“I HAVE TO confess, when Will told me we were going to Wicker Park for Thanksgiving, I might’ve acted like a bit of a schoolgirl.”

Tate chuckled as he took a seat in Logan’s recliner and Jackie settled into the love seat beside his father.

“You see, I love the old homes and trees down here,” she said. “They’re just beautiful.”

“It really is a nice area,” Tate said as he brought his beer up for a sip, remembering from conversations with his father that Jackie owned In Bloom, a local flower shop.

“Oh yes, and this place…” Jackie looked around the living room now set up perfectly, according to Logan. “You and Logan must be very proud. It’s exquisite.”

“Yeah, we love it. It’s only over the past couple of weeks it’s really come together. You know how it is when you move. Boxes and junk all over the place, but we finally have everything where it should be, and now it feels…” As Tate searched for the right word, his father provided the perfect ones.

“Like home?”

Tate looked to Will, who’d settled back into the love seat and draped his arm around Jackie. “Exactly. It’s home. I love it here. We both do.”

His father gave a nod, understanding what Tate was telling him without needing it spelled out. He and Logan were good. They were solid. There was no need to worry about them. Not anymore, Tate thought. Not ever again.

He was about to ask Jackie if her family was from Chicago or someplace else when one of their phones, his or Logan’s, started to ring. When it didn’t let up, Will looked over his shoulder to the table by the front door where the sound was coming from, and then looked back to Tate.

“I’m sorry,” Tate said, putting his beer down on one of the coasters Logan had set out. “Give me just a second to see who it is.”

As he got to his feet and headed around the couch, his father said, “You’re fine. We can occupy ourselves until you get back.”

Tate aimed an apologetic smile at them, and when he reached Logan’s phone and picked it up, he spotted the same number from the other night flashing across the screen—Evelyn.

Lunch would be ready in only a few minutes, and it hadn’t escaped Tate’s notice that the only person missing from today’s gathering was Logan’s mother.

He glanced over at Jackie and his father. “Can you give me just a few minutes?”

“I told you, it’s fine. Take the call, son.”

“Thanks,” Tate said as he headed to the front door, but before he reached it, he heard Rachel call out, “Lunch is about to be served in, like…ten minutes, everyone.”

Tate frowned, thinking he probably should just hit end on the call and be done with it. But there was no way he was going to let Evelyn off that easy, and he needed some privacy for what he wanted to say.

He grabbed his coat and shrugged into it as he stepped out onto the porch and hit accept, bringing the phone up to his ear.

“Hello.” His voice was gruff as he pulled the door shut behind him.

“Oh, Tate. Hello.”

“Evelyn,” he said in response, but offered nothing more. He wasn’t about to shoot the breeze with small talk or pleasantries. Not when he had a feeling she was calling to pass along her deepest apologies about why she couldn’t make it today.

“Yes, hello, um, is Logan there?” she asked, and Tate thought it telling that this time around there was no over-the-top enthusiasm in her voice. No sweet talk like Evelyn usually did whenever she was trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes.

No, this time she was a little wary, cautious, even, because she could tell by his tone that he was not impressed.

“Yeah, he’s here,” Tate said as he tried to bank his annoyance.

“Could you be a doll and go and get him for me? I’m not going to be able to come today after all, and I need to speak to him for a minute.”

Tate shut his eyes and tried for patience, but it was no use. He didn’t have enough in store for her today, because even though Logan hadn’t said it, Tate knew that he had been hopeful she would show, and the fact that she wouldn’t made Tate fucking furious. “No.”

“No? Come on, handsome,” she said with a laugh, but he wasn’t budging. “You said he was there.”

“And he is. But you’re not going to talk to him.” Tate crossed his arms over his chest, firm in his resolve.

“I don’t understand.”

“Then let me break it down for you,” he said as he walked down the stairs, needing to move so the urge to put his fist through the wall might leave him. “Today was important to us. Important to Logan. And despite every shitty thing you’ve ever done to him, he wanted you here to share it with him.”

“Tate, don’t be so—”

“Stop it, Evelyn,” he said. “For once in your life, quit with the bullshit, because it won’t work on me. I couldn’t care less if you’re here or not, but it sure as shit would’ve been nice for your son to have you here when he announced his engagement.”

“His… Wait… You and he got—”

“Yes, and I told you once before that if you hurt him again, you would have me to answer to. You’re not going to ruin this for him. Not by giving him some lame excuse that something unavoidable came up. Not today. Today he’s with the people who really love him, the people who care enough to show up, and I won’t let you mess with that. Got it?”

There was silence at the other end of the phone, and Tate wasn’t even sure Evelyn was still there until she finally said, “Got it.”

