Page 56 of Totally Opposed

“Yeah, I’ve invited some of the guys from the teams to come. So, I guess, once you meet them, they won’t be strangers.”

And with that, the doorbell chimes. Time to see what these guys are made of.

Chapter twenty

Alan

Harrison is first throughthe door, Arlo by his side snuggled under his arm like a puzzle piece fitting just perfectly. Gramps’s eyebrows rise the second he spots him, but Harry gets in the first word.

“New guy giving you a hard time, Mr B?” Harry asks, and Gramps shakes his head.

“Young Mr. Tanner is a model neighbor.”

“I bet he is,” Harrison replies, turning his head to smirk at me but turning back just as Arlo moves in to say hello to Precious.

“Careful,” Harrison and Alan say at once.

Just like with Ryan, Precious is all purrs and soft head nudges, no teeth or hisses.

“I actually broughtyousomething, Mr. Beaker,” Arlo says, reaching back to Harrison. “Did you grab the book?” he asks Harry, and he slips a notebook out from a bag slung over his back and hands it to Arlo.

“Kelly sent me a few pictures of Precious, and I had some free time this afternoon, so I drew you this,” Arlo says, sliding a page out and handing it over to Gramps. He immediately sits straighter in the chair, jostling Precious a little, but she settles again quickly.

He takes the page from him but doesn’t say a word, his gaze locked on what I can see from here is a cartoon representation of his Precious Satan, only without the horns and flames of hell. I’ll have to ask him to give me that version.

A small laugh escapes my lips at the thought, and Gramps’s attention flicks to me for a second before returning to the page.

“You drew this?” he finally asks, and Arlo nods, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

“Yeah, Kelly asked me to. Do you…like it?” Arlo asks, and I can tell he’s worried now too that Gramps doesn’t. He can be a tough old bastard, but he’s usually polite enough when it counts.

“Well, Mr. B, what do you think?” Harrison prompts, and Gramps smiles and leans down to Precious in his lap and holds the drawing in front of her face like she would be even able to make out what it is.

“It’s perfect, look, Precious, look at how pretty you are,” he says and then lifts the page back up to admire it more himself.

I release the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and lean back on the counter just as the doorbell chimes again. Here we go again.

I collect Duckie and Ian from the hall and am about to close the door when Gordon, Nicki, and Stevie arrive.

“How did you get a night off?” I ask Stevie as he saunters in all smiles.

“Bella is busy wedding planning, and my suggestions were starting to annoy her and her sister, so they sent me out for a few hours,” he replies, and Duckie laughs.

“Dude, you totally did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you mean. I was serious when I suggested we theme the whole wedding on baseball. It’s what brought us together, after all.”

“And you were shocked she didn’t go for that?” Harrison asks, sitting on the couch with Arlo beside him.

“Okay, maybe not shocked, but I hope she at least lets me have the little baseball chocolates for the favors. Oh, and I want you all to help me with a dance number on the night, too. You’ve seen those viral wedding dances, we are way cooler than them, so ours should be killer.”

“If you invite Dennis, he’ll make sure of it.”

“I might have to swap out a cousin, but hey, there are so many of those it’s not like the parents will notice one missing.”

“Sure,” Harry replies, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry, Gramps, this is Stevie. He recently got engaged to his girlfriend, and you know Duckie and Ian from across the alley.”

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