The Way Things Are (38 page)

“Fast food never smells this good,” Patrick insisted, trying to sit up.

Ken rubbed his eyes. “Thanksgiving?”

“I’m thankful for fast food,” Jay said, his attention still glued to his sketchbook.

Across the room, Corbin laughed. “I got you covered, kid.” He turned toward Ken and Patrick. “It turns out your family had the same idea I did, but I don’t really cook.” He held up a paper McDonald’s bag.

“I just mean I’m thankful for fast food in general,” Jay explained, not looking up from the page. “The turkey smells awesome.”

Ken’s mom was piling food from a variety of plastic containers onto a plastic plate. It looked like she had packed up their entire holiday dinner. She brought the plate to the side of the bed and handed it to Patrick.

“I’m Katie, Ken’s mom. That’s his dad Mark over there, and the boys tell me you’ve met already.” She hurried back to the tray table and came back with a plastic knife and fork. “And I know this is intrusive,” she said, pulling another chair up beside the bed, “but I just had to hope you wouldn’t mind. When Malcolm told us you were going to be in here over the holiday, I couldn’t
not
do something. Is this all right? Or would you like us to give you some quiet time?”

Malcolm handed a full plate to Ken while Brandon passed one to Jay, complete with one of Corbin’s paper-wrapped cheeseburgers on top of a stack of turkey.

“Are you kidding? This is amazing. I….” Patrick opened and closed his mouth for a moment, doing a decent impression of a goldfish. “I was miserable thinking about sending Jay home with his godfather for Thanksgiving.”

“I’m not that bad!” Corbin shouted.

“He’s not,” Patrick agreed quickly. “That’s not what I meant.”

Katie smiled and nodded. “It just never feels like a holiday when families aren’t together.”

Patrick nodded eagerly. He didn’t even wince this time. “Exactly. The rest of our family doesn’t want anything to do with us, so it’s always just been me and Jay.”

“Well, you’re stuck with us now too,” Malcolm called out as he piled food onto his plate.

Ken stared at his big brother, stunned. “You did this?”

“Call it an apology?” Malcolm said, scooping a pile of turkey up with his fork. “As much as I think this thing between you two started as a bad idea… I’ve never seen you look at anybody the way you look at him. When they finally let you in to see him in the ER, I was starting to wonder if I’d ever seen you actually smile before, if I’d ever seen you happy. And maybe I have, but I’ve never see you as happy as you were then.” Malcolm set down his plate and strolled over to the recliner where Jay was eating and held up a loose drawing. It was a soft pencil sketch of Patrick and Ken, asleep. “
That
happy,” Malcolm explained.

Jay had drawn them a little younger than they actually were, or at least younger than Ken felt. Each of them had soft, warm smiles. The drawing was so detailed, from the subtle freckles on Patrick’s cheeks to the tiny smile lines around their eyes. It captured the giddy flutter Ken felt the first time he saw Patrick. The happiness and nervous energy saturated the page until it was almost contagious. It also whispered of the warmth and connection of two lives entwined, of years of shared laughter and love.

Patrick tightened his fingers around Ken’s hand. Ken met his bright green eyes, and they shared a quiet, embarrassed smile.

Jay didn’t even look up from his plate, but he managed a confident smirk anyway. “Like I said, I draw the way things are.”

About the Author

A.J. T
HOMAS
writes m/m romance, mostly for her own amusement. She began writing as a child, but never attempted it seriously until later in life, penning naughty fan fiction and then original stories. Her time is divided between taking care of her three young children, experimenting with cooking and baking projects that rarely explode these days, and embarrassing her husband with dirty jokes. When she’s not writing, she hikes, gardens, researches every random idea that comes into her head, and develops complicated philosophical arguments about why a clean house is highly overrated.

She has earned a BA in English Literature and has worked in a half-dozen different jobs, from law enforcement officer to librarian. Originally from the Northwest, she has traveled all over the United States and currently lives in California. If she ever stops moving around long enough to call any place home, her heart is set on settling down in the mountains of Virginia.

Blog: http://ajthomasromance.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AJ.Thomas.Romance
E-mail: [email protected]

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