Page 153 of Slew Foot
“True.”
“And you have a wonderful partner to help.”
“I do,” Mickey said a little thickly as he thought about Rafe bringing him coffee this morning.
He’d been acting a little weird lately and Mickey’s money was still on the theory Rafe and Tanner were cooking upsomekind of surprise. Mickey just hoped if it was a party to celebrate his recovery, there was an actualrecoveryto celebrate. Instead of some sort of sad pity party.
The apartment door opened a moment later. “Mickey?” Rafe called out. “Are you home?”
“In here,” he called back, adding, “With Catherine,” in case Rafe had the idea to do something crazy like walk in naked. He’d never done that before, but Mickey could totally imagine it happening.
“Oh awesome,” Tanner said, bouncing into the room. “Hi, Mrs. O.”
“Hi, Tanner,” she said with a little laugh as she reached out to give him a hug. “Good to see you.”
Huh, Rafe and Tanner must have been doing something together then. No wonder it had taken so long for them to get back.
Rafe appeared a moment later, walking more slowly and carrying a flat rectangular white box. “Surprise!”
“What is this?” Mickey asked, stepping forward. He peered through the clear plastic on the top and blinked when he saw slices of purple plum nestled in a beautiful golden cake. “Rafe?”
“Zuh-vech-guhn-koo-hen!” Rafe said, sounding it out very carefully.
Mickey reached out, his hand hovering near the box before falling back to his side. “How on earth did you … where did youfindthis?”
“Uhh, well,” Rafe said, and he sounded so uneasy Mickey glanced up to see him grimacing. “I kinda snooped through your phone.”
Mickey frowned. “Forwhat?”
“Your mom’s number. I mean, I really did grab your phone from your hand because I was afraid the messages were going to wakeyou up or you’d like, throw it on the floor if you rolled over in your sleep. But then I saw the message was from your mom and then I thought, well, I could message her and ask her about the cake and … you’re notmad, are you?”
“Mad?” Mickey whispered. “No, not at all. That was sweet.”
“Awesome. I asked Tanner if he thought it was okay and he said it was, but like, I do not trust him when it comes to relationships.”
Tanner made an outraged noise in the background, but Mickey ignored him. “Good call.”
“So I asked Connor and he and Jesse thought it was okay, and I was like, ‘well, they have a good relationship so …’”
Mickey smiled. “You can snoop in my phone any time you’d like. I have nothing to hide from you.”
“Same,” Rafe said so promptly. “I mean, now that you know about the cake anyway.”
Mickey laughed. “So, you—you talked to my mom?”
“Yeah. I texted her asking about the cake and like, where I could have it shipped in from in Germany but she said she thought it was better if I found a German bakery here, so I messaged Catherine about that …”
Mickey looked up to see Catherine smiling at them.
Rafe continued without taking a breath. “… and then I had to talk to this little old lady at the bakery who looked kind of offended when I tried to talk to her in German, but I think we got it right.”
“You learned German for me?”
Rafe made a face. “Only the cake name and please and thank you. And I’m so bad it’s not even funny. But Itried.”
“I love that you tried,” Mickey said thickly. “Rafe …” He stretched out, touching Rafe’s cheek as he kissed him.
This was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for him.
