Fire and Rain by Andrew Grey Page A

him. His imagination had conjured up the most amazing chorus of soft needy sounds, and Kip leaned forward, hoping like hell he wasn’t showing wood. He sure as hell had it, but putting on a display wouldn’t be good. “I was just thinking.” He needed to stop having those thoughts. It wasn’t right and nothing could come of it.
    “Kip,” Jos said, and Kip colored, wondering what he’d seen. “I see you looking at me sometimes.”
    The heat in Kip’s cheeks rose even higher. “I’m sorry. I look. It doesn’t mean that…. I’m not like Tyler, you know.” Where had that come from? It seemed hard to believe that Jos had only been staying with him for a day.
    “I know that. You’d never do anything like what he tried,” Jos said and leaned forward in his chair. “I am gay, just so you know. So you don’t have to worry about me being offended by your little daydreams.”
    Kip swallowed. “Even if I were to confess that they were about you?”
    “I figured that,” Jos said with a smile and sat back in his chair. Kip did the same, listening to the happy sound of Isaac as he ran cars around the porch. After a while, Isaac went back to playing with his horse, but somehow Pistachio now made the same sounds as a truck.
    When Isaac said he was hungry, Kip made lunch and they ate on the porch. It was a late lunch because of their unscheduled ice cream stop, but that was fine. Isaac played the rest of the afternoon on the porch, and Jos watched him. Kip thought he might have relaxed somewhat and even nodded off for a while. Kip took that as a sign of Jos’s comfort around him.
    When Isaac crawled into Jos’s lap and curled next to him later in the afternoon, Kip wondered if something was wrong, but Isaac just rested his head on Jos’s shoulder and dozed off.
    “Kip,” Jos whispered after a while. “I have to go inside. Would you please…?” He stood and gently transferred Isaac. Kip expected Isaac to wake, but he remained asleep and curled against Kip, barely stirring. Jos put Pistachio to Isaac’s arm, and he curled it close. “I’ll be right back.”
    Kip nodded and looked at the small body and angelic face resting on his lap, Isaac’s usual quiet energy banked for later use. Kip stroked a stray lock of Isaac’s hair from his forehead and just watched him sleep. When Jos returned, Kip asked if he wanted him back and was exceedingly happy when Jos shook his head and stretched out on the wicker love seat. “Go ahead and close your eyes if you want. He and I will be fine.”
    Kip tried to remember the last time he’d spent an afternoon doing nothing. Even when he wasn’t at work, he was almost always doing something. The house always needed some kind of attention, and while he sat, he ran though the list of things he should be doing. When he was with Jeffrey, that list of items always seemed so important, but right now, it was secondary to enjoying the peace and quiet of one of those warm fall days that could be the last of the year.
    “No!” Jos mumbled and stirred, groaning and then whimpering softly. Kip reached over and gently put his hand on Jos’s back and held it there, letting him know he wasn’t alone. Jos mumbled some more and then settled quietly once again.
    A few minutes later, Isaac woke with a start, whining the way his brother had. “It’s okay. It’s just Kip.” He picked up Pistachio from where he’d tumbled out of Isaac’s arms and continued holding him for a few minutes until Isaac squirmed to be let down. “You have to play quietly.”
    Isaac nodded and put a finger up to his lips, making a “shhh” sound to Pistachio before going to the other end of the porch and the chaise longue corral.
    “Where’s Isaac?” Jos asked with a start, sitting straight up.
    “He’s playing with his horse,” Kip said levelly, and Jos sighed and turned so his feet were on the floor. “God…. I dreamed someone had taken him, and when I went to get him back, he was gone and I