Page 65 of One More Yule Log
“That’s it.” Pride filled him. And yeah, love. “Want anything? I need more pizza.” Also, he needed to look in on Ben.
“Uh-uh. Thank you. Can we watch the monster make-up show?”
“We can. Can you find it?” She was a whiz with the voice remote. “It’sFace Off.”
“Thank you. Go get Daddy off the phone. He’ll get heartburn.”
“I will.” He laughed at her, because she didn’t miss a trick, then went looking for his lover. His lover who was now his live-in lover. Wow.
His chair was in the family room, his coat was in the closet.
His laptop was charging next to Ben’s.
He did a little dance, then leaned to peer into Ben’s office.
“…look. Leave it. I cannot come out to show a house. I have plans.”
He heard a raised voice on the other end of the line, but Ben was adamant. “I told you I was off. I’ll do the party, but you’ll have to call Gil.”
Then Ben hung up the phone with a sigh. “I’m going to sell. I’m going to sell. I’m going to sell.”
“Yep. Any number of brokers in the Aspen area would kill to buy into your place.”
Ben looked up, surprised. “That’s what the lawyer said. She says we are looking at a ten- to fifteen-million-dollar sale. I can’t wait.”
He blinked. “Wow.” That was… He was glad he hadn’t known that so Ben would know he was here for the man, not the money. “That’s a lot of college fund for Liv,” he finally said.
“It’s a way for us to invest, right? We should be able to live on that. Thrive.”
“God, yes.” Gray couldn’t even imagine. He’d had a decent nest egg after working for some big operations, but he’d sunk every penny into the bakery.
“Good. I want to be able to enjoy being a dad, being a lover. Helping you at the bakery, if you’ll let me.”
“You want to?” A little thrill ran through Gray. “I would love that.” It was so damn hard to go it alone.
“I’d love to. There’s so much to learn, so much to experience.”
“Oh.” He hugged Ben close. “Liv thinks you need to quit your job. She said to tell you.”
“She’s right. I tried to make it work for Dale, but he and I were very, very different men, you know? We loved each other, but I never wanted to grow a real estate empire.”
“He liked it?” He had a natural curiosity about Dale. What had attracted Ben and why had they drifted apart some, from the way it sounded.
“He loved it. He was a natural-born salesman, and success was easy for him. He was so angry when he got sick, because he had a huge commercial project that he was brokering.”
“Oh, man.” He reached for Ben’s hand. “I’m sorry, hon. I know it had to be awful.”
“It was, but…in another way, it was a relief.” Ben sighed softly and ducked his head. “He’d been sick way longer than we knew, and he’d become mean, cold. I worried he was having an affair, but he was cheating with his dying liver.”
“Liver stuff is the worst. My grandpa has lung cancer that spread to his liver. All of a sudden, he was screaming at everyone and throwing things.” He raised Ben’s hand in his and kissed it. “There’s no shame in the pressure lifting once someone is gone. Or in having survivor guilt.”
“I know. And I tried to love his company, but I don’t.”
“Then let it go. Liv will be ecstatic. Want some more pizza?” He needed to ease Ben back into the good day.
“I do. I’m leaving the phone in here. I’m off work and celebrating the move.”
“That sounds awesome.” He tugged his phone out, laying it on the desk as well. “Boom.”
