Love Is Always Write Volume 4
baby crud anymore. Messy little varmints."
Mellady took the napkin from him. "Just drive. You look fine." She crossed her arms and sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"I really was shocked to learn that Phillip had taken off. He'd seemed so steady during our meetings."
"Appearances can be deceiving."
"No, really? Tell me more, oh wise one."
He laughed. God he'd missed his snotty sister.
"Seriously, though, Greg. I'm kind of worried about Emily with just Stefan. The main reason I picked them was they'd seemed so steady. Looking back, I think maybe Phillip wasn't steady and calm when we met; he was just bored. But what if Stefan can't afford to live in that place? What if he takes up with a loser?"
With the string of men she'd grown up with, it made sense Mellady would be worried about that sort of thing. China was drawn to harmless guys, but none of them stuck around. Greg stopped getting attached to the men by the time he hit ten.
He glanced over at her worried face and patted her leg. "Stefan's a hell of a lot better at parenting than China, and he seems to have plenty of money. But I know what you mean. We'll make sure we don't lose track of him. Of Emily, I mean."
"Yeah. And what do you mean we? When are you going back to Switzerland or the Philippines or wherever?"
Now was the time to spill the news. "I've been looking into a more stateside based job. It'll be a lateral move, but I think it'll keep me around more often. I'll probably only travel a few days a month."
She threw the paper napkin she still clutched onto the car's floor—she had always been a slob. Mellady thumped her feet on the floor while she squealed happily. "That is so amazing. Wait until I tell the others. Do they know?"
"Pyeter does. He's not real happy about it, because he liked driving this car ten months of the year when I wasn't around."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, he'll be fine. So? When are you going to tell Stefan you're not flying away?"
"I told you we're keeping an eye on them . I'm not planning to drag them into some kind of inner circle of friends and family."
She made a rude sound. He ignored it.
After he dropped her at student housing, he drove to the office. He worked most days. The job demanded it, and frankly, he didn't have a lot of other things taking up his time. Or he hadn't, until he'd come back home.
Life would be different now. The image of Stefan popped into his head. Just a coincidence.
Over the next week or so, when the thought of Stefan kept returning, Greg managed to distract himself with finding a good apartment, a gym where he could work out, and a friendly bar. He thought he saw Stefan at one of the bars. He even smiled and raised a hand before realizing the guy was older, fatter and didn't have the same darkly rich eyes. He looked Stefan up on the internet, for Emily's sake, and found out he was a pretty good, and popular, writer.
A few weeks later, after work, he found himself driving back to the pretty house in the suburbs. Just to see how Stefan was doing without Phillip. Mellady didn't want to go. She was too busy and he supposed it still had to hurt to see Emily--though Mellady claimed she'd gotten over that loss.
Greg didn't want or need a long-term relationship, at least not one that involved sex. But he didn't have a lot of friends in the area anymore. And none who knew his non-secret.
The door was opened by a young…twink. The guy had the skinny body and bleached blond hair. He even had eyeliner and leather collar. And he held Greg's niece close to his body.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Where's Stefan?"
"At work." He looked him up and down. "I don't play on the job, but I'm off in an hour."
"Who is it?" Stefan came down the stairs. He wore jeans and a T-shirt depicting a monster eating a cupcake. He was barefoot and Greg could see tan and the pale lines of sandal on his high arched feet. Greg looked up into the dark eyes. The mouth he'd recalled as expressive was pressed in a flat line.
"Greg!" He didn't sound particularly pleased. "Can I help you? Come in. Pete, you said you two were going for a walk. Do you need help with the stroller?"
"No, honey." The young man laughed. "I can tell when you want me and the babe off the premises. We'll go for an hour, I promise, but longer than that and I get overtime. And don't tell me. I know--no sun will shine on the precious." He went toward the kitchen singing a song from Mary Poppins. The back door slammed.
"So who's Pete?"
"The babysitter."
He'd
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