Andrew picked up his phone and punched in Vincent’s number. It was 2:00 p.m., and he thought there was a possibility that Vincent would be busy in a meeting with farmers or his store managers. Instead, Vincent answered immediately. He sounded cheerful when he said, “Hi, I was just thinking about you.”

“Aren’t you always thinking about me?” asked Andrew. “I think you’re on my mind all but about thirty minutes a day.”

“What’s on your mind the other thirty minutes?” asked Vincent.

“Do I have to answer that?”

“Since you brought it up, I think you do,” said Vincent.

“Okay, fine, it’s porn. That’s what’s on my mind the other thirty minutes.”

Vincent laughed out loud. “I appreciate your honesty, Andrew.” Then he laughed harder.

“Well, I did have a real reason for calling you,” said Andrew. “If you can get over making fun of my sordid little habits.”

“Well, I probably think about it at least forty-five minutes,” said Vincent.

“Well, now I feel better. I almost feel warm and fuzzy about it. Anyway, do you have any time free this afternoon?”

“I could carve out a little,” said Vincent, “but not enough time for a roll in the hay. Maybe a quickie?”

Andrew sighed. “Yes, that would be awesome, but I was going to ask you about something that doesn’t involve taking your clothes off.”

Vincent said, “I’m just teasing. What’s up? I could probably clear out about an hour between 3:00 and 4:00.”

“I have something for your house,” said Andrew,” and if you could meet me there, it would be fantastic. I think it’s something you will like. Plus, Doug is almost finished with the plantings. You can check those out, too, if you haven’t been to the house in the last few days.”

“That sounds perfect. See you there at 3:00?”

“It’s a date,” said Andrew. He made a kissing sound into the phone before hanging up.

Just as he hung up the phone, Andrew heard Doug’s voice outside of his office door. Doug said, “This painting leaning against the wall is awesome, Andrew. Is that the one that’s going out in Vincent’s house?”

Andrew pushed his chair back from his desk and stood up. He stepped through the doorway and said, “It is. I thought it would look great in the living room.”

“It will be perfect,” said Doug. “Who’s the artist? Can you have him paint something for me?”

Andrew said, “He might be willing to do a commission. He’s a student at the university. He did work for my women’s shelter project. I saw this one for sale when we were picking out pieces for that project. I’ll give you the information if you do me a favor.”

“A favor?”

“I wanted to ask if I could use your truck to cart this painting out to the house. I’m going to meet Vincent out there and show it to him. Don’t worry, though. It won’t take all afternoon. This is purely a business meeting.”

“With the furnishings that are out there, I wasn’t too worried,” said Doug. “Yes, you can use the truck. I’ll give you the keys.”

Andrew grumbled, “I can still do a quickie against the wall.”

“At your age?” Doug laughed.

“I’m younger than you,” insisted Andrew.

“By six months, and I’m not sure how adept I would be up against the wall. It’s nothing personal, buddy. It’s just the facts of life.”

---

Vincent was already at the house with his car in the driveway when Andrew pulled up to the curb in Doug’s bright yellow pickup truck. Andrew insisted that Doug place the topper on the back end, and he wrapped the painting in copious blankets for protection.

As Andrew climbed out of the cab, Vincent opened the front door and made his way down the sidewalk to the truck. He asked, “Did you buy a new truck? The yellow is fun.”

“No, this belongs to Doug. I needed something more suited to hauling than my car.”

“You’ve got my curiosity piqued,” said Vincent. “What are you hiding in there? Is it furniture?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” said Andrew. He pulled open the back gate and slid the bundle of blankets out the back end of the truck. “Help me carry this, please.”

The two of them carried the package into the house and set it up against the living room wall. “Do I get to unwrap it?” asked Vincent.

“Sure, go ahead.” Andrew settled onto the couch while he watched. Vincent gingerly removed the layers of blanket.

When the last blanket came free, Vincent stared at the painting with his mouth wide open. He asked, “Is this for here in the house?”

“It’s my gift to you,” said Andrew. “I usually try to give something when we work on a major project. Do you like it?”

“It’s incredible,” said Vincent, “and it’s my first real large piece of art. I have smaller things on the wall at the other house and some old family portraits. This painting is incredible. Dana and I always talked about the idea of collecting art when we got older.”

Andrew patted the cushion on the couch next to him. He said, “Come here and sit with me. This painting isn’t worth a lot, at least yet. It was painted by a university student, but I thought it would look great here in the house, so I bought it.”

Vincent sat on the couch and reached out to wrap his arms around Andrew. He said, “It doesn’t matter what it’s worth in dollars. It’s beautiful, you picked it out for the house, and it’s a gift from you. That’s what makes it worth so much to me.”

Andrew hugged Vincent back and burrowed his face in Vincent’s neck. “Mmmm, you smell good.” He kissed Vincent just below the ear.

Vincent laughed softly. The kiss felt ticklish. He said, “It’s a new shave lotion I’m trying. You noticed.”

