Four

by Tia Fielding

  “Hey, whatever works for you,” Emil said, and smiled warmly.

  “Here’s your drinks, and I’ll bring you the food in a minute,” Leah said, setting down their drinks, and walked away again.

  They had a view to the door from the booth—or rather, Kaos did, with how he was facing. So when an older guy, around Leah’s age, walked in, he immediately noticed.

  The man had a silver-fox quality, and the way he held himself immediately called to something inside Kaos. His no-nonsense posture that wasn’t quite military and the way he smiled at Leah suggested that he was a good guy.

  “What are you looking at?” Makai asked, turning to look. “Oh, that’s Doc Donovan, the vet from across the road. He takes care of our cats.”

  “Oh.” Kaos turned his gaze away.

  “He’s gay,” Emil said quietly, smirking at Kaos.

  Kaos chuckled and blew into his latte, then shook his head a little. “Thanks for the info. Don’t think I need it, though.”

  The vet placed his order at the counter and walked toward the window tables. When he got to theirs, he stopped. “Hey, Makai, Emil.”

  “Hi, Doc,” Emil said in a relaxed tone that surprised Kaos a little.

  “Hey,” Makai greeted as well. “This is my friend Kaos. He’s come to stay in town for a bit.”

  Kaos held out a hand and tried not to react to the way the large, warm hand enveloped his more slender one.

  “Welcome to Acker. I’m Doc, the local veterinarian,” Doc said, smiling at him politely. “Nobody wants to learn how my first name is actually pronounced, so they call me Doc.”

  “I’m not Kaos either, although my real name would be easier and require less spelling it out, I think. K-A-O-S. Nice to meet you.”

  “P-A-D-R-A-I-G. Padraig. Likewise.” It sounded more like paw-drig, so Kaos understood.

  Kaos caught an odd look from Makai but decided to leave it for now.

  Doc turned his attention to the others again. “How are Mouse and Spike doing?”

  “They’re pretty great. We need to set up the appointment to snip Spike, though,” Emil said. “Poor boy.”

  “Yes, we wouldn’t want him to repeat his father’s mistakes,” Doc agreed empathically. “Although it all turned out really well, it could have been much worse for everyone, including Mouse.”

  “Tell me about it,” Makai said, and shivered delicately for such a big man.

  “Just call in when you want the appointment, and we’ll figure out a time.” Doc stepped back when Leah came to drop off their plates. “Have a nice meal.”

  “Thanks,” Kaos murmured, already eyeing the meal. Jesus, he was hungry. He practically inhaled everything on his plate, and by the time he made it to the milkshake, Emil and Makai were looking at him with amusement in their gazes.

  “Someone forgot to stop and eat on the way,” Makai observed.

  “Oops?” Kaos felt a bit embarrassed. “I know better, but I got into the rhythm of driving and… you know how that goes.”

  “Yeah. Well, we’re almost done, too, so we can go home next. Unless you want anything from the grocery store?”

  “I can do that tomorrow, if you have the essentials for tonight? I’ll pay for the next bunch of groceries. I know I look skinny, but I eat a lot.” Kaos grinned.

  “Oh yeah, I remember both of us being a bit hungry most of the time in prison. Damn prison grub,” Makai grumbled, and viciously stabbed a piece of tomato and stuffed it into his mouth a bit defiantly.

  Kaos chuckled and shared a look with Emil. “He still eat a horse?”

  “Uh-huh. We try to eat healthy—we have sort of particular diets for different reasons. We can empty you a shelf of the fridge if you want separate stuff, though.”

  “I eat healthy, too, so I doubt it’ll be too different from what I prefer anyway. I don’t like to eat junk. Sticks to my hips,” he deadpanned, making Emil let out a small giggle.

  Makai looked at them fondly, and Kaos felt another surge of love and family envelop him.

  THE DRIVE to Makai and Emil’s wasn’t long, and Kaos parked his Toyota to the side of the small parking space by the cottage.

