Something in the Way He Needs (Family 1)

“What’d you do today?” he asked instead.

“I went to that farmer’s market,” Daniel answered. “And spent some time at that coffee shop on the corner, playing around on my computer.” He looked at his brother. “Is Shirley joining us, Ollie?”

“Nah.” Oliver shook his head. Asher expected him to leave it at that, like he usually did when the topic of his fiancée came up. But apparently the rules of engagement were different where his brother was involved, because Oliver kept talking to Daniel. “She’s all pissed at me.”

“What happened?” Daniel folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. Asher immediately missed the warmth of Daniel’s hand touching him.

“Apparently the gift I got her for her birthday wasn’t good enough,” Oliver said drolly.

“Hey, at least you remembered her birthday,” Asher said in support. “That’s better than you did with your ex.”

True story. Oliver had been married to one ex-wife for five years, and if Asher remembered correctly, he had missed every single birthday during that time.

“I said the same thing!” Oliver answered excitedly. “But it just pissed her off even more.” He sighed loudly. “Whatever.”

“What’d you get her?” Daniel asked.

“A gift certificate to a little clothing store she likes.”

“Oh.” Daniel frowned. “Why is she mad? That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, I thought so too. But Burning Wrath and Indignation is going to be in town on Thursday, and that’s her favorite band. I guess I was supposed to get tickets for us. The thing is, we’ve been busy planning the wedding, and she told me about the show so long ago that by the time they went on sale, I forgot. Now they’re all sold out and even shitty tickets are over five hundred a piece from scalpers.” Oliver shook his head. “That’s just not going to happen.”

Asher didn’t mention the fact that, to his knowledge, Oliver had had zero involvement in the wedding planning. Nor did he bring up the calendar feature on Oliver’s Blackberry… the same calendar Oliver dutifully used to remember every single work meeting.

“Oh,” Daniel said, his voice sounding strained for no apparent reason. He looked down at the table and started picking at his napkin, tearing small pieces off, twisting it and then straightening it, and never raising his eyes. “But, well, uh,” he stammered. “At least she can go shopping, right? Maybe if you take her to that store where you got the gift card she’ll forget about the concert.”

Asher straightened in his seat and stopped going over the list of reasons why Oliver’s excuses made no sense. He furrowed his brow and looked at Daniel. The man was acting strange—agitated, shaky, nervous. Like a perp who was hiding something. But he had seemed fine just minutes earlier.

“I tried that, but she refused to step foot in the store. I’ve never seen her so pissed,” Oliver said.

Daniel blanched in reaction to Oliver’s words.

What the hell? Asher wrapped his hand around Daniel’s neck and gave him a little squeeze. He was about to ask him what was going on when Oliver threw down the gauntlet.

“Hey, maybe I can stay with you guys tonight.”

Asher jerked his head away from Daniel and glared at Oliver. “We have a one-bedroom,” he reminded the man who’d been to their apartment dozens of times.

“I know. I know. The couch is fine. And it won’t be for long. I’m sure she’ll calm down in a few days.”

“A few days!” Asher shouted more than asked.

“You won’t even know I’m there,” Oliver wheedled. “I’m at work all the time anyway.”

“Shouldn’t you go home and apologize and, I don’t know,” Asher said sarcastically, “work this out?”

“She’ll calm down,” Oliver assured him. “Six days, tops. I mean, we have the wedding on Sunday so she has to talk to me by then.”

“Six days!” Asher was definitely shouting this time.

“Max,” Oliver said. “Unless she postpones the wedding again, and then it might be a little longer.”

“If she’s that upset, I, uh,” Daniel said quietly, the difference in volume between his voice and the previous decibel level at the table startling. “I think I can probably get you tickets.”

Oliver’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? How? Because, oh, man, Danny, that would be great.”

“Where’re you going to get tickets?” Asher asked.

“I, uh, know some guys,” Daniel answered cryptically. “Let me just send them a text, okay?”

He got his phone out and typed. When he was done, he dropped it back into his pocket.

“What’d they say?” Oliver asked, seemingly having no idea how texts worked.

“Daniel just wrote them, man. They haven’t had a chance to respond yet,” Asher said, explaining the obvious.

“When are they going to tell us if we can have the tickets?” Oliver asked, channeling a five-year-old. Who thought people could predict the future.

Asher rolled his eyes, refusing to continue engaging in the conversation. Daniel reached his hand out and patted Oliver’s.