Page 56 of For the Love of the Broken Man

After they’d made love the first time that morning, they’d slept a little before they made love again. Danny was limping a bit, but Jase was loath to point it out. Jase hoped their activities hadn’t added to Dan’s discomfort. It had been rainy lately, so he wrote it off as maybe just an ache associated with an old injury.

Dan laughed. “Things at the ranch will be goin’ a little slow because of that can between your legs I had shoved up my ass a few times, but I’ll get by. I’ll call Javie and Phil about tonight. They’ll be happy to spend time with us, I swear.” Dan leaned forward and kissed Jase on the lips, pulling away with a “hmmm.”

He gave Jase the up and down before he walked… slowly… out of the house to his truck. Jase watched him leave and smiled. Things were getting better between them. Life was set to be good once they smoothed out the rough patches.

Jase needed to speak with Ethan so the guy never showed up at his place unannounced again. If that was the worst thing that happened, Jase’s life was going to be pretty damn sweet.

Chapter Twenty-one

Danny sat on the front porch swing of the house Jason had rented when he got to town. The little house where Danny and Kayley lived didn’t hold a candle to Jase’s, but Kayley was used to the smaller house, and Dan wasn’t in a hurry to cause more disruption in the girl’s life by moving them into Jase’s larger home… or so he told himself. The fact was, Jase hadn’t asked for them to move in.

With Jase’s sudden reappearance after graduating college and Danny’s stint in rehab, Dan worried Kayley would be emotionally traumatized due to the volume of changes in her life recently. Yes, she was his daughter, legally, but Dan still worried if he was the best influence for the girl.

Jase had been incredible with Kayley since his return, and Danny was so grateful for the way the man felt about his daughter. It was remarkable to witness. The week before, Jase surprised him by admitting he knew how to sew things by hand, and he’d shown Kayley how to sew her badges on her Girl Scout vest, along with embroidering some blocks for a quilt to be raffled off for a food bank at Christmas.

Miss Katie and Miss Jeri had volunteered to quilt it over the fall, and somehow, Jase had come up with the proper fabric for it. Danny continued to thank his lucky stars for the younger man.

When Jase’s Ford pulled into the driveway, Dan hopped up from the porch swing and walked down the stairs to greet his man. “How was the trip down?” he asked as he relieved Jase of his overnight bag.

One Friday a month, Jase had to travel to the headquarters for his job in Rockville, leaving on Thursday night and staying in a hotel near his office. Dan missed him, but it was another thing they’d taken in stride.

On Thursday evening, Danny and Kayley had a father-daughter date after she got home from school. Dan worked a half-day and went to an earlier meeting in Blacksburg so his evening was free to spend with Kayley and Jase.

Jase’s face was sullen, and he worried. “What’s wrong, babe?”

Jase reached into the pocket of his suit coat and handed Dan a crinkled, pink paper, not saying anything as he pulled out his overnight bag from the truck. Danny opened the document he’d been handed, seeing it was entitled,Notice of Furlough. He scanned the pink paper but didn’t understand anything else he read. The title was enough.

He followed Jase up the stairs and into the house where Kayley was standing in the kitchen with a knife, slathering butter over slices of bread. A package of cheese was on the counter next to her. “Can I turn on the stove now, Jase?”

The tall brunet dropped to his knees and hugged her tightly. “I love you, Little Bit. You wanna make grilled cheese? You bet we can.” Jase reached for the pan the girl had put on the counter and placed it on the stove.

He turned to Danny and grinned. “I’m gonna go change. I’ll be right back.”

Dan nodded and watched him hurry down the hallway, not certain what to do. He turned to Kayley with a smile, hoping to cover up the worry she might have sensed in Jase when he breezed through the kitchen. “Should we see if Jase has tomato soup? I always liked it with grilled cheese.”

Kayley nodded and walked over to the cabinet, finding two cans of tomato soup. She grabbed a saucepan from the cabinet next to the stove, opened the cans, and poured them inside, turning to Dan. “Can you turn on the heat. Jase looks sad. Is he okay?” Kayley’s voice fell to a whisper.

Dan kissed her forehead. “He’ll be fine after this special dinner, Sweet Pea. You’re a shining star, you know that?” Danny felt his throat clog with emotion, knowing the words were true and thinking how proud his mother and sister would be of Kayley.

Jase walked into the kitchen in a pair of jeans and one of Danny’s flannel shirts he must have liberated from Dan’s house after a sleepover. He rubbed his hands together and looked at the two of them with a big grin.

“Grilled cheese and soup? My favorites. How about after we eat, we light a fire in the pit outside and make s’mores? I bought marshmallows and graham crackers at the store the other day before I went to Rockville.”

Kayley’s squeal was nearly deafening.

After dinner dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, Jase made cinnamon cocoa for the three of them before they retired to the backyard where he had a little, copper fire pit on the deck. There was a plate with all the ingredients to make the perfect s’mores, including banana slices, which Kayley loved. Danny knew, for a fact, that Jase was the man for him. As unlikely as it might seem, they were a well-oiled machine.

Jase came out with three mugs and sat down on the wicker couch next to Danny. There was a little wicker rocking chair that was Kayley’s, and she sat with a skewer at the ready. “Can I put marshies on this?” She whipped the rod in the air.

Dan laughed. “You keep flingin’ the damn thing and your gonna poke out an eye.”

Kayley looked back at him and grinned. “I’m not doin’ anything. I’m just waitin’.”

And that comment hit home with Danny, reminding him he wasn’t doing anything either. He’d been waiting for Jason to make the next move, and maybe it was his turn to make a move?

It had been four months since Dan had come home from rehab, and he went to meetings religiously, but his relationship with Jase had progressed at a snail’s pace. It was time to shake things up.

Kayley handed the skewer to Jase, who loaded some large white puffs on the end. “Do not get close to that fire, Little Bit. Just hold them there.”

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