  He got out of the car as Emil went inside the house, while Makai waited for Kaos nearby. It had stopped raining, but the sky was still a bit gray. Then again, it was probably going to sleet soon, if it got any colder, so Kaos would take the good weather while he had it.

  “Grab your bag and we’ll leave it on the stairs. I’ll show you the property before it starts to snow,” Makai instructed, and Kaos smiled as he did as asked.

  “What was the weird look about when I talked to Doc?” He glanced at Makai when they walked to the shed.

  “Huh?” Makai opened the double doors. “What do you mean?”

  “When he spelled his name, you gave us this look.”

  “Oh, that.” Makai chuckled. “When I was here on the first day, I met Lotte and Joie, and we spelled out our names for each other, because Joie was having a ‘boy day’ so he was Joey.”

  “So that’s their way to deal with the gender stuff?” Kaos asked, stepping inside the shed. The space was so Makai, it made him smile. “This is gorgeous. Everything in its place.”

  “Oh yeah, it’s the only way I can work. There’s stuff in the back there, things I’ve finished lately. And I fix things for people in town too.” He picked up what seemed to be a table leg and held it out to Kaos. “This is part of Leah’s anniversary present from Stuart. She has a table that’s been in the family for a long time, but the legs are in bad shape. I’m making her new ones, and I’ll make sure the top looks as good as possible too.”

  “That’s really nice.” Kaos hummed. “Are you going to carve these?” He pointed at the other table legs on the workbench.

  “Yeah. Forest animals and pinecones and whatnot. A bit of a challenge, but I like it.” Makai grinned. “And when it comes to Joie, I’ll let them tell you more about how their identity works. They might be five, almost six now, but they’re awesome and know a lot more about gender stuff than I ever did.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Come, I’ll show you the lake,” Makai said, flicking off the lights and closing the doors behind them. “There’s firewood there in the small side of the shed. We have a fireplace, and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna get more use soon.”

  “Yeah, it probably gets really cold in here.”

  “Oh trust me, it does. Not that I’ve experienced it yet, but Emil says he wants to make an ice-skating rink on the lake when it freezes over properly. Apparently, once upon a time, he used to love skating and wants to teach Joie too. Jason—that’s the deputy who dates Joie’s mom—used to play hockey. I feel like there will be matches on the lake sooner rather than later.”

  They stopped at the edge of the yard where it started to slope down to the lake.

  “This is so fucking pretty.” Kaos breathed out the words. Sure, he’d enjoyed the nature while driving up the state, but this looked just so… peaceful. “And it’s so quiet,” he marveled.

  “Yeah. That’s Lotte and Joie’s house.” Makai pointed across the lake to where a two-story house sat a bit away from shore. Kaos couldn’t tell any details from this distance, but it seemed nice.

  “They’re your closest neighbors?”

  “Yeah, if you take a right instead of a left when you get closer to their place, you end up using this shortcut of sorts that leads to a bigger road that goes to the camping grounds by another lake to the northeast.” Makai gestured vaguely. “You wanna go down to the dock?”

  “Nah, I’ll wait for a nicer weather.” It was beginning to mist a bit again, and Kaos didn’t want to get soaked. “I wanna meet your kids.”

  Makai grinned. “They’re awesome. Emil’s parents are their grandma and grandpa. Their words, not ours, by the way.”

  “That’s awesome, bro,” Kaos said with feeling. “I know you said your start with his dad wasn’t the most pleasant.”

  “Who can blame him?
I came to town with my baggage, and he’s the sheriff.” Makai shrugged as if it was no big deal, and maybe it wasn’t but….

  Feeling worried suddenly, Kaos asked, “Do you think I should talk to him too?”

  “Yeah. I mean, not because he’ll think you’d be an issue in general….” Makai gnawed on his lower lip for a while as they walked, then stopped Kaos when they got close to the cottage. “Look, something really bad happened to Emil when he was seventeen. It’s not my story, like I said on the phone before, but it was because of some drug trafficking and selling, so….”

  Kaos hissed. “Yeah. I think it’s better if I meet the guy and tell him my story before he digs out my paperwork somewhere or something like that.”

