Page 56 of Peach Tree Family

Ace looked up at her. Frowning and staring at her, he finally said, "I just don't know."

Lara cracked up but Noreen only shrugged, like scaring the hell out of kids was a feature not a bug.

"It's cool out here," Rob said, looking around. "Kind of wild."

"The kids are having a blast," Wyatt said. "I'm tempted to climb a few trees." He winked at DJ and Ry, but the younger boy objected.

"Don't let him. He isn't any good at climbing." Ry pouted up at Wyatt. "He fell down from a tree. On his butt."

"He loves reminding me of every time I screwed up," Wyatt said as he ruffled Ry's blond hair thoroughly.

"Like a tiny mother in law," Lara said.

"We have a robot tree," Ace said and all the kids ran off because a robot tree was a thing that had to be investigated immediately.

Some time later, Mitch came by to pick up Sammy then the others started leaving too. Going inside after everyone left, the first thing Theo did was light the fire with Ace's help. Ace was still hyper from having all the kids over and Butter was a little restless too.

Seth was frying bacon for some BLTs, and the smell drew Theo to the kitchen. He started pulling out the other ingredients.

"So you had a good time," Theo said noticing that Seth looked pretty cheerful.

"Yeah. And I'll make sure to buy some food you can serve up for the next time people come over," he said.

"You think this is going to keep happening?" Theo said.

"I think it's likely," Seth told him. "And you still haven't had the rest of them over."

"The rest?"

"Sam. Then there's Mitch's husband, Rico from the cafe, and Rob's fiancé. I forgot his name," Seth said. "They're getting married soon. Everyone is talking about it. Rob's fiancé is a big deal in Peach Tree."

"I guess I need to be ready for more guests," Theo said. "Mitch is married to Rico?"

"I thought you knew that," Seth told him. "They're an odd couple for sure."

Theo liked how casually he spoke about guys being married to each other, but he was still obsessed with who Seth was attracted to.

Theo started up the noisy space heater so Ace could go to sleep in a warm bedroom for once. Listening to it, he wondered if the noise was a safety feature so people couldn't leave it on if they wanted to get any sleep.

Ace got to play Dad's game until he crashed it. Then it was a few shows and off to bed.

After he had Ace settled in bed, Theo went to the kitchen and found Seth in there with a pen and a piece of paper.

"I'm making a shopping list. Need to restock the snacks for sure."

"You certainly take keeping us fed seriously," Theo said and he pulled up the list of chores he put on his phone.

"Of course. Food is my responsibility, and I don't want you worrying you don't have anything to feed guests," Seth said. It was another sign that he was a guy who was used to taking care of things and not having other people take care of him.

"I'm getting texts from my friends about their plans to party and drink until dawn, and I'm making plans for household repairs. It's like they're texting from a different planet," Theo said.

For some reason that made Seth frown. He leaned with his back against the counter and lowered his head. "You said a friend of yours sent you that box. Did you have to leave a lot of friends when you came here?" he asked.

"Some," Theo said while wondering why Seth had his head down while asking him that.

"And, you know... boyfriends?"

"What, you think I had a bunch of boyfriends to juggle?" Theo asked.

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