Page 38 of Finding Jeremy
It had crushed a piece of Gray’s own soul to have to do that to him and angered his Daddy side too, knowing what he knew about why the boy was behind bars and who he’d taken the fall for.
“Do you like it?” Jeremy asked.
Now this boy, Gray, didn’t have to discourage. In fact, he was looking forward to getting him to the point where he was comfortable letting it peek through whenever the mood hit him.
“This is amazing,” Gray remarked when he caught sight of the two decorative battery-operated lanterns hanging from cloth loops inside the tent.
Like the mason jars, they had images inside each panel; these ones were of star emojis with expressive little faces on them. “I can’t believe you did all of this in such a short time.”
Jeremy just giggled at that. “I started makin’ the jars just as soon as you said we were gonna go camping.”
Jeremy looked positively adorable sitting there in brown and yellow striped sleep shorts and a matching tank top, holding a book in his hand, a somewhat shy expression in his eyes as he held it out to him.
“Will you read to me tonight?”
“Of course I will,” Gray said, taking the book and setting it aside so he could pull him into a hug.
It was the first time his boy had been relaxed enough to slip into little space, and Gray was certain it had a great deal to do with them being out there in the wilderness, without anything to worry about besides enjoying themselves. He hoped it would be easier for him once they had their own place and Gray could create an art room and play space for him like the ones his best friends had.
Jeremy snuggled into his embrace and sighed contentedly. “I love it out here.”
“You’re not the only one,” Gray said, carding his fingers through Jeremy’s hair.
“Our house isn’t gonna be in town, is it?”
“Not a chance. I’m looking for something with a bit of privacy and a whole lot of trees so there isn’t a road or a neighbor in sight.”
“Awesome.”
“As soon as I’ve put together a list of the places that will fit, we’ll go see them together, okay?”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. It’s going to be your home too, and I want to make sure you love it.”
“I’ll love anywhere you are, Daddy.”
Daddy.
Gray squeezed him tighter in response and kissed the top of his head. “How about we get all tucked in and settled, and then Daddy will read to you.”
“Will you do the voices too?”
“Of course I will. You’ll have to tell me if I get them wrong though, since I doubt I know any of the characters.”
Giggling, Jeremy squirmed out of his embrace so he could crawl onto the air mattress beneath the sheet and light blanket they’d spread out over it.
“You can’t get the characters wrong; they’re pretend,” Jeremy explained. “They can have any voices you want them to as long as they don’t sound the same.”
“Makes sense to me,” Gray admitted as he scooted onto the mattress beside him.
It took them a moment to get settled in on their backs, Jeremy’s head on his shoulder as Gray held the book above them so he could read while Jeremy looked at the pictures. Fortunately, it wasn’t a very thick book, or his arms might threaten to give out before the end of the story.
“So, let’s see what we’ve got here,” Gray said as he picked up the book and studied the cover. “The Star Garden. I sense a theme tonight.”
“Lots of my books are about stars and how the constellations got their names,” Jeremy explained.
Gray filed that bit of information away for his next trip to Books, Beans, and Buns. His boy had loved the treasures that Gray had brought him from his last trip, especially the books about Ozzy and the dirt bike magazines. He’d curled up to read them first, even before diving into the graphic novels. So much for the fear that he wouldn’t enjoy quiet time in the evenings; Jeremy thrived on them and stretching out on the floor with his sketchpad and pens when he was inspired by something.
