Trifecta by Kim Carmichael Page B

the crockpot police and backed up toward the cupboard to get the wine.  How did Russell know these things?  More importantly why did Russell use the crockpot?
    This morning he came out of the shower to find Russell playing happy homemaker dicing onions and cubing beef.  Jason wanted to suggest they all go out tonight, they hadn't really left the house all together since they went to the art gallery.  Both he and Russell made milk and condom runs, and every time Russell went he came back with some sort of ingredients to make dinner.
    He got the corkscrew and pondered the week's menu thus far.  Steak, spaghetti, chicken Marsala, breakfast for dinner, and tonight's crockpot extravaganza.  Why did Russell use the crockpot?  Dinner was way too planned.
    Once more his phone needed attention. 
    Home in five I hope we have wine : - )
    He ground his teeth together.  Lauren should not be texting and driving.  When she drove she shouldn't be doing anything else but driving.  He even toyed with the idea of taking the mp3 player out of her car.  Something about Lauren and driving didn't mix.  Over the years she suffered her fender benders and close calls, and her job consisted of a lot of driving.  Everyday he cringed when she left.  There was many a day he went with her to work knowing he would worry until she returned.  The anxiety became worse ever since they were together.
    He lifted his finger and went to chide Lauren for texting while driving, but then decided not to fuel her female mind's need to answer back.  Instead, he opened the wine, got down the glasses and stalked the door. 
    Exactly ten minutes after Russell texted he would be home, his car came down the street, and he pulled into his spot in the driveway.
    The slam of Russell's car door echoed outside, and at last the jingle of his keys.
    Jason crossed his arms.
    The door opened and Russell stopped short right in front of him. "Hello."
    Jason pointed at him.
    "Did you open the wine?"  Russell swatted his hand away and put his bag down.
    He nodded. 
    Russell took off his suit jacket.  It used to be that after setting his laptop case aside he would yank his tie off, but since Monday Lauren had been taking the tie off, and now his friend waited for her to do it. 
    "How's dinner?"  Russell reached up for his tie and stopped in midair.
    "Why don't you tell me?  You made it."  He grinned.
    "Did you already dip into the wine?"  Russell leaned forward.
    He met his friend nose to nose.  "Why did you use the crockpot?"
    Russell swallowed.  "Because I thought we might be hungry for dinner."
    Before he got the chance to ask why they couldn't go out to assuage their hunger, the alarm beeped on Lauren's car.  They both turned like dogs in heat anticipating their master's return.  He frowned at his own analogy and then remembered why he really frowned.  Miss text and drive. 
    Lauren bounded up the porch stairs.  "Hi!"
    Russell held his arms out.  "Honey you're home." 
    A joke from Russell coupled with crockpot cookery made Jason wonder if maybe his best friend was nesting.  Russell was a man who needed to be in a relationship.
    Rather than giving Russell a hug, she hoisted her purse higher on her shoulder and grabbed his tie. She pulled him down and gave him a peck while she unknotted the tie, pulling it out from around his collar.
                  Russell rewarded Lauren's attention by giving her another kiss, this one a bit more than a peck, followed by him taking her bag. 
    It was always weird watching a couple do their thing, but in this case Jason was part of it, and he straightened up in anticipation of his own homecoming ritual.
    Normally, or what was the new normally, Lauren would come up to him, ask him how the art went, and brush his bangs aside.  Bang brushing had been done his entire life from a variety of people except for the one summer he shaved his head and the winter it took to grow it back.  However, Lauren's technique