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Chapter 63
Darrin leaned back against the chair with his feet propped up on the footstool as Mitch brought him a beer from the fridge. He took a drink and turned back to Orin and Rob.
“How’d you meet? How long have you been together?”
They glanced at each other and Darrin could tell they both were frantically counting, and hoping the other one wouldn’t notice. Rob looked up first with a smile. “Since I was a sophomore. Orin’s a cradle robber.”
“I am not. I’d just started grad school. So I was only a few years older.”
Darrin grinned at them and smiled. “So you’ve been finishing up over the last year while Orin was here?”
“Yes, now I finished my PhD in physical chemistry and followed along behind the hubby. A long distance relationship was no fun at all.”
“Long distance relationships are hard. I don’t even like the week long conferences,” Darrin said.
Mitch chuckled and poked Darrin in the ribs. “You don’t like anything until you get there, and then you have a good time.”
Darrin leaned in and gave Mitch a peck on the cheek. “You can be quiet now. You don’t need to share all our secrets.”
Mitch chuckled. “No problem there. I don’t tell anyone how kinky you are in bed and how much you like your sex toys.”
Rob roared with laughter while Mitch remained completely unrepentant. Darrin’s face burned with embarrassment but he wasn’t certain that Orin’s face wasn’t even redder. He was considering ways to make Mitch suffer when Josh, Trent and the twins came crashing through the door. Danny yelled, “Grampy! PaPa! You home?”
“Danny, we’re in the living room. We have company over for supper.”
The young man dashed into the living room and stuck his hand out for Orin. “Hi. I’m, Danny. Dan.”
Orin shook Danny’s hand and giving it all the dignity it merited. “I’m Orin. I work with your grandfather.” He motioned to his husband. “This is Rob.” He hesitated for a second before continuing. “Rob is my husband.”
The rest of the family introduced themselves to the couple and were grabbing drinks from the fridge before leaving. Once the quiet descended on the group there was no conversation for several minutes. Then Orin started to chuckle. “That was a first. Usually I have to try and explain why I have a husband.”
Darrin chuckled. “No, you don’t have to worry about Danny and Samantha needing two daddies explained.”
Mitch chuckled and headed for the patio with Rob not far behind. Darrin watched them for a moment and then turned back to find Orin watching him. Before he could say anything, Orin began to speak.
“Rob needs a friend. We both need friends. I’m sorry if we seem a little desperate. We just want to find some people to hang out with. Both of us were worried a small university in southwestern Oklahoma wasn’t going to be that friendly to us.”
Darrin nodded and refilled his glass. “Don’t worry about it. Mitch is a really nice guy so long as you don’t mess with his family, I can’t imagine Rob doing anything that would piss Mitch off.”
Orin took another drink of his wine and then nodded. “We’re really pretty fun. It’s not like we want to go clubbing every night or anything like that.”
Darrin chuckled, as he sat back down. “No. No clubbing around here. The closest gay bar is in Fort Worth, so it’s a whole weekend trip. We never go anymore, it got old fighting the horny guys off Mitch.”
Orin chuckled and nodded. “I know that feeling. I feel like Rob could go home with anyone in the place and then there’s little door mouse me.”
Darrin chuckled, glad someone else was dealing with similar feelings. Orin finished his wine and glanced out toward their husbands. “Sometimes I worry about Rob leaving. It’s pretty obvious I married up. I don’t share well either, and he knew that before we got married.” Orin blushed slightly. “I think people wonder how I got so lucky.”
Darrin skirted that whole issue with a slight veer of topics. “From what I can see he cares about you quite a lot.”
Orin glanced up just as roaring laughter came from the patio. Darrin looked at him and grinned. “You know one of them farted or something else equally mature.”
Orin started to say something when the pair burst through the door. The steaks looked delicious, and Darrin found himself relaxing around the couple. But by time the night had wound down, Darrin thought even suspicious Mitch had taken a liking to the couple.
They stood on the porch and exchanged hugs. Orin and Rob were half way to their pickup when Rob turned back to them and shot them a huge smile.
“He is hung by the way,” Rob said.
“Rob!!”
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Jon L Keys 