Lucas stared at him, puzzled for a moment, but then he sighed in understanding. “No. I did ask some advice, but they wanted a deposit for a possible court case, and I didn’t have it.”
“I’m sorry. That sucks.”
“I thought so, but to be honest it was never about the cash. There were some pieces of furniture that my mom loved, and I would have liked them. There was one small hall table that she got from a garage sale and restored. It wasn’t worth much, but she’d spent hours on it.”
“Sit down,” Jacob encouraged and walked to the table with tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Lucas put a hand over his heart. “How did you know?”
Jacob grinned. “Daddies are psychic.” Lucas giggled, and Jacob let out a breath as the sound of his laughter warmed a house that had been silent for so damn long.
“Did you say you were going out tomorrow?” Lucas asked as if he was pretending to be casual but not managing it at all.
Jacob nodded. “Let me have a list. I need to go to the bank and set some things up. My passport is out of date nearly, and I need it for the visa.”
Lucas bit his lip. “Is tomorrow a good day for me to arrange to have the things picked up for the children’s charity?”
Jacob waited for the stab of pain, of grief, but while it was there, it was also softened by relief. “Yes, thank you.” He reached out and touched Lucas’s fingers. “I really appreciate you doing this.” Jacob ate his soup and finished off the sandwiches when Lucas was done.
“I thought I might tackle the office this afternoon.”
Jacob looked up. It had been on the tip of his tongue to suggest another movie marathon, and originally Lucas was going to be little for a full forty-eight hours, but his behavior this morning had blown that out of the water. He nodded, thinking of the razor he had bought this morning while Lucas was choosing a beanie for Charlie. “Okay, but then I want to meet you in my bedroom at five.”
Lucas’s eyes widened, but he nodded and got up, rinsed the dishes, and put them in the dishwasher.
“Oh, and we’re having a pizza night.”
Lucas grinned. “Really?”
Jacob nodded. He had every intention of spoiling Lucas thoroughly all evening and smiled to himself as Lucas hurried away to the office upstairs. Jacob fingered his lips as soon as Lucas had left the kitchen. Smiling. It had felt strange a few days ago. Like it would be impossible to ever smile again, or to find anything to smile about. Now he seemed to be doing it all the time, and he was pretty sure a lot of that was to do with the man upstairs.
Jacob got his phone from his pocket and the business card Patrick had given him. He really didn’t want to do this, but he thought he needed to. The call was relatively brief and easy. Apparently mentioning Patrick’s name worked wonders, and he had an appointment lined up for Friday morning.
The second call was to Patrick, and he was surprised when Patrick answered himself. “Jacob, how are you?”
Jacob grinned and said they were both well and immediately launched into the details of the Christmas party. If Patrick had been surprised, he didn’t show it and quickly gave him the details of the Secret Santa presents the Daddies were all contributing to. When he hung up, he’d even accepted an invitation to go around to Patrick’s next weekend as Patrick was on call Friday and wouldn’t make the club little night.
Jacob put the phone down thoughtfully. Patrick had never asked, and Jacob had never said that the arrangement he had with Lucas was short-term, or that he’d changed his mind about England, although over the years he’d known littles and Daddies just get together for a single night of play, it wasn’t common.
And he’d missed hanging out with Patrick. They’d all gone to the same school. Patrick’s brother knew his brother Keith.
He looked around his house, and even knowing he had a million jobs to do, he wanted nothing more than to plan his evening with Lucas. Another of those damn smiles crept over his face again, but this time it didn’t take him quite as much by surprise.
Chapter Thirteen
It didn’t take Lucas any time to clean and tidy the office. There was a small desktop that looked quite ancient, a printer, a desk, and single office chair. He even gave the baseboards a wipe with a damp cloth, then opened what he assumed to be a closet door. It wasn’t huge, but it did mean the Realtor could sell this as a bedroom which meant four. A popular size for families. There was another box on the floor, and Lucas pondered opening it. Maybe he should ask in case it was private, but as he dragged it forward, a bulletin board that had been propped up behind it fell forward.
One of the standard type you would probably have over a desk. Lucas reached over and picked it up, then stilled. It was covered in photographs, and it wasn’t hard to guess who the laughing blond-haired, blue-eyed man was, especially when he noticed the one of Jacob cuddling him and them both tipping their heads toward each other as if they were just about to kiss.
“I forgot those were there.” Lucas jumped at Jacob’s voice and nearly dropped the board. Jacob smiled and took it from Lucas’s hand.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snoop.” Would Jacob lose his temper again?
Jacob shrugged. “Of course not. I hadn’t realized it was still up here. I don’t know what to do with it,” he admitted, and Lucas thought he understood. Jacob was clearly wanting to move on, but doing that didn’t mean erasing all memories of Ben. Lucas was no therapist, but he didn’t think it sounded healthy.
“How about you choose some of your favorites and I can make them up into one big frame for you to hang when you get to your new home?”
Jacob gazed at Lucas in astonishment. “You don’t mind?”
How could Lucas mind? Even if they were staying together—which they weren’t—he would never try and pretend Ben hadn’t existed. “It would be my pleasure.”
Jacob glanced from the photos back to Lucas and reached out and cupped Lucas’s face. Lucas stilled, barely breathing. “You are a kind man.” He grazed the side of Lucas’s cheek with his thumb, and for a crazy intense moment Lucas thought Jacob was going to kiss him on the lips, but Jacob let his hand drop, and Lucas tried desperately to keep the crushing disappointment hidden.
“That one’s my favorite.” Lucas looked in surprise as he hadn’t picked the one of them about to kiss, but the one of Ben looking up at something and laughing. “The others are copies I can always access if I want to.” He bent and opened the box, rummaging around. “All this can be dumped as well. It’s years old.”
Lucas nodded.
“I’m clearing some of the boxes downstairs.” And he hefted the box up and took it with him.
Lucas finished the office, hallway, and the staircase, and by the time it was nearly five, he was tired, sticky, and getting hungry. Jacob was already upstairs and had gone into his own bedroom a few minutes ago, so taking one more glance at the time on his phone, Lucas headed for there, brightening as he heard the sound of the bath filling. A bath sounded wonderful.
Jacob came out of the bathroom and smiled in that sexy lazy way he had when the corners of his lips tipped up just a little, so you just had to look at them. Lucas dragged his eyes away before his imagination ran away from him.