
"We only have some ducklings and a deer," Gavin said.
"They are good too," Benji said, but clearly they only took second place to the menagerie in Miles' bedroom.
"These are all antiques actually. Some of this would be considered folk art," Gavin said and pointed around the room. From what he said, Miles understood that this stuff was probably expensive.
"I don't know if that's a good enough excuse," Miles told him.
"Benji is going to run us ragged. You'll be too tired to do anything but sleep in here," Gavin predicted, but Miles hoped he was wrong.
"I plan to save my energy," Miles told him and gave him a significant look.
Gavin cleared his throat in warning though what Miles said was pretty darn vague. He was keeping it clean. It was Gavin who had his mind in the gutter.
Other than a quick look around and a trip to the bathroom in the hall, they didn't stay inside for long. Dressed for the weather, they headed out. Instead of his usual leather jacket, Miles had on a puffy jacket. Benji approved of it since he was wearing something similar.
Now properly equipped with hat and mittens, Benji ran outside and scooped up handfuls of snow to throw at Gavin and Miles. It might have been two against one, but they didn't stand a chance, though sometimes they did have to step forward so the snowballs would actually hit them. When they moved on, Miles walked a little ahead as their scout so Benji wouldn't step into a hole that got filled with snow or get tripped up by anything.
They went further from the B&B, passing through a clearing. The sun hung bright and high in the clear, blue sky sending down rays that bounced off the snow, dazzling Miles. He squinted at Benji, who was scampering around for the sheer joy of being out in the snow.
"It's picture perfect," Miles said, his eyes taking in the scenery and Benji so happy in the midst of it.
"That's because you're here," Gavin told him. He put an arm around Miles, kissed him on the cheek, and they both watched Benji taking full advantage of being out in the snow.
Chapter 25
As Gavin stood in a snowy field with his arm around Miles while Benji played, he thought how amazing it was that they were all together. Not long ago Miles was only an employee and Benji was in foster care. It scared Gavin when he thought that he might never have taken the steps to adopt him. And Miles was back in his life by pure chance. What if they hadn't gone to Vic's Diner that day?
"You OK?" Miles asked him probably because Gavin was squeezing him too hard.
"Just thinking about fate."
Miles frowned and shook his head slowly. "Too deep, man. Too damn deep. We're just playing in the snow."
Gavin chuckled, and of course Miles was right. He could be grateful for what he had without getting all maudlin about it. The next thing on their agenda was making some snow angels. They covered the field with them and Benji was thrilled. That's what it was all about.
Moving on from there, Benji wanted to explore a nice wooded area. It was cooler in the shade of the trees though sunbeams came down in bright patches that sparkled off the snow. Here they could hear the twittering of a bird and the creaking of branches as they swayed with a light breeze. Pine boughs held onto heavy loads of snow and sometimes let go suddenly, startling Benji.
Seeing him jump, Miles told him. "That's the snow gremlins at work."
"Snow gremlins?" Benji said in wonder.
"They jump up and down to shake the branches and make the snow fall off," Miles said as he pointed to all the branches sagging, heavy with snow.
Suddenly a pile of snow dropped off a branch, and Benji looked that way eagerly. When he didn't see any gremlins, he looked at Miles suspiciously.
"Snowball fight!" Miles announced to throw off suspicion.
They engaged in a snowball fight while using the trees for cover. When Gavin caught sight of Benji stockpiling snowballs, he beamed with pride at his smart strategy.
"Don't make them too tight or you'll take someone's arm off," Miles said.
After a while, Gavin checked to make sure Benji wasn't too cold. He was OK for now.
"I'll get us some warm drinks from the B&B so we can stay out here for a while longer," Miles said.
"Good idea. They'll have a thermos in the kitchen," Gavin told Miles as he jogged back following the trail they had made in the snow. Gavin turned to Benji. "And what should we do while we wait for Miles?"
"Hide and seek," Benji yelled. "I'm gonna hide. You count to ten hundred."
"OK. But don't go too far," Gavin told him.
Benji had some warnings of his own. "Don't count fast, and no peeking." With that he ran off.
"Not too far," Gavin warned him again then started counting slowly. At first he heard little footsteps then nothing but his own voice doing the slow count, as instructed. "Ready or not, here I come!" he announced.
Gavin turned all around and didn't see Benji anywhere. He went in search of him thinking that Benji would be easy to find. It turned out that Benji was better at hiding than he expected. In their snowball fight, they had trampled the snow around there. All the jumbled footprints didn't give him any kind of clue about which way Benji had gone.
When he couldn't find him, Gavin got uneasy. He started calling his name. Even if Benji didn't answer, Gavin was hoping he might make a sound and give himself away, but he heard nothing. The only sounds were the wind, his own footsteps, and his voice calling Benji's name.