“Well, you always smell good. You just smell a little bit different today.” Andrew rubbed at Vincent’s chest and resisted the urge to tug at buttons. Instead, he asked, “How is Mandy doing? Any concerns about me?”

Vincent rubbed Andrew’s shoulder. He said, “She woke up from a nightmare about Dana the other night. She said Dana was angry at her. It scared Mandy, and she was worried that it had something to do with you.”

“With me?”

“Yes, I think Mandy is fine with you. I was a little surprised. She seems to take it in stride that you are a man, too. I guess kids are much more open and accepting now than when we grew up. She just isn’t so sure Dana would see it the same way.”

“Do you think Dana would?” asked Andrew.

“I know she would,” said Vincent.

“You know?”

“A good friend of hers told me that Dana had me figured out before she passed. I’m not sure exactly how she figured it out, but she did.”

Andrew reached a hand up behind Vincent’s head and raked his fingers through the soft hair. “How do you feel about that?”

“I think I’m glad about it,” said Vincent. “I think it would be hard if I had to carry around the idea that she would be shocked about you and me together. Unfortunately, even if that’s okay, Mandy still needs to figure out that it would be okay with her Mom.”

“How did that kind of conversation come up?” asked Andrew. “I mean, I’m talking about the one about you and me and the friend. I’m just really curious. It doesn’t sound like just normal conversation.”

“I don’t know,” said Vincent. “You know how conversations happen. It just sort of popped out of my mouth that I found somebody new. Then it popped out that it was a guy.”

“And she said, ‘I knew it would be?’” asked Andrew.

Vincent whispered, “This is all probably going to make me cry. Can you handle that?”

Andrew chuckled softly. “I’m a cryer, too. I think I can deal with it.”

“She said Dana became even more insightful after she knew she was going to lose the war with the cancer. I agree with that. I saw it in her, too.”

“Wow,” said Andrew. “That’s both amazing and sad.”

“It is, and she’s right, I saw it, too,” said Vincent. “Dana was so at peace and seemed to understand things about her family, her friends, the world in a different way. Anyway, her friend said that Dana told her that she hoped I would find a good man.”

“Wow,” said Andrew again. “No pressure on me.”

Vincent pulled Andrew tighter and said, “You are a good man unless you have me completely fooled.”

Andrew laughed and said, “I can be a tricky one.” He raised his head and kissed Vincent on the lips. When he started to pull back, Vincent held on tight for a deeper kiss. Their tongues touched, and the sensation raced all the way to Andrew’s toes. “Mmmm, I needed that.”

“Me, too,” said Vincent. “I love this painting so much.”

“Will we be able to get together this weekend?” asked Andrew.

“I’m not completely sure, and after the dream, I might try to stay close to Mandy for the weekend. She is going to do some talking with others, too.”

“How about me taking her shopping this weekend?” asked Andrew.

“I…” Vincent’s voice trailed off as he looked into Andrew’s eyes.

“We already know each other, and I genuinely want her opinion while just spending some time getting to be friends. If she hates me, that’s crucial information, don’t you think?”

Vincent said, “Well, yes, it is. Do you really think there is any possibility that she will hate you?”

“No, but it can happen. Believe it or not, sometimes people don’t like me.”

Vincent hugged Andrew tight. He said, “I don’t believe that. You’re so charming. Well, I guess you can be a little devious.”

“And I’ve been accused of worse things on occasion.”

“I’ve been called controlling and demanding,” said Vincent.

“Whiny and manipulative for me,” said Andrew.

“So is this a competition to see who is worst now?” asked Vincent. He turned his head and stared into Andrew’s eyes.

“It doesn’t matter how bad we are for others, as long as we’re good for each other,” said Andrew.

Vincent laughed. “I guess you have a very good point there. Let me see if Mandy would like to go shopping on Saturday afternoon. Would that work for you?”

“That would be perfect,” said Andrew. “Could we all have dinner after the shopping? You could both come over to my place, and we could grill out.”

“Let’s keep that as the plan in the back of our minds, but if things are edgy with Mandy by the end of the day, I want to give her the escape of spending time on her own or with just me.”

Andrew nodded. “Absolutely. That makes perfect sense. Is she excited about moving?”

“She is, and she is excited to meet new friends. I think it will be a very positive move for Mandy when we get it all sorted out. She loves the house already. She found the extra-large closet and got all excited about that.”

Andrew said, “What woman doesn’t like a big closet? It probably goes to their heart quicker than a box of chocolates.”

Vincent smirked and said, “I don’t know. Dana was a chocolate addict. She liked a nice closet, too, and she loved her shoes, but the chocolate was her downfall. You would be amazed at how quickly those boxes at Valentine’s Day disappeared.”

“I can’t say much. I still buy myself a milk chocolate bunny at Easter if nobody else buys one for me. Chocolate is a good thing.”

“It’s a very good thing,” said Vincent. He hugged Andrew close and shared another intimate kiss. “I hate to mention getting back to work, but I do have to go. I’m blown away by the painting, and still blown away by you, Andrew. Thank you.”