“Good,” he said, his jaw aching from how hard he had it clenched.

“Tate?”

“What?”

“I didn’t know that was happening today. I’m sorry.”

“And I don’t care. I’ll never understand you, Evelyn. How you think or why you do what you do. All he’s ever wanted was for you to love him.”

“I—”

“He’s never asked you for anything. Not money. Not your time. Not. Anything. Yet you keep asking. You keep expecting the world from him, and he keeps giving it.” Tate shook his head, beyond caring about her feelings in any way. He was more concerned with the man he knew this was going to tear apart.

He kicked at one of the acorns by his feet and said into the silent phone, “I hope whatever pulled you away today was worth it. Then again, what could be worth more than your son’s happiness?”

Not wanting to hear her reply, Tate hit end on the call. It wasn’t until he turned around to head back inside that he saw Logan standing on the front landing.

* * *

AS TATE’S WORDS floated across the air and seemed to drift off into nothing, Logan watched him worry his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, obviously concerned by what he knew Logan had just heard.

“Logan, hey.”

“Hey,” Logan said, as he slowly walked down the stairs.

Tate looked down at his feet, a frown creasing his forehead. “How much of that did you hear?”

When Logan stopped in front of him, he sighed. “Enough.”

“I’m sorry,” Tate said, and raised his head. “I didn’t want to upset—”

“Tate?”

Tate blinked a couple of times as the wind ruffled his hair. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.” Logan took a step closer and took hold of either side of Tate’s leather jacket.

“If I overstepped, I’m—”

“You didn’t,” Logan said, shaking his head. “You saved me from a disappointment I should’ve seen coming.”

Tate brought a hand up to cover one of Logan’s. “That’s what I was hoping, but I probably should’ve been kinder about it.”

“Why? Does she deserve your kindness? Does she deserve mine?”

“No,” Tate said, and then grimaced. “But I let my anger get the better of me. I was rude.”

“So what? You were being honest. You were standing up for me.” Logan tugged on the jacket until he could take Tate’s lips in a gentle kiss. “You were loving me. And that’s what people do when someone hurts the one they love. They get a little angry.”

With flushed cheeks, windblown curls, and a curve lifting his delicious mouth, Tate was everything Logan had ever wanted standing there in the middle of their front yard with leaves swirling around their ankles, and he couldn’t stop himself from stealing another kiss.

Tate immediately opened for him, and Logan sank inside, tangling their tongues as Tate brought his hands up to cradle his face and deepen the kiss. Logan wrapped an arm around Tate’s waist, and when Tate’s eyes fluttered shut and a groan left him, Logan reluctantly pulled free.

“Forget about Evelyn. I have. I’m not going to let her ruin today. Plus, we need to go inside,” Logan said as Tate began kissing his way up to his ear, making him chuckle. “Tate, seriously, we have to go inside. Lunch is being served, and if you keep doing that, we’re likely to get arrested.”

“Mmm,” Tate said by his ear. “But you feel so good. I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Logan tightened his hold around Tate’s waist. “No?”

“Uh uh.” Tate nipped at his ear. “Want to stay out here. Just you, me, and—”

“Tate! Logan!” Rachel called out from behind them, and when they pulled apart, they both looked up to the front door to see her standing there with her hands on her hips. “Stop fooling around out here and get your asses inside.”

As she shut the door, Logan turned back to Tate and they both started laughing. “You, me, and a house full of family and guests? Good timing, Morrison.”

Tate took Logan’s hand and leaned down to whisper in his ear, “I wish I could take you around the back and get you in the Mustang.”

“I’d settle for being bent over it, but… I have something kind of important I want to tell everyone today.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. Only the most important thing that’s ever happened to me.” As Logan jogged up the stairs, Tate followed and brushed a hand over his ass, making Logan stop and look back at him. “That means you have to quit feeling me up so I can stand in front of minors without giving them a biology lesson.”

Tate started laughing, and as he removed his hands, he held them out, palms up, just as Rachel pulled open the door to shout at them again, and instead startled.

“Oh. There you are,” she said. “If you don’t get your hands off Tate and let him inside in the next couple of seconds, so help me God, Logan, you’ll get no dessert.”

Logan’s mouth fell open at the accusation, and then he pointed at Tate. “See how they always blame me? You’re the one who was getting handsy with me.”

As Rachel stepped aside, the two of them walked in and Tate said, “Yeah, but I’m stealthy about it. You’re not.”

Logan rolled his eyes but grinned, happier than he could ever remember being. “Is that right?”

“Mhmm. You’re about as subtle as a bomb going off.”

As they reached the entrance to the living room, Logan said, “In that case, how about we go in there and make a bang?”