The Half of Us (Family 4)

“I think—” Abe cleared his throat, chuckled, and then continued speaking. “I think you should ask Kris who the guy is and what their plans are. If he’s a kid from school and they’re going somewhere public, she’s doing what every other kid her age does. Plus, you can drive her to wherever she’s going and pick her up a couple of hours later.”

The plan sounded reasonable. Jason grunted.

“Get dressed.” Abe smiled at him. “I’ll go downstairs and make sure dinner’s under control.”

“Fine.” Jason walked to the closet and looked at Abe over his shoulder. “And I noticed you didn’t put any underwear on.”

“I wasn’t hiding it.” Abe winked and swung his ass from side to side. “I need to find some way to hold your attention in a room full of loud people.”

“That’ll never be a problem,” Jason assured him.

Abe’s expression turned serious. “Never?”

Jason met his gaze. “Never.”

Chapter 14

ABE WAS used to change. He had moved from family-values Salt Lake City to anything-goes Las Vegas at age eighteen. When some of his friends from home had been on church missions or getting married, he had been with new friends at parties and in clubs where drunkenness and random hookups were common. He had been raised with the assumption that one day he’d marry a woman and have a family, and then he had changed his parents’ plans for his future by announcing that there would be no Mrs. Green.

Considered in that context, the progression of his relationship with Jason and his children wasn’t the biggest lifestyle change Abe had experienced. But there was still a period of adjustment, for him and for Jason.

Thankfully, working with teenagers all day had given Abe perspective about how they functioned and patience when dealing with them. Both of those skills came in handy when Angela called him frantically one Thursday in mid-July.

“Hi, Angela. What’s going on?” he asked, wondering why she was calling him in the middle of her workday. Although he had gotten to know her better over the past couple of months—chatting when the kids were being dropped off and meeting for dinner a couple of times to compare notes on Kris and Donny—she didn’t usually call him, and when she did, it wasn’t from work.

Angela’s work ethic was as strong as Jason’s. She also shared Jason’s sharp intelligence and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor. The more time Abe spent with Angela, the more he understood why Jason respected and adored her. Abe felt the same way.

“I hate to ask you to do this, but Jason is in surgery all morning and I have a scheduled C-section I don’t want to hand off to one of my partners. The patient’s been with me for two other births and we have a good rapport.”

“Tell me what you need and I’ll take care of it,” he said. “I’m not busy.”

Summer break was Abe’s time to keep current on new teaching trends, put together lesson plans to match his curriculum, and attend meetings with the school staff and administration. Most of those things he did from home, and his deadlines were self-imposed. That summer he had added moving to his task list, but he was done with that and waiting for Jason to notice.

“I got a call from the club. Donny’s been in a fight. They’re being really understanding about it, or they’re at least pretending to be understanding about it because of the exorbitant membership fee I pay, but they said he needs to be picked up right now and he can’t come back until Monday.”

Though he wished that information was surprising, it wasn’t. Donny didn’t say much to him or anybody else, but Abe watched him as subtly as he could. The boy was sullen, angry, and clearly heading for trouble. Dealing with students was different than dealing with his boyfriend’s child. His own stepfather had been a big part of his life, but Abe hadn’t yet figured out where the lines were with Jason’s kids. It seemed he had to stop looking for lines and start talking openly with Jason before Donny made a mess his parents couldn’t get him out of.

“What happened?” Abe asked.

“I don’t know, exactly. They didn’t give me details. They just said to come get him and keep him out of camp tomorrow too. It’s fine for him to stay home alone tomorrow, but leaving to go pick him up now is impossible unless I cancel my afternoon.”

“No problem. I’ll go get him,” Abe said, walking to the closet to get his flip-flops. “I’ll leave now. Does he know to expect me?”

“I’ll call over there to let him know. Thanks again, Abe. I realize this isn’t your responsibility.”

“He’s Jason’s son,” Abe said as he shoved his wallet in his back pocket. “That makes him my responsibility.”

Angela made a sound that sounded like a gasp and then said, “That’s—” She cleared her throat. “That’s really wonderful. Thank you.”