“Can Ross be included?” he asked. God, it was all he’d ever wanted for himself.
“Well, after the last two weeks, I think the only guest room he’s going to sleep in is mine,” she said practically, and he knew he was grinning and couldn’t seem to stop.
“Go,” she said, shoving him away with a yawn. “Apparently you two idiots are going to play softball today, which is insanity because all I want to do is sleep.”
“We’ll come back with soup,” he promised, but she shook her head.
“Desi’s coming over later with soup. But if you guys want to drop by, that’s fine.” Her eyes grew sober. “And that goes for… you know. Anytime. When he’s gone, and you want family—anytime. Okay.”
Tenner nodded. “You too. Now go sleep and cuddle and get better. See you soon.”
She climbed into bed with Piper, who curled into her chest with a happy little sigh. “Mommy!”
“Sweetiepants!”
And he left them together and went to give Desi the biggest hug in the world.
“This was so kind of you—seriously. She was so alone and—”
Desi waved his thanks away. “No worries, and by the way, you missed out. Your dinner last night was amazing.”
Tenner sent Ross a dry look. “Food is always a good reward,” he said, and the statement was punctuated with his stomach gurgling.
Ross, who seemed to have had a decent night’s sleep, rolled his eyes. “You haven’t eaten since yesterday? Jesus, Tenner, it’s eleven in the morning!”
Tenner’s stomach gurgled again, and he said, “We have practice in an hour, and I need to go home and feed the cat!”
“Gah! Joe will be fine. But you! Piper says I take care of you, baby, and I’m falling down on the job!”
Tenner shook his head. “We have got to go change and go to practice—”
Desi rolled her eyes. “You’ll be gone for two months, you say?”
Ross nodded. “Yeah.”
“It’s a good thing Patrick takes him out to lunch twice a week, that’s all I’m saying.”
Ross cocked his head. “Twice a week? And you can’t put any meat on your ass? Oh my God. Hurry up and let’s go so I can feed you.”
Tenner scowled. “Look, I know what you told Piper, but—”
Ross silenced him with a kiss, hard and hungry and needy, and Tenner responded, so relieved to feel Ross’s arms around him that he couldn’t even pretend. He melted, that reassurance, that strength bleeding into him and leaving some of the long, anxious night behind them.
“Bye, guys,” Desi said on her way out the door. “I’ll see you here, tonight, while we make sure our girls are okay.”
Ross raised his hand to wave, but he didn’t, not once, take his mouth from Tenner’s, and Tenner was grateful.
The kiss was pure comfort, and finally, finally, when they separated, panting for breath, Ross said, “So, breakfast first, feed the cat, and text Hanford to tell him we’ll be late. Deal?”
“I don’t know what I’m getting out of that—”
Ross kissed him again, short and hard, and pulled back. “Don’t fuck with me here. You were gone, the kid was sick, I was worried, and your ex-wife broke my heart. I need you to do what I’m saying here, and don’t give me any shit, okay?”
Tenner swallowed and nodded, realizing that this was what made partners, just as much as the “You do this and I’ll do that” dynamic. “Yeah,” he said meekly. “Let’s go feed the cat.”
“And the human!” Ross muttered, exasperated. “No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to hear it. You look exhausted, and it’s making me stabby, and we need to leave and let them sleep. Now go. I’m driving. We’ll grab an Egg McSomething on the way.”
TENNER WAS tired and out of sorts at practice, and when Ross told the team why, they told him to go home.
“You should have called me,” Hanford said after the team scattered to practice fielding. His eyes went back and forth between Ross and Tenner as if they weren’t about to dash his hopes. “I’m great with kids.”
“Ross took care of us,” Tenner said with meaning. “He’s really good at it.”
Hanford looked at Ross, who was nodding with the same meaning, and his face fell. “Oh. Oh, I didn’t realize…. I’m sorry. I, you know….”
Tenner shrugged and hoped he could help the young man save face. “We were quiet about it,” he said, not even wanting to think about what his neighbors had heard that Tuesday when they’d stayed home an extra day to have sex.
“Yeah.” Hanford sighed and looked out at the rest of the guys. “Well, Kipper asked me to pizza next week,” he said, a little bit of hope in his voice. “Maybe I should go.”
“Definitely,” Ross said, and Tenner sent him a dirty look.
And then yawned.
Which meant it was their signal to go, so he could nap before dinner.
PIPER AND Nina got slowly better that week, much like Ross and Tenner had, and Ross gave up any pretense of sleeping at Pat and Desi’s. And that was a good thing, because, as it turned out, they had less time than they thought.
The Monday after their abortive date, Ross texted Patrick and Tenner that he’d pick them up for lunch. At first Tenner was just happy to see him in the middle of the day, but when they got out to his SUV, he looked grim-faced and upset.
“What’s wrong?” Patrick asked.
Ross let out a breath, wearing a face Tenner had never seen before—angry and frustrated and almost tearful. “I… the territory we’d kept from burning before I came up here is in danger again. They start deforestation next week. So I… I leave on Saturday.”
Saturday?
“That’s… that’s really soon,” Tenner stated, trying not to lose it. “When are you coming back?”
Ross had his foot on the brake and turned that heartbroken face to Tenner. “I don’t know,” he said, voice pitching. “I… I’ve got to do this. The company that’s running the deforestation will only negotiate with me, and all the people who’ve been trying to replant the area are people I recruited. I can’t leave them like this, baby. I—” He glanced into the back seat where Patrick sat, looking sad but resigned. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re coming back,” Pat said, waving his hand like it wasn’t even a thing. “We’ll be okay.”
Tenner swallowed hard, and Ross turned back to him. “Will you be okay?” Ross said, and then, without even a glance at his brother-in-law, he said, “Will we be okay?”
Tenner stared at him, looking unhappy and worried and… and so, so dear. “I can’t imagine being more in love with you in two weeks than I am right now,” he said with a shrug.
Ross let out a strangled laugh and held his hand to his heart. “Wow! Right when I thought you had no game.”
Tenner rolled his eyes. “I have great game,” he said with dignity. “Just not… you know. When I’m super depressed.” He’d been planning on two more “date weeks.” Two more chances to make amazing love with Ross McTierney.