Riding Tall (26 page)

“I will,” Mackenzie promised. He was quiet for so long Joe was pretty sure he’d gone to sleep, but then he said, “Do you think my parents would
want
to see the church? I mean, they’re not really interested in churches. Architecture. Whatever.”

“They’re interested in you,” Joe said, and he kissed Mackenzie’s temple. “Make it an open invitation. They should come up sometime, when they feel like it. I bet they have a date booked before you’re off the phone. Seriously, Mack, I’m not good at understanding people, and even I could see that they were desperate to be part of your life.”

“Do you think they’d want to move to the area and start a chain of tasteful B&Bs catering to the gay-wedding crowd?”

Joe grinned. “Maybe not quite
that
desperate. But it’d be networking, right? They must have friends with gay kids, or even just kids who don’t want to get married in a regular church but still want a sense of tradition. All your target market.”

“Damn, it’s sexy when you talk business talk to me.”

“Yeah? Are you thinking about your profit margin? Is it
rising
?” For the first time in weeks, Joe’s cock was calling attention to itself, suggesting it might like a little something.

And at first, things seemed promising. “Maybe it’s
going down
,” Mackenzie said with a waggle of his eyebrows. But he didn’t follow up with any actual down going of his own, just nestled into Joe’s chest and shut his eyes.

That was fine. They were learning new rhythms. Mackenzie wasn’t in the mood right now, just like Joe hadn’t been in the mood at other times. They needed to resynch or something. It wasn’t a big deal.
Not a big deal
, Joe told his cock, but as usual it didn’t pay much attention to the messages his brain sent to it.

Joe flopped his head back into the pillow. He could feel Mackenzie’s breathing change as he fell asleep, and it was enough. Sure, sex would be good, but they had other things to worry about right then. Sex could wait.

For a while, at least.

Chapter 20

“I
T
TURNS
out that Joe’s great-grandparents were members of the congregation,” Mackenzie said. He was nervous. He’d shown people through the church lots of times, but somehow, this tour was different. “So that’s a nice bit of continuity. He actually has their wedding photos, taken right outside against the stone wall along the side. I’m planning to get them framed to hang downstairs in the reception area.”

“That’s a lovely idea,” his mother said. “And this is an absolutely lovely building, Scott. It’s so wonderful that you’re keeping it for something close to its intended purpose.”

“The original church owners didn’t have a problem with you using their building this way?” his father asked.

Mackenzie tried not to bristle.
Don’t go looking for trouble
, Joe had said. “Why would they?” he asked as sweetly as he could manage.

Mackenzie’s parents exchanged a look. “Just horning in on their business, maybe,” his father said quickly. “Nothing wrong with it, of course, just maybe they wouldn’t want the competition.”

“The building had been abandoned for almost a decade,” Mackenzie responded. “On and off the market, with them dropping the price every time they relisted. I think they were just glad to get it off their books.”

“Well, their loss is your gain,” his mother said sweetly. She ran her hand over the polished wood of one of the gracefully curved pews. “I wonder if it could be used for other events, as well. We have a charity fashion show for the hospital each year. It would be so lovely to have it in a place like this.”

“Your audience probably wouldn’t want to drive quite so far away,” Mackenzie said reasonably, and she laughed.

“No. Not
my
audience, and not just for a fashion show. But if there was someone in the area doing something similar, you could use it for that. Maybe even donate the space, if you can afford to do that. Get the exposure, and probably a tax receipt.”

It was an interesting idea, but Mackenzie didn’t want to get carried away. “I don’t think they have the same kind of fundraisers up here, really. It’s not a big fashion town.”

His mother waved her hand airily. “Whatever. The equivalent.”

Of course, there
was
no real equivalent. But he didn’t have to argue with her. He realized that in an almost disorienting flash of clarity. He didn’t need to win every conversation. She could say something he didn’t agree with, and he could just let the words float by him. It was strange that it had taken him this long to realize it, but now that he had, he could feel the truth and the power of it. His parents didn’t control his identity, and their opinions weren’t an authority he had to either accept or rebel against. He could let go of the little things in order to make the big things work out.

“We had a little restoration work done on the stained glass,” he said, walking down the aisle toward the colorful window. “Not much, though. It was in remarkably good shape, all things considered.”

The tour continued, and when they’d seen the church he invited them back out to the farm for lunch. He’d decided not to extend that invitation until he saw how the first meeting went, but he felt pretty good making the offer. Joe was at home with ample food prepared, and Mackenzie was surprised by how eager he was to introduce his parents to his family.

The words hit him as he was easing behind the wheel of his car. His family. He’d thought it, and he’d meant it. Joe might be at the heart of things, but he wasn’t the only person Mackenzie loved. Ally, of course, and Austin. They were Joe’s blood, and Joe was Mackenzie’s life—of course Mackenzie loved them. Anyone would love them. But Lacey and Savannah and Kami were in his heart too. They were more difficult to deal with, but not more difficult to care about. Mackenzie had a family.

He wanted to race home to share his epiphany with Joe, but he forced himself to drive sedately, his parents following behind in their own car. He slowed when they reached the entrance to the driveway and tried to see the farm through their eyes, or remember how it had seemed to him when he’d first arrived there, but he couldn’t do it. This place wasn’t about impressing his parents or being picturesque or even about being ragged and rough. This place was his
home
, and he couldn’t see it as anything but the most beautiful spot on Earth.

He thought about bringing his parents in through the front door but realized he wasn’t even sure it opened. And they should come through the mudroom, anyway, to get the full effect of entering the Sutton home.

And they absolutely
did
get the full effect. When Mackenzie pushed the door open there was a panicked scream from inside the kitchen. Not Kami, for a change, but Savannah. “Close the door!” she yelled. “Get inside and close the door!”

