Page 40 of Slew Foot
But at least now he knew.
A few weeks later, Rafe followed Mickey and Tanner into their apartment after dinner and a concert with some of the guys. It had been a fun night out and Rafe was in a great mood, pumped up from the music and the energy from the show.
Whatever had been bugging Mickey lately seemed to have gone away and he was all smiles as he took a seat on the couch next to Tanner.
Rafe plopped down next to him.
“Hey, what are you doing for bye week?” Tanner asked, looking up from his phone.
“Me?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah, you.” Tanner grinned.
“Oh, going home to Ontario.”
Tanner made a face. “Boring.”
Rafe shrugged. He and Logan had made plans but now Logan was taking Kelsey on the trip to Puerto Vallarta he’d planned with Rafe and yeah. No.
“It’ll be good to see my family. Where are you guys planning to go?” he asked, reaching for his knitting. He had a project that kind of permanently lived at Tanner and Mickey’s place now. Mickey had even bought him a little basket for it, which was nice.
“Uhh,” Tanner said, glancing at Mickey.
“Playa del Carmen,” Mickey answered. “It’s pretty much where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Caribbean Sea.”
“We’ve got a good group. Like six of us are going. You wanna tag along?” Tanner asked. “I bet Mickey could get you in.”
Mickey shrugged and rolled his eyes, but he nodded. “Yes, if you want to come, let me know.”
Rafe smiled, not surprised Mickey was, apparently, the one in charge of organizing the trip.
“I think the place we’re renting sleeps like ten people,” Tanner said. “So there would be plenty of room for you.”
Mickey shook his head. “Only eight. But yes, there is room for you, Rafe. If you want to come.”
He seemed kinda tense though.
Rafe frowned. “Thanks, but no. I really do want to see my family. My sister, Lauren, had a baby.” He held up the green hat he was knitting. “I want to meet him.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Tanner said. “No worries. Even if you are nuts for going somewhere cold in February.”
Playful chirping followed until Tanner finally held up his Switch, asking, “Wanna play?”
They both agreed and Tanner got things set up.
“You know, I was thinking about what you said a while ago,” Rafe said to Mickey while they waited. “I think I know why you live here even though Tanner is fucking useless,” he said. “I mean, this apartmentispretty sweet.”
Mickey laughed. He didn’t laugh a lot but when he did it was nice, warm and easy, like the smile he shot Rafe.
Tanner flipped him the bird, then grinned, clearly not mad about it. “I know, right? How’s your apartment hunt going?”
Rafe shrugged. “Okay.”
He hadn’t had much time to look, to be honest. There were people in the head office who, like, helped and stuff. And they’d sent him some listings. But every time he looked at the apartments, he felt kinda blah about them.
They’d been on the road a lot too and were heading back out to Dallas tomorrow, so he kept putting it off. Living in a hotel totally sucked but the apartments he’d looked at were all kinda cold and gray looking. This place was warmer.
Rafe wanted some place more like this …
