“Oh.” Intellectually, George understood his brother worked all the time to help pay rent here, keep the car maintained, and cover any additional expenses their grandparents might have, but he also missed his brother. This was the first meal they’d shared in days.
And he still hadn’t asked Orry about that mysterious shift on Thanksgiving night.
“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” George asked.
Orry paused with a pot sticker right in front of his mouth. “Duh.” Then he shoved the whole thing in.
“I just... I guess I feel like we don’t really talk much anymore.”
“If I had anything interesting to share, I’d share. I mean, I could probably come up with some funny customer stories but I’m exhausted. After I eat, I’m going to power nap.”
“Okay.” Disappointment swamped George, and he pushed it aside in favor of stealing a pot sticker out of Orry’s carton.
Orry pretended to stab at his hand with his fork. “Thief!”
“We always have joint custody of the pot stickers. You don’t get to hog them all.”
“You’re annoying when you’re right.”
They had a joint account for household expenses like rent, utility bills and food, and George insisted takeout fell under the food category. They both ate it, after all, so why should one or the other pay for it out of their personal money? The only time it didn’t count was if Orry was working and grabbed a solo meal. So far, the system had worked well for them for years.
After they ate their fill, George volunteered to store the scant leftovers and sent Orry to take a nap. George tidied up, then stood in Orry’s bedroom doorway and watched his brother sleep. He didn’t completely buy that nothing was up, but it was also possible George was overthinking everything—as he often did—and that Orry was simply overworked and stressed out. Orry was so used to being the one who took care of George, and for too many years, George had relied on that. It was far beyond time that George step beyond his comfort zones and do more for his brother.
He went back to his room, put on his headphones, and got to work.
* * *
The next day, George was deeply focused on transcribing a three-way fisting scene when he thought he heard the faintest of noises. Maybe the front doorbell, but he wasn’t expecting anyone, so he paid closer attention to the words coming out of the mouth of the guy who was punching his fist in and out of the bottom’s ass. Mostly words of pleasure and praise, but the bottom’s response was harder to decipher. George had a list of noise words to use from this particular studio, but none seemed quite appropriate for the sounds the poor bottom made.
Orry was home—napping, George was pretty sure—and a bit later Orry filled his doorway. George paused the video and took off his headphones. “What?”
“Door’s for you,” Orry said. “Your boyfriend’s back.”
George blinked dumbly at him for several seconds.
“It’s Levi,” Orry finally said. “He says he has something for you.”
George nearly overturned his desk chair in his haste to stand, shocked to his core that Levi was back after only a day. Was something wrong with Ginger? Had he done something wrong? Forgotten the bag of treats?
“Dude, relax,” Orry said, hands up. “He’s calm and I’m here. Go talk to him. Your porn can wait.”
Annoyance burbled up inside George at the porn dig. It wasn’t as if he sat there and masturbated all day to the videos he transcribed. It was his freaking job. Whatever. George turned his computer screen off—just in case—then gently pushed past his brother and walked into the living room, his insides jumping all over the place the instant he set eyes on Levi.
Levi stood a few feet beyond the front door, his familiar smile in place, and an envelope of some sort in his hand. George tried to downplay how happy he was to see Levi again and probably failed miserably. “Hi,” George said.
“Hey.” Levi’s smile brightened. “I know it’s kind of soon, but I think I figured out a way to thank you and your brother for being so kind to Ginger this past week.”
Of course, it’s about the cat.
“Um, okay.” George beckoned Levi toward the futon, where Levi perched on one end; George did the same. “I volunteered. You don’t owe us anything.”
“Yes, I do. When people do me favors I like to pay it forward somehow. Do something kind. Usually for someone else but I really wanted to do something for you.”
Levi seemed intent on doing this something, so George nodded. “Okay.”
“Here.” Levi handed him the envelope. No name on the front but it had Clean Slate Ranch’s logo on the upper left corner.
Intrigued, George lifted the unsealed flap and pulled out two rectangles of paper. It took him a moment to understand what he was looking at. Two paid-for vouchers for a week’s vacation at the ranch. His insides shook and his pulse raced. George pushed the vouchers at Levi. “No, I can’t. It’s too expensive.” And in his experience, expensive gifts led to bad things.
“I got the family discount, and the regular rates aren’t as high as you think. It’s also winter and the business gets slow, so they drop the prices anyway. There will also be fewer other guests to interact with.”
George met Levi’s gaze, impressed by how well Levi had read him again. He did want to experience the ranch and its amenities, and he’d never ridden a horse in his life. Or been camping or any of the other things he’d read about on their website. “I, um, I’m still not sure.” He glanced over his shoulder, unsurprised to see Orry hovering in the hall. “What do you think? He’s giving us a ranch vacation.”
“I can’t,” Orry said flatly, the tone annoying George when Levi was being this generous. “I have to work. We can’t afford both of us not working for a whole week.”
“I apologize if I overstepped,” Levi replied. “I didn’t even think about you being able to take time off work.”
“That’s life, huh? If George wants to go, I can’t stop him. He’s a grown man. Thanks for the offer, dude, but I can’t go.”
“Heard and understood. I’ll repay your patience and kindness another way.”
“Whatever.” Orry rolled his eyes and disappeared down the hallway.
“I’m sorry he was rude to you,” George said, a little embarrassed by his brother’s behavior when Levi was only being nice.
“I’ve dealt with ruder tourists, it’s fine,” Levi replied. “Is there someone you want to give the second voucher to? Maybe one of your downstairs neighbors? I bet Slater would get a kick out of being a guest at the ranch, instead of one of the horsemen.”