Chapter 21: Chapter 21

They painted the house with muted,yet still bright yellow,then gorged on a truckful of grilled things,both meat and veggies.

“I forgot you were an ace with a grill,”Cal murmured at Derek,who seemed pleased.

“You remember,”he replied.

“Yeah,hard to forget the first decent barbeque I’ve had in years.”Then,something mischievous took over Cal and he leaned even closer to Derek and whispered,“I’ve missed your meat.”

Derek choked on air and then began to laugh,his cheeks delightfully red.

“I don’t even want to know.”Noah chuckled as he passed them.

“I think I’m gonna go stay with Anton tonight,”Kit said pointedly as he brought his wooden plate and utensils to the fire pit.

“You have fun,just maybe not as much as we’ll be having,”Derek told Kit,who looked horrified and then ran off to join his friends.

“You’re really good at this parenting thing,”Cal said,making Derek throw back his head and laugh.

“Thanks,I think.”

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