Page 19 of Overbooked at Dragon's Landing

“Not to be pushy, but I can find a job here or anywhere. My boss is just way too grumpy these days,” Craig added. “I like it here, too. But it’s your house to keep or sell, Trace.”

“Remote work for me too,” he said, “and I was going to suggest I move to where you live but when we went into the house, I could see us there.”

And so we decided. Dragon’s Landing was about to get three new residents to add to the number on the sign outside of town.

Chapter Fourteen

Craig

I thought there would be a moment of sadness when we packed up our place and got ready to meet our mate at our new home—not sadness for being with him and starting our new life. There was absolutely nothing sad about that. But leaving the city? It was what I knew. It was what I liked.

But in the short time since we came back, while our mate was dealing with his place away from us, it was most definitely not home anymore. Trace had once told me that we were his home, and at the time, I thought I understood. But I didn’t really—not until we came back here.

We opted to keep a lot of Gram’s furniture, and that made the actual packing pretty easy. We used a freebie group on social media to list the items we were not taking, and that made the furniture removal not only easier but also helped someone out.

Between our two cars, we were able to bring everything we wanted, but it still stank having to take the two vehicles. It meant that we drove away from the city separately. And since I was already up in my big feels, it would have been nice to have Ralph by my side.

It wasn’t as long a trip as it was for Trace, though, and he had no choice but to go it alone. How many things had he had to do alone over the years? I’d pretty much always had Ralph, and our families were still around if we needed them or missed them. They were but a phone call away. The same wasn’t true for our mate. In so many ways, he’d been completely alone.

But not anymore. He had us by his side, a place we’d never leave.

I turned on the radio, trying to drown out my thoughts, and what came on? Ralph’s favorite song, the one I’d caught himsinging to himself in the shower more times than I could count. I hummed along to the melody as I followed his car on the freeway.

To think, for so long, the two of us didn’t realize the other liked us. It had worked out for the best this way—starting the relationship as a triad was better than starting it as a couple and adding a third. As it was, it took a while before Trace fully felt like he wasn’t going to be the odd man out. We talked about it a couple of times, and I understood where he was coming from 1,000 percent. But things had gotten much better on that front, and I was glad for it.

I cranked up the radio, singing along to every song I knew, and thinking about all that was still left to do. Trace had been working on removing a lot of the excess stuff from Gram’s house, but he said there was still a ways to go. I didn’t mind helping. Ralph didn’t either.

In a lot of ways, it would have been better to be by his side—because it had to be emotional. He was so strong. I couldn’t imagine going through all that he did and coming out on the other side the way he did. He assured us, he preferred it that way, and I had no reason not to believe him. But still…the thought of him hurting, hurt me.

Trace was at the house when we pulled in, Lion on the front step as if guarding the place. That cat might only have three legs, but I wouldn’t mess with him. I’d seen him hunting. He was fierce. And also the sweetest thing ever—at least to Trace.

“Hey, buddy, you looking out for our mate?” He didn’t even glance at me, but that was fine. He’d picked Trace to be his person, and it was a good thing—especially when he was doing all that he had been recently. He needed the company.

Ralph and I would’ve been there earlier, but when we gave our two weeks’ notice, both of our jobs were like, “Okay,” instead of saying, “Nah, you can go today,” which was pretty commonnowadays. It had caught us off guard and delayed our arrival a full two weeks.

“We’re home,” Ralph called into the house, trying to step over Lion without either startling him or tripping. Silly cat didn’t even attempt to get up.

Trace came out covered in sweat.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I was trying to fix the drain in the sink.”

So, less sweat, more water.

“It’s fine now. I think. Maybe one of you could check it and make sure I got it right?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” I jumped over Lion and went to Trace, kissing him, holding him close. “Gods, I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too, mate. Both of you. But now you’re home with me. Come see what I’ve done, and then we can decide what we need to do before we unload the cars.”

He’d done a ton. The living room was ready for us—everything from floor to ceiling cleaned. Same with the kitchen. The bathroom was a hot mess, but he’d been messing around in there, so it made sense. We’d clean that up easily enough.

Our bedroom had been completely emptied, with a different set in there. I wasn’t sure if it was his from his old place or if he bought a new one, but I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want my bedroom to have the tiny bed his grams had. We needed our king-size because not sleeping together didn’t work for me.

There were still some rooms that needed work, but the main living areas were fine. There were projects that needed to be done, the house not kept up as well as it could’ve been. I suspected that a lot of it was before Gram’s time.

“How about I help you in the bathroom first, and then we unload everything?”

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