Chapter 12
“You two are SUCH a cute couple!” Mel squealed, grasping Farley’s hands. Miles rolled his eyes a bit as Farley squeezed her hands and beamed at her.
“Aren’t we? Miles is so handsome, of course; and I try to be as cute as I can,” he said, preening. He fluffed his blonde curls with the fingertips of his free hand.
“Well, you are. You’re so cute that I just want to eat you all up. But I leave that to my brother,” Melanie added merrily, shooting Miles a laughing glance.
Farley giggled. “Yeah, Miles is really good at that,” he replied dreamily, also glancing at his boyfriend.
“Lucky! My last boyfriend certainly wasn’t,” Melanie remarked, making Miles give her a horrified look. This was NOT a conversation that he wanted to be a part of, especially not in a public place!
Farley looked sympathetic. “That’s terrible. So you’re not seeing anybody now?” he asked her intently.
She shook her head. “Nah. I’ve been too busy with schoolwork and my part-time job to bother to look for anybody. College guys are mostly useless, anyway,” she went on with a grimace. “All they care about is partying and ‘getting some’, not about anything more serious. I could have had tons of casual hook-ups this year if I’d wanted to. But I don’t want that. I’d love a real boyfriend, I swear.”
Farley had an expression on his face that made Miles feel a chill of apprehension race down his spine. Calculating, that’s what it was. Not good! Farley was up to something. But before he could drag the blonde away and interrogate him, he and Melanie began to chatter away at each other at high speed. Miles sat in his chair and felt sweat break out on his forehead. It was a bad idea to let his family get too close with Farley, he could see that clearly. But what was he supposed to do about it? Nothing. He couldn’t order Farley to stay away from his kin, and he had no pull over his mother or sister either. He was stuck watching whatever car wreck came out of these meetings.
Miles sat on a deck chair and watched the scene taking place in his parents’ back garden. His father occupied the chair next to his, but his mother was out on the grass kneeling down next to Farley. The two of them were talking about the flowers that lined the back fence, but most of their attention seemed to be on the tiny, fluffy kitten that his parents had just acquired. His father had rolled his eyes a little when Miles’ mother was telling both him and Farley about the kitten, which she’d adopted from a local shelter. “I guess I’m feeling empty nest syndrome,” she’d confided to them. “Although it’s a bit late to start feeling that, what with Mel being 27 and Miles turning 30 this year. But we spent a lot of the time after they left home traveling and seeing the world, and now that we’re settled back at home again I guess I just need something to take care of. So I got this little guy.”
She’d held up the squeaking ball of fluff, which was an adorable creature with huge blue eyes and a silvery-grey body. Farley had gone all mushy over it, of course. He’d cooed at it and petted it, while Miles’ mother had beamed at him happily. Now they were laughing as Farley held a kitty toy with a feather on it for the kitten to chase around the grass, and the sunlight turned his blonde curls to gold. Miles found that he couldn’t take his eyes off of this tableau. Who was cuter, Farley or the kitten? He wasn’t really sure, actually.
He heard a chuckle, and glanced over at his father. “Nothing like spending an afternoon watching the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, eh, son?” he teased with a grin. He nodded at Miles’ mother significantly. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s STILL the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen,” he added in satisfied affection.
Miles considered his words. “Did you…know that Mom was the one for you when you first met her?” he asked curiously.
“Hell, no,” his father replied amiably, stretching out his legs and sipping at the beer in his hand. “I mean, I thought that she was pretty and all, but I was dating somebody else at the time. And she was kind of sassy, too. She made fun of the clothes I was wearing, which really punctured my ego. I thought that my bell bottoms were da bomb,” he said with a quirk of his lips. “I spent half the evening at the dance club we met at pouting because that girl had laughed at me and asked me if I was smuggling squirrels in my cuffs.”
Miles found himself laughing as well. “I didn’t know that,” he said. “So how did you guys eventually get together anyway?”
His father shrugged. “Oh, we just kept running into each other. It seemed everywhere I went she was there too. Then my girlfriend dumped my ass, and I was drowning my sorrows at a bar and she plopped down next to me on a stool and asked me what was wrong. She’d always sort of teased me before that, but she could tell that I was down and she was really nice. That got to me. I shed a few tears on her shoulder, and she pointed out that there were plenty of other girls out there who would appreciate a great guy like me. I just had to keep looking. She made me feel so much better about myself and the situation. I guess that’s when I realized just how beautiful she really was - not just on the outside, but on the inside as well.”