  “Exactly.” Makai opened the door, and Kaos grabbed his bag. They were immediately greeted by meows and loud purrs, at least until the cats realized it wasn’t just their daddy walking in.

  “Uh-oh, is that a stranger?” Emil asked from the couch, then laughed at the cats, who backed away subtly. “Who is that with Daddy Makai?”

  “Hey, kiddos, come here,” Makai said, and scooped up the orange cat with medium-length hair. He turned to face Kaos with the cat in his arms. “This is Spike. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he totally gets it from his dad, because Mouse there is the smartest animal I’ve ever met.”

  Mouse, hearing her name, meowed loudly.

  Kaos put his bag down and knelt on the floor to meet her first. “You’re a pretty lady, aren’t you?” He held out a hand, waiting for the sniffing and the verdict.

  Makai put Spike down, and the boycat walked to Kaos, too, but stayed a bit behind his mother. Mouse brushed herself against Kaos’s hand, then came closer to sniff at his clothes and ended up standing on her hind legs to smell his face carefully. She seemed to make up her mind then and headbutted his chin and chirped at him.

  Makai chuckled. “Aaand that’s the Mouse seal of approval.”

  Having the permission, Kaos stroked her sleek dark gray fur and scratched her behind the ears. Then she stepped aside and let her son come greet their new human friend.

  Spike seemed to want to crawl into Kaos’s lap but couldn’t with how he was kneeling, so Kaos got to his feet and carefully walked around the cats. He went to the couch and sat on the other end, noticing how Emil shifted away a little, subtle though the move was.

  “Am I too close?” Kaos asked, worried that he’d made Emil uncomfortable.

  “No, it just takes me time to relax around new people. As long as you can handle me being spooked occasionally and try not to surprise me, I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay. Good to know.” Then, in the spirit of honesty and sharing because Emil sort of had, Kaos said, “I don’t like quick movements. Anyone raising their hand and that sort of thing.”

  Makai shot him a look from his spot on Emil’s other side and frowned. “I’m gonna ask you about that later if that’s fine?”

  “Yeah, give me a few beers and I’ll talk.”

  Emil chuckled darkly. “We don’t usually prefer that method here, but sometimes it helps.”

  “Or not?” Kaos asked quickly.

  “No, no, it’s okay. Once is fine, and you can drink if you want to. My therapist just prefers us to actually talk about stuff sober and with her in the room. We were being, and I quote, ‘stupid boys’ some time back….” Emil’s smile was self-deprecating, but there was clear humor in his and Makai’s expression as well, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

  “Well, if you want to join in whenever we talk, that’s okay. I’m in your house, so you should probably know too. We all know how much in the not-my-story-to-tell camp Makai here is,” Kaos said teasingly.

  Emil laughed. “Yeah, okay. That works.”

  “Good.”

  Spike chose that moment to jump onto Kaos’s lap and soon had orange hairs all over his black skirt. He decided to concede defeat right then. This was where he was staying for now, and the cats were here first. Their hair was part of the package.

  Chapter Two

  PADRAIG RUBBED his face and tried to concentrate on the lab results of one of his dog patients. Somehow the young man from the diner, Kaos, kept appearing in his thoughts. Padraig wasn’t sure why. Sure, Kaos had lovely bone structure, and his blond hair and lightly tanned skin were appealing, but Padraig had noticed men before without it meaning anything.

  Hell, he could tell Makai was handsome in his own way, and he was a relative newcomer in town too. Kaos couldn’t be much older than Emil, for fuck’s sake. Even if there was interest—and there certainly wasn’t—Padraig didn’t care for younger men. Twenty-odd years was much too big of an age difference. He wasn’t going to be anyone’s daddy.

  Besides, he’d had love once. The kind that was supposed to last for a lifetime. And it had, if he was honest. It just happened that Marcus’s life hadn’t been as long as his.

  He wasn’t even supposed to be at the clinic, as it was his day off, officially. He just hadn’t been able to bear the empty house that morning, and so he’d sneaked off to town and gotten to work as if it was a regular workday. At least he got some things he normally put off done, as tired and numb as he was getting.