Estimating how far he could have gone in that time, Gavin kept going all around the same area without finding Benji anywhere. He went further out, wherever he saw footprints, but he had no luck. It was taking too long and now he was calling for Benji more urgently, asking him to come out. Could he have fallen somewhere, been hurt? Where did he go? Was he lying unconscious in the snow?
Gavin pushed down the feeling of panic. He only lost sight of Benji a few minutes ago. He couldn't have gone that far. He was just hiding. The little guy was right there somewhere, behind one of these trees or snow covered bushes.
That's when he saw Miles coming back with a thermos and two cups. "I lost Benji. Help me find him," he said to Miles urgently.
Miles frowned with worry that reflected Gavin's own, and they split up to look and call for Benji. Finally Gavin heard Miles shout his name. He had spotted Benji and pointed to his hiding place. It was closer to Gavin so he reached his little boy first. Benji was crouching at the base of a tree with bushes hiding him from sight. Gavin's search pattern must have been crap if he didn't see him there. He should have kept a cool head.
As Gavin dropped to his knees in front of Benji, his little guy pouted with his head down. He didn't look happy to be found, but then he threw himself into Gavin's arms.
"Did you get hurt?" Gavin asked.
Benji shook his head mutely. Then he told him what was the matter. "You lost me. I was scared," he said tearfully.
"You were hiding and I was calling for you," Gavin told him and straightened his knit cap a little.
"But I didn't know where you were. You were supposed to find me," Benji complained, not letting him off the hook.
"I did find you. I promise I'll always find you," Gavin said and squeezed him in a tight hug.
"Don't take so long next time," Benji scolded him then looked up at Miles as he came to join them.
"You're small. I hardly saw you there," Miles said. "I guess you got found. Were you scared?" Miles asked Benji on seeing his unhappy expression.
"No," Benji said as he blinked away the last trace of tears from his eyes and pushed away from Gavin a little.
"You just said..." Gavin tried to say but Benji shook his head.
"No," Benji repeated stubbornly. Then he leaned closer to Gavin and whispered in his ear, "Don't embarrass me in front of Miles."
"I won't. Sorry," Gavin stage whispered back and smiled up at Miles. It was funny how much better he felt as soon as he saw Miles coming back. Once he was there, Gavin lost that panicky feeling and became rational again. With Miles helping him, he was sure that they would find Benji and that everything was going to be fine. Being alone and responsible for a whole tiny human being could overwhelm him sometimes.
And Benji was scared too, more than he should have been. Gavin wondered if he was responsible for that. Maybe Benji could hear the fear in Gavin's voice when he called for him.
"Why were you so upset when I couldn't find you?" Gavin asked while Miles opened up the thermos with hot cocoa.
"It's bed if no one can find you. The other kids didn't find me. I was all alone. And when I got scared and cried, they laughed at me," Benji told him.
"Was this in kindergarten?" Gavin asked.
"No. It was before when I was living in the house," Benji said and Gavin knew he meant when he was in foster care.
Gavin wondered if these other kids were tricking Benji by telling him to hide and then not coming to look for him at all. He glanced over at Miles, who returned a knowing frown, confirming that he thought so too.
"I'll always come look for you, and I'll find you no matter what," Gavin promised his little boy.
Miles handed Benji a cup with cocoa. "You can count on me too," Miles said. "I'll look for you and find you, but remember to answer when we call so we don't worry."
"That's right," Gavin agreed. He had almost forgotten to tell him that. It really was a good thing Miles was there. He could be really sensible when it mattered. Gavin got kind of choked up when he thought of how he had come to depend on him.
Another clearing could be seen through the trees, and they headed for it. Perfect white snow was all around. They decided this was just the spot for making snowmen. First they made one little snow angel and two big ones, but didn't litter the field with them like before. Then they got to work on a snowman. It was officially Benji's snowman, but Miles and Gavin helped. When it was built, they used pennies for the eyes and a small pinecone for the nose. When the snowman was done, they stepped back to admire him.
"That is one good-looking snow-guy," Miles said.
"Snowman," Benji corrected him.
"Snow-dude?"
"Man. Snow man," Benji enunciated.
Miles gave it another try. "Snow-bro!"
"Maaaan," Benji intoned making him laugh.
"OK. Now you help me make a snowman," Gavin said. In the end, his snowman had pennies for eyes too but his nose was a twig.
"He's funny," Benji said.
Now that they had two snowmen, Miles asked, "Should we make them fight?"
"No. Our snowmens are friends," Benji told him.
"Snowmens?" Miles said and turned to Gavin. "Wasn't he correcting me earlier?"
Instead of a snowman fight, they made a third snowman. Now there was one for each of them. This one had a twig for a nose too. Seeing all three snowmen, Miles decided there was something missing. He picked apart an old pinecone and used the pieces to give each of the snowmen a smile.
