"Serious business."
"It's a usual thing for a man to take a woman out to dinner, bring her
flowers now and then."
"Not for you it isn't." Cam straightened, patted his flat belly. "Well,
I guess I'll go choke down that beer so I can be a hero."
"Man's got no privacy around here," Ethan complained when Cam sauntered
away. "Women come right on into your bedroom, don't even have the
courtesy to leave when they see you don't have your pants on."
Scowling, he dragged one of his two ties out of the closet. "People
ready to skin you alive over a few flowers. And the next thing you know,
you're at the goddamn mall fighting crowds and buying shoes."
He wrestled the tie under his collar and began to deal with the knot.
"Never had to worry when I was in my own place. I could walk around buck
ass naked if I wanted to." He hissed at the tie that refused to
cooperate. "I hate these fuckers."
"That's because you're happier tying a sheepshank."
"Who the hell wouldn't be?"
Then he stopped, his fingers freezing on the tie. His gaze stayed on the
mirror, where he could see his father behind him.
"You're just a little nervous, that's all," Ray said with a smile and a
wink. "Hot date."
Taking a careful breath, Ethan turned. Ray stood at the foot of the bed,
his bright-blue eyes merry, the way Ethan remembered they would sparkle
when he was particularly tickled about something.
He was wearing a squash-yellow T-shirt that sported a boat under full
sail, faded jeans, and scuffed sandals. His hair was long, past his
collar, and shining silver. Ethan could see the sun glint on it.
He looked exactly like what he was--had been. A robust and handsome man
who appreciated comfortable clothes and a good laugh.
"I'm not dreaming," Ethan murmured.
"It was easier for you to think so at first. Hello, Ethan."
"Dad."
"I remember the first time you called me that. Took you a while to come
to it. You'd been with us almost a year. Christ, you were a spooky kid,
Ethan. Quiet as a shadow, deep as a lake. One evening when I was grading
papers, you knocked on the door. You just stood there for a minute,
thinking. God, it was a marvel to watch your mind work. Then you said,
'Dad, the phone's for you.' " Ray's smile went bright as sunlight. "You
slipped right out again, or you'd have seen me make a fool of myself.
Sniffled like a baby and had to tell whoever the hell it was on the
phone I was having an allergy attack."
"I never knew why you wanted me."
"You needed us. We needed you. You were ours, Ethan, even before we
found each other. Fate takes its own sweet time, but it always finds a
way. You were soa fragile," Ray said after a moment, and Ethan blinked
in surprise. "Stella and I were worried we'd do something wrong and
break you."
"I wasn't fragile."
"Oh, Ethan, you were. Your heart was delicate as glass and waiting to be
shattered. Your body was tough. We never worried about you and Cam