Mackenzie jumped to comply, his startled parents piling in on top of him as he reached behind them to pull the storm door shut.

Joe leaned into view from behind the fridge. “Zombies out there,” he said calmly. Then he shot a look at Savannah. “At least, I can’t think of any other possible reason to be screaming at guests like that.”

“He could have gotten
outside
,” Savannah protested, and she turned to run off to whatever she was in the middle of.

Joe caught her shoulders. “Could you please say hello to Mackenzie’s parents?”

She turned to him with wide eyes. “But Frank’s in trouble!”

“If you can’t be polite, he won’t be the only one in trouble.”

Savannah took a deep breath, then turned to Mackenzie’s parents. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Savannah.”

“I’m Carol,” his mother said, “and this is my husband, Michael. It’s nice to meet you, Savannah.” She glanced at Joe, then back down at the little girl. “Who’s Frank? Can I help with him?”

“He’s our
ferret
,” Savannah said as if it should have been obvious. “He got out of his cage, and now he’s lost, and if the dogs find him they’ll eat him, and if he gets outside he’ll freeze to death or some animal will eat him, and if he gets stuck in the sofa somebody might sit on him and squish him!”

“Oh my,” Mackenzie’s mother said. “That sounds serious.”

“Savannah and Austin have been learning to take care of Frank,” Joe said. “But they are really,
really
careless about keeping the cage door shut.” As he spoke, he quietly pulled at the neck of his flannel work shirt, tugging it down enough so the newcomers could see a furry brown face peeking out with polite interest. Savannah was too short and too distracted to notice. “So now they’re realizing why I nag them about that all the time. If they’re going to take care of an animal, they have to be responsible.” He made a face as if accepting the morally questionable nature of his deception. But he didn’t show the ferret to the little girl. “Savannah, go look some more, please. We’ll keep an eye out in case he comes in here.”

He waited until Savannah was out of earshot, then said, “It’s not like I took him out of the cage. He
was
loose when I found him. I’m just harboring the fugitive for a while, until they hopefully get it imprinted on their brain that they need to keep an eye on him.”

“How much longer?” Mackenzie asked. This was Joe’s show and he wouldn’t intervene, but he felt pretty bad for Savannah. Not everyone could be as perfect at animal care as Joe was.

“It’s only been about five minutes,” Joe said a bit defensively. “I figure they can make it another five.” He looked apologetically toward Mackenzie’s parents. “The living room kind of looks like a bomb went off in it. The search was enthusiastic, but not too controlled.”

Mackenzie was startled by the boom of laughter coming from his father. “A ferret!” he said as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Mackenzie wasn’t crazy about sharing his home with a weasel, but apparently his prejudice was not based on anything he’d picked up at home. “He seems very friendly. Can I hold him?”

So Joe fished the animal out from his shirt and passed him over, and Frank was as charmingly curious as he always was, and even Mackenzie’s mother reached out to cautiously pet him.

Joe eventually returned the ferret to his chastened handlers, and then the family sat down to lunch. The Sutton/Walton kids were as animated as ever, and Mackenzie felt himself tensing, waiting for his parents to roll their eyes and act as if children should be seen and not heard, but they seemed as engaged in the conversation as the children. Austin was happy to recount, in only slightly garbled fashion, the trials and tribulations of ferret care to Mackenzie’s dad, and Ally discussed her career goals with Mackenzie’s mother. Kami watched both newcomers through suspicious eyes, but she didn’t act out, and when Joe prompted her she ate at least some of her meal.

When the meal was over and Joe had set the kids to cleaning up, Mackenzie invited his parents to sit in the somewhat-put-back-together living room, but they exchanged a look and then his mother said, “We’d better get going home. It’s a bit of a drive. And we don’t want to overstay our welcome.”

“You wouldn’t be.” Mackenzie was surprised to realize that he meant it.

“Maybe we could have lunch again, sometime before next Christmas. Or if there’s an event at your church, one that we could come to? I’d love to see that place filled with people.” Mackenzie’s mom smiled wistfully. It was hard to resent someone who shared his love of the church building.

“Absolutely,” Mackenzie said. He wasn’t quite sure what event his mom would be able to go to, but if it could happen, he’d try to think of her. Then he saw her quick glance toward Joe and realized what she was thinking. It wouldn’t be polite to invite her to the wedding of a
stranger
….

“The gardens are really nice in the late spring,” Joe said blandly. Mackenzie honestly couldn’t tell if he’d picked up on his mom’s hint or not. “Mackenzie spent a lot of time weeding them last year, and I guess he’ll be spending almost as much this year, but I’d say it’s a worthwhile effort.”

“Sounds nice,” Mackenzie’s father said with only a little effort. He was not a man who generally had a lot of time for flowers.

They left then, without any further innuendos, and Mackenzie looked cautiously toward Joe, who raised an eyebrow back at him before saying, “We are not getting married just so your mom can go to a wedding in the church. Nope.”

It was a good thing the kids had left the kitchen already so there weren’t witnesses to Joe shutting down a suggestion Mackenzie hadn’t even made. “You don’t have the time, energy, or money to give me the wedding I’d deserve, anyway.”

“Wait, you think
I’d
be putting time, energy, or money into that little project?” Joe looked suitably amazed. “No way, man. I think weddings are a waste of all three.”

“This is my potential source of livelihood you’re dismissing, you know.”

Joe grinned at him and eased over so they were facing each other, standing close enough that they were touching from the waist down, leaning back from their waists so they could still see each other clearly. “You don’t want to hear my thoughts on modeling either, probably.”