“So I asked her if she had a boyfriend, and the rest is history. She admitted that she didn’t, and I asked her out. And lo and behold, she actually said yes! I became the luckiest man in the world that night. And it’s only gotten better and better over the years, because that same amazing girl agreed to marry me after we realized she was carrying our son…” he shot Miles an amused look, knowing that his son was sometimes bothered by how close to his due date that his parents had gotten hitched. “Then we had a daughter a few years after that. And every day is a great day, because I get to wake up next to her. Honestly, Miles, the secret to the whole thing is that she makes me happy,” he glanced down to where Farley was crouched on the grass, holding out the toy and laughing helplessly as the kitten batted at it. “Do you have someone in your life that you can say the same thing about? And if so, be smart and keep a hold of him, Miles. Because life will never get any better than that. Take my word for it.”
Miles was silent, also watching Farley. Then he said quietly: “He drives me crazy. But…yeah, he makes me happy too. He makes me smile and he does all kinds of little things to take care of me. I feel better just being around him. Is that love, Dad?”
“It’s close enough for government work, Miles,” his parent replied, reaching to pat his thigh briskly with his free hand. “I mean, you guys haven’t been together very long. It might take you a little while longer to decide if what you feel for him is love. But it sounds to me like you two have made a good start already. That’s all you can ask for at this stage.”
Miles nodded, still watching Farley and the kitten romp together. The most beautiful thing that he’d ever seen…
Farley settled down in the passenger’s seat of Miles’ car with a happy sigh. “Your parents are so awesome, Miles,” he remarked happily. “And the kitten is so cute! I wish my apartment allowed pets,” he added wistfully, “I’ve always wanted a kitty.”
Miles glanced at him briefly. “Why don’t you move? You make more money now; you could afford a bigger place that allows pets,” he pointed out reasonably.
Farley brightened up. “That’s a great idea! But maybe I shouldn’t do it just now anyway,” he said doubtfully. “I mean, I spend most of my time over at your house. I wouldn’t want the cat to be lonely because it always had to be home alone without me.”
Miles frowned a little as he concentrated on the road ahead of him. “We could always take turns staying the night at my house and your new apartment,” he commented after a moment’s thought. “We don’t always have to go to my house.”
“Hmm, maybe. I’ll think about it. Oh, I got the recipe for that fish from your mom. We both liked it so much I thought that I’d try to make it sometime soon.”
“That sounds good,” Miles told him.
“Yeah. Hey, Miles. I know we’re having lunch with your sister again next week. Do you think that I could invite someone along? A friend?”
Miles shot him a wary glance. The blonde had an enigmatic look on his face that rather worried him. “Who? What friend?” he asked suspiciously.
Farley squirmed in his seat. “Weelll…I’ve got this friend named David, we met in college. He’s a really nice guy, and I would have totally gone for him if he hadn’t been straight. He had a girlfriend that he was serious about, but they broke up over a year ago. I think he’s ready for another relationship, and I just thought...”
“You just thought that you’d introduce him to my sister,” Miles finished for him rather grimly. “Farley, I don’t think it’s smart to let you play matchmaker for Mel…”
“Oh, come on, Miles!” the blonde protested vigorously. “How do you know until we give it a try? She might like David! And if she doesn’t, no harm done, right? I wasn’t going to tell him that I was setting him up with someone, just that I wanted him to meet my new boyfriend and his sister. If they don’t get along or anything, they never have to meet again. What’s so bad about that? I really think that Mel will like David.”
Miles looked skeptical, which made Farley frown at him. “Don’t just assume that all of my friends are just like me, Miles,” he said chidingly. “David’s kind of serious and really smart…a lot like you, actually. That’s why I would have gone for him if he’d been gay. He’s just my type. Not as much as you are, though,” he added hastily when Miles frowned forbiddingly. “I’m really glad that he didn’t turn out to be gay, actually; because if he had and we’d dated, I would never have fallen for you when we started working together. Or I would have anyway, and that would have been really ugly. Because there’s no one else quite like you, Miles,” he said softly. “I think I’d pick you every time, no matter who I was with.”
His words made the muscles in Miles’ abdomen tighten treacherously. “All right,” he said aloud, “I suppose we could invite your friend to lunch. What’s he like? What does he do? Is he good enough for Mel?”
Farley giggled at these stern questions. He patted Miles’ arm reassuringly. “David’s a sweet guy. He’s a meteorologist like me, actually. Except he works for the National Weather Service, not on TV. Predicting thunderstorms and tornadoes and all of that. And I think that he’s ALMOST good enough for Mel, and that will have to be enough, won’t it? Because I doubt that you’ll ever find a guy who’s really good enough for her, right?”
Miles shrugged, but his silence said that he agreed with Farley’s statement. The blonde grinned wickedly. “I’d never introduce someone as cool as Melanie to somebody that wasn’t worth her time,” he went on. “I already think of her as being MY sister, too. And you have to take care of your sisters, especially when you’re their ‘big brother’. Right?”
“Yes,” Miles agreed simply.
“I knew you’d see it my way,” Farley said blithely.
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