June was extremely busy for Charlie. The last month of the quarter had work piling up. Conversely, he found the flow of numbers and reconciliations rather calming. There was nothing as satisfying as a pile of data tied up nicely with a bow.

Too bad, life couldn’t be so tidy.

Ki spent the better part of a week in the evenings digging a garden. At first Charlie joined him, but the control freak was obsessed with creating the perfect Mondrian vegetable garden with onions, peppers, potatoes, and Swiss chard. In order to preserve their budding relationship, Charlie cleaned the chicken coop and let the dog chase the chickens around, leaving Ki to himself.

A few hours later, Ki was back in the house scouring the fridge.

“What are you doing?” A niggling sense of fear bloomed in his heart.

“I’ll cook dinner tonight.”

“Why?” Charlie truly panicked.

Two weeks ago, Ki tried to help Charlie make homemade tortillas. Rather than uniform circles or anything that could fold over on itself, the tortillas looked a little too much like Louisiana, while edible, not practical for holding food.

A few weeks before that, Ki begged to be taught how to make abuelita’s ranchero sauce for chilaquiles. A pretty simple recipe, yet Ki managed to burn all the poblanos and destroy his food processor in less than an hour.

“Don’t you trust me?” Ki flashed the charming lawyer smile.

“With my life, not with my food.”

“I’m not that bad.” Ki equivocated.

Charlie just stared.

“Okay. I’m that bad.” Placing carrots, onions, peppers and celery on the counter, Ki stroked Charlie’s shoulder. “But you always cook. And today’s a celebration.”

“What are we celebrating?” Racking his brain, Charlie thought of all the milestones. It wasn’t a dating anniversary, not a birthday, not a holiday.

“The police arrested Jorge in Georgia today.”

“For what?”

“Assault with a deadly weapon. He got drunk at a bar and threw chairs. That plus the domestic battery trial with his soon to be ex and a court date in New Hampshire, he’ll be in prison for a while.”

Charlie pondered his feelings. He wasn’t happy his brother would face prison time, more sad, sad at what his life became. They all had the same start, same family, same background……what a mess.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Hey, you okay?” Ki’s warm arms encircled him from behind. “I thought you’d be more relieved.”

He turned around and snaked his own arms around Ki’s neck.

“I am.” He nuzzled Ki’s warm neck. “Prison is serious, and it is where my brother belongs. Still….”

“I know, angel. I’d like to rub your back and tell you everything will be all right, but that would be silly. So instead, I’ll cook you a nice chicken soup.”

“You don’t know how to make chicken soup.” Charlie pushed away from Ki.

“I’ve seen you do it often enough.”

Charlie opened his mouth to list the reasons Ki shouldn’t be in the kitchen, but nothing came out. Excellent chicken soup was easy to find in this world, but genuine love was not.

Two hours later, after the fire extinguisher was returned to it’s proper place, the couple walked and fed Deng Pao after ordering in Chinese. Snuggling into the couch with their vegetable lo mein and General Tsao’s chicken, they turned on a movie.

Savoring the sweet, salty of the chicken, Charlie asked. “Does real Chinese food taste like this?”

Ki’s eyes scrunched. “What do you think?”

Charlie watched Deng Pao snore in the corner on his fluffy bed. “Will we ever visit China? Do you want to visit where your mother is from?”

“The closest you’ll ever get me to Asia is Japan, maybe Taiwan.”

“Let’s not risk it. I hear the Chinatown in Yokohama is pretty cool.” Charlie had never cooked Japanese food before.

“I’ve never been to the one in San Francisco.”

Vining his arms around Ki’s left arm, Charlie put his head on his shoulder. “Lets go there first. Less expensive.”

“Mmmmm.” Ki popped a piece of chicken into his mouth. “We need to save our money.”

Charlie sat up and poked the side of Ki’s head.

“Why? For more trips?”

“Nah. Now that there’s a paved driveway, I need a bigger garage and a chicken coop or there’s no way you’ll ever agree to live with me.”

“Why can’t you live with me? Have you seen how short my driveway is?”

“Your house is too small. There’s no room for two offices and we need a guest bedroom for mother.”

“Mother?”

“You think she won’t want to visit? And you’ve already made friends with Hala, not to mention my friends from Boston. We can’t expect them to drive all the way out here and not stay the night. No, no. Your place is too small. We should sell it and move you, Deng Pao, and the chickens to my place.”

“But what if we…….” Charlie didn’t know how to finish the sentence.

“What? Adopt? Get married? Get goats? Your place still isn’t big enough.”

“Break up.” Charlie whispered, then in the next breath found himself squished to the couch by a very dark faced Ki.

“You plan to break up with me?” Ki’s hot breath feathered over Charlie’s long dark eyelashes. “I’m very unhappy. No, I am furious.”

“No.”

“Then what are you worried about?” Ki stopped breathing fire.

“You breaking up with me. After a while, my emotional baggage might annoy you.”

“At this very moment, I find you highly annoying.” Ki laid his forehead on Charlie’s. “There are no guarantees in life, Charlie. I can’t promise you won’t want to walk out after a year, and I can’t promise well still be friends in a decade. But I can tell you I have no intention of setting up a backup plan if this doesn’t work out. I’d rather use all my resources to make sure our relationship lasts this lifetime and any other lifetime.”

“Oh.” Charlie’s eyes rounded. Those words were rather romantic. Ki really had a way with words.

Sneaky lawyer.

“If you’re so worried about a backup plan, why don’t you put the proceeds from selling this place into a fund that you can use to buy another place when you kick me to the ” An angry fire burned in his eyes.

After a deep breath, Charlie pecked Ki’s dry lips. “How about I sell this place and put the money in an IRA for our retirement?”

The two men embraced. Lips and tongue merged; heat grew. Movie was ignored and Chinese food grew cold.