"That was hard work. We better get back and rest up," Gavin said.
Benji was nowhere near ready to stop playing in the snow, but he never would be as long as it was light out. He didn't complain too much though because they still had to make it back to the B&B. On the way they followed the same path and revisited the familiar sights that reminded Benji of how much fun he had. And even the scare of not being found didn't bother him any more.
Reaching the B&B, they stepped up on the porch. Miles rubbed his hands together and stomped his feet to get the snow off his boots. Seeing what he was doing, Benji started stomping his feet too but more like a sumo wrestler.
That's when a light snow started to fall. As snowflakes flitted away on a breeze, Benji followed them with his eyes. He reached out his mittened hands and ran around, chasing snowflakes, trying to catch them as they fell around him. Gavin remembered to take pictures, as Miles joined in.
"You're supposed to catch them with your tongue," Miles said to Benji and stuck out his tongue to show him how.
As evening came on, they got ready to go inside. But first they took in the view of the sunset. From the porch they watched the sun sink into the snowy hills. The sight was only of slight interest to Benji, but Gavin and Miles stood in a tight embrace, like they would never let each other go.
Murmuring his name in his ear, warming his chilled earlobes with his breath, Miles told him, "You have the best ideas, and I love you for it."
"I love you too," Gavin said and he kissed him. He just wished he could feel Miles as he held him close, but it was hopeless through all their clothes.
Once the sun disappeared, they went in for the night and had a very good dinner of lamb chops and wild mushroom risotto. For dessert, Ron served up some cinnamon apple fritters dusted with powdered sugar and even more cinnamon. Gavin wanted no part of them, but Benji and Miles were big fans.
"Since Gavin didn't have any, I have seconds," Ron offered.
Miles seemed about to say yes to that, but then reconsidered. "We had enough. We're good," he said speaking of himself and Benji.
Benji went along with that though reluctantly. Gavin beamed at Miles for being so good for Benji's sake when he clearly wanted more. Remembering the way he used to think of Miles, Gavin was amazed at how much he trusted him now, and not just when it came to dessert.
It was only after he was done with dessert that Miles remembered where they were. "This is a bed and breakfast. What did I just eat?"
"We serve breakfast really late," Allan joked.
Ron chuckled. "It's my fault. After cooking breakfasts day after day, I was dying to branch out."
"Cooking dinner for an audience of one wasn't good enough for him," Allen said.
"I wanted to show off. So sue me," Ron admitted. "Lunch and dinner are optional and not offered every day. You guys signed up for it but the others went out." That explained why they hadn't gotten to meet any of the other guests.
"Tomorrow we'll be going out for dinner. There is a restaurant inside a greenhouse I thought we could visit," Gavin told Miles.
"Good choice," Allan told him. "The place is still all decked out with lights. The food is healthy, but you'll love it." With that last part he turned to Benji and Mi
les.
After dinner, Gavin, Miles and Benji sat in front of the fireplace. Ron and Allen were busy and that left the three of them alone in the living room. Benji was fascinated by the fire and constantly peered through the grate as the flames danced.
"Not too close to the fire," Gavin warned Benji and showed him on the floor how close he could get by pointing at the stones in front of the fireplace.
"We have marshmallows. We have to get sticks for them," he said excitedly. He was ready to go get them right now.
They had brought the marshmallows to roast, but Gavin couldn't allow him to eat any more sugar tonight. "We'll have them tomorrow night," he promised Benji and watched the firelight glowing in his eyeglasses and his eyes as he pouted.
"They'll taste even better tomorrow," Miles told him. "You'll see. We'll look for some good twigs so we can stick a whole bunch of marshmallows on each one."
Benji liked that plan and settled down, leaning against Gavin's side as he sat between him and Miles. Stealing a glance at Miles, Gavin saw his brown eyes turning golden as they reflected the flames. He was beautiful. Too bad they wouldn't have much time together once Benji went to bed. Gavin wanted to stay in the unfamiliar room with his little boy, especially since the old house made strange noises.
When it was time to go up to their rooms and to bed, Allan went up with them and offered to light their fireplaces. Only Miles took him up on it. Benji followed Allan into Miles' room so he could watch the magic. Gavin would probably spend the whole night awake if there was a fire in the same room where Benji slept.
Near the top of the stairs, Miles hung out with Gavin. "You are such a cute, overprotective dad," Miles told him. Then he leaned in close, their faces almost touching, and kept his voice low so only Gavin could hear. "That fire won't be enough to keep me warm. Send me off with a quick kiss."
"Like you're going to let me go after just one kiss," Gavin said, keeping his voice low as well. Avoiding his heated gaze, Gavin closed his hand over Miles' and felt him slump against his shoulder.