  Padraig forced himself to check the results thoroughly and record the findings. Then he sent a text to the dog’s owner to tell them the animal was doing fine and they should set an appointment for next month for another blood test. He doubted anything would be wrong, but sometimes you couldn’t be careful enough.

  He powered down his computer and went to the front of his little clinic to turn off the machine there. The door was locked already—had been for hours. He’d just been procrastinating going home, as usual. He went to the back again and looked at the door leading to the other side of the building. Part of him wanted to go there. It was empty now—had been for four years. Marcus’s health clinic had been there, and for a year after his sudden passing, Padraig hadn’t been able to clear it out. It had taken Marcus’s brother coming over to sort through the stuff that was left and handle the clearing out and selling of the usable equipment to make Padraig realize Marcus was really gone.

  He resisted the urge to look into the dark, empty space and made himself turn the lights off and leave his clinic instead. The drive home was short, less than ten minutes, and over much too soon. He turned off the engine of his 1995 Land Rover Defender—he needed it for any house calls in remote areas—and looked at the dark log house on the small incline.

  Padraig sighed and got out of the car, then trudged up the fifteen steps from the parking space to the front porch. The house was gorgeous—always had been. It was why they’d chosen it when they’d moved into Acker twelve years ago. It had been moving back for Padraig—his family was from the county, and a lot still lived there—and Marcus had loved him enough to come with him.

  Padraig went inside the house and mechanically started his routine: come home, turn on the lights he needed, eat something, watch some TV, keep his phone on in case of emergencies, nod off on the couch, go take a shower, go to bed, toss and turn until he fell asleep.

  At forty-seven, he sometimes felt older than his dad seemed to be at seventy-five.

  That night, Padraig read in bed for a while. He tried to get into the gay romance novels his sister had suggested he try, but they were all so… foreign. They weren’t about men like him. The main characters were always people like Makai, or maybe even Kaos. Beautiful, young guys who seemed to know who and what they were, or at least were close to figuring those things out.

  Padraig… well, he was old and set in his ways and still heartbroken. He didn’t know who he was without Marcus. He knew he was gay—had known since he was eleven. He’d also known he’d found his forever love when he’d met Marcus at college. He just hadn’t known forever would only last twenty-three years.

  He put the book away, turned off the light, then checked that his phone was really charging and the sound was on, just in case.

  HE WOKE up without an a
larm, because it was a workday and that was just how his internal clock functioned. His clinic was open four days every week—Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday—with an assistant—a vet tech when he could hire one, or a regular receptionist when he couldn’t—on Thursdays and Saturdays. He’d circulated the days until they seemed to, well, work. He always had his phone on for emergencies and had a steady client base in the county. He was a good vet, he cared, and maybe he didn’t have many other things in his life, but he was liked there.

  Since it was Thursday, he made himself breakfast and a mug of coffee, then ate it at the breakfast nook at the bay window in the kitchen. It had been one of Marcus’s favorite spots in the house. It was still bittersweet to eat there, but he forced himself to try to… live.

  Even though he had no pressing need for it, he got to work half an hour before the clinic officially opened. Fifteen minutes later, his current assistant, Athena, walked in through the back door.

  “Hey, Doc,” she greeted him, looking a bit worse for wear, but it was pretty much her normal appearance before ten in the morning anyway.

  “Hi. I put the coffee maker on for you,” he replied, and watched as she perked up visibly. “Can you go through the clinic emails and see if there’s anything important, and call the Norths to check up on the puppies and the momma for me? I have the first client coming in at nine sharp, so let’s hustle once you’ve got some caffeine in you.”

  She marched to the coffee maker and filled a large mug, then went through to the front to open and get ready. She’d get verbal after the first mug was empty.

  Padraig had lucked out with Athena. Not only was she willing to come in twice a week, but she was studying to be a vet tech. Even though he doubted she’d choose to work somewhere like Acker, she had promised to do part of her training there just to help him out some more. At least that was the plan now. Who knew what the future would bring?