Page 36 of Glass & Groundwork
Tying my hair back, I put earbuds in, selecting my oldies playlist. Sometimes I loved a good doo-wop, and I wanted to keep the happy going. With music in my ears, I began working. After getting the soup going, I worked on prepping for dinner at the same time. Soon, I had every burner occupied. Potatoes in apot, ground beef in a saute pan, and building a marinara sauce on the last burner.
It might have looked like chaos, but chaos was where I thrived. It was just like glasswork. There was always a lot to juggle and it kept you on your toes. It felt good to be doing something and to be working up a sweat. It wasn’t a hot shop, but standing in front of a stove would suffice for now.
Singing and cooking, I was in the zone. So completely in the zone that when a hand landed on my shoulder, I shrieked. Just a little. A tiny, baby, not-at-all-loud shriek. I whirled around to find Gio pursing his lips with his eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Sorry, Jasper. I called your name, but you didn’t hear me.”
I put a hand over my racing heart. “Fucking hell. You gotta stomp around when you come in or something, you can’t just sneak up on someone like that.”
Gio snickered. “Watch too many horror movies?”
I lifted my chin in mock defiance. “Horror movies teach you survival skills.”
Gio gave me a crooked smile. “Then maybe you need to watch a few more.”
An image came to mind of snuggling up and watching a scary movie, tucking into him to cover my eyes. It was a nice image, and something completely plausible. I pointed my finger into his chest. “Sure,Daddy. You and me. Horror movie date. Pick the time and the place, and I’ll make the popcorn.”
His cheeks flushed slightly as they always did when I called him that, but he rolled his eyes in fake exasperation. If it bothered him, I would stop, but I think he secretly liked it, and I loved the reaction it caused. The term was pretty fitting for him and his caretaker side anyway.
Choosing to ignore it, or maybe needing to distract himself, he gave a nod toward the stove. “What are you making?”
“Well, I was getting antsy, so I decided to make lunch, but making lunch turned into meal-prepping dinner, too. Oh! I have big news. Well, actually I have two big newses.”
Gio grinned as his brows arched. “Newses? I don’t think that’s a word.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Listen, Gio. You might be new to the whole marriage thing, but part of a husband’s job is to accept whatever words his spouse may use unless they are harmful. Seeing as how ‘newses’ isnotharmful, at least, not in this instance, you are supposed to accept it as if Merriam Webster, herself, called it into existence.”
“I’m not sure that’s a single person,” Gio replied, with a hint of humor in his voice.
“I like to believe she was a drag queen.MissMerriam used her cunning lingus skills to weave her way into society and give us the very foundation of speech we have today. Andnewses.” I held up a finger, making a point.
Gio let out a loud laugh, his brown eyes gleaming behind his glasses. Even with his pants tucked into his socks, the man was incredibly handsome, especially when he laughed and smiled. “God, you’re cute! And I concede. Please tell me all about your newses.”
“Thank you, hubby of mine.” I gave him a wink of appreciation for playing along. “First of all… I talked to George. I’m less than a week away from being able to get in there and get lit! Like fire, not drunk. It won’t be the full set-up—the bulk of the heavier work is pending access to my account—but he’s going to have my lampwork station ready. I’ll be able to use the smaller torch and table-top kiln so I can start making figurines and things. It was how I first started before graduating up to the glory hole and glassblowing. It’ll be nice to return to the basics. Besides,anythingat this point would be great.”
Gio pulled me into a hug. “That’s fantastic, Jasper. I’m so happy for you.”
I sunk into him for a moment, loving the way it felt in his arms, but I decided to keep things light. Or weird. Or lightly weird. I tilted my head back to look up at him and forced a big Cheshire grin, widening my eyes as big as they would go, aiming for an over-the-top cartoony look. “Fire good. Ineedfire.”
Gio’s laugh rose again, which was my intention. He had such a lovely, rich laugh that rumbled out of him. “That’s not at all worrisome.” He grabbed my shoulders and gently pulled me. “I think I’ll just move youawayfrom the stove so you can tell me the other thing.”
It was my turn to chuckle. I liked this side of him. There was still the sense of calm he imbued, but it was fun getting to see the playfulness that lived beneath the surface. Getting to let loose and be weird was freeing for me, too. Growing up, appearance was everything. Everything I did was a‘reflection on my parents.’ It was a heavy burden to bear, until I hit the fuck-it stage, and started rebelling in all the little ways I could without causing too much of a problem, like my clothes, hair, and septum piercing.
Gio made me feel safe in so many ways, including giving me the freedom to let go of appearances and simply be myself. I was still discovering who I was and who I wanted to be, and one thing I was learning about myself was that I really wanted a family.
“The other news is that I’m totally killing it with the whole parenting thing.”
At that, I saw Gio’s humor shift into that of adoration. A look that swept over me like a warm, fuzzy sweater. “Oh yeah?”
I gave him a brief review of my text conversation with Frankie. “They’re mine now, by the way. I’m keeping them.”
Gio’s arms snaked around me, lifting my toes off the ground, as he squeezed me to his chest. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me to hear.”
My arms folded around his neck, and I pressed my cheek to his shoulder. Gio inhaled in a way that seemed like he was smelling my hair. I didn’t mind, though, because I loved having his scent in my nose, too. Even now, when he was a little smoky from working at the apiary. The smokiness was a part of him. Smoke and sugar and something woodsy.
Gio pulled back and straightened, looking over my shoulder. “So what's for lunch? Assuming you made some for me, if not, I can fix myself something.”
I waved a hand between us. “I made lunch forus, and it's corn chowder with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.”
