Jason bit down on a Thank Fuck. He frowned sympathetically. “What about Angus?” Whoever Angus was.
“Ha! Angus will have to wait.”
“Disappointing.”
“Tell me about it.” From his back pocket he pulled out a folded piece of paper. “So. Bit of a pickle. Our pick for the music fell through.”
Jason took the paper and read over Nick’s wish list. All classical pieces. All familiar.
“Would you mind calling around the schools and seeing if you can find a group who could play any of these? At this point, I’d even settle for bagpipes, as long as there’s some music for the reception. I hope Owen isn’t stealing all your time.”
He knew about Owen? Some grapevine.
He probably ought to call his brother about this teeny tiny development.
“I must admit, it took some getting my head around. I thought you didn’t get on?”
Jason opened his mouth and shut it again. “People change. I’ve changed.”
“I did a number on you, didn’t I?” he said quietly. “That’s why you’re rebounding with him.”
Jason moved abruptly back around the counter. The second time someone had assumed Owen could only be a temporary fix. The man deserved better. “I never gave Owen the chance he deserved before. I wish I had. He’s so goddamn perfect.”
An older patron cleared his throat and came smiling up to the counter. His vest had the same grey and blue pattern as his tartan cap and there was something about his dark eyes that had Jason staring. The way those spectacles magnified the twinkle in them, probably. “The donuts for now, thanks.”
He shuffled out of the store, and Pete draped himself over the counter. He caught sight of the horoscopes and twisted the magazine toward himself. A jovial snicker. “You and those things. What’s mine? I’ve found the love of my life and will live happily ever after?”
Tough to hear, if he were Carl. Thank God Jason was here to smile gaily and read out Pete’s horoscope, which promised a lover’s spat and had Pete grabbing the honey he’d come for and racing off home.
A bark came from outside.
The doors slid open and Alex and Mary raced in. Or more accurately, Mary raced in towing Alex behind her.
Jason went to his knees to welcome her back, cooing about how much he’d missed her last night, as Alex handed him the lead.
“Would you mind looking after her until Uncle Owen gets back? I tried calling him but it went straight to voicemail and I have a . . . study session tonight.” Alex brightened, and Jason couldn’t help grinning.
“How much studying will there be?”
“Lots.”
Mary barked, and Alex and Jason sighed in unison. “No worries. Have fun, Alex. Don’t drive in the storm.”
He nodded and raced off, and Jason rubbed behind Mary’s floppy ears. “Now look here, Mary Puppins, none of that tonight. I need you on your best, most lenient behaviour. A few falsehoods might pop up here and there, but you have to understand, Owen and I are both aware of what’s true and what’s not.”
She licked his face.
He laughed and patted her again. “Want to check out the doggie aisle? Come on.”
Owen found Jason crawling out of a doghouse. Jason gulped and slowly looked up those dark jeans to darker eyes filled with bewilderment.
Mary sat regal and elegant at his side, like she had nothing to do with this. Traitor.
“It’s not what it looks like?”
“It looks like you’re emerging from a doghouse.”
“Okay, so it is what it looks like, but—”
“Are you wearing a collar?”
The leather was far too warm around his neck. “Yes, but only because I’m pretending to be a dog!”
Silence.
Jason sat back on his haunches. “Mary kept jumping on top of the houses, and I was just trying to show her how to use them properly.”
“I’m curious at what point you decided a collar was the way to go.”
“She still didn’t get it after I crawled in and out the first time, so I thought if I looked the part and barked around a bit . . . can we pretend this never happened?”
Jason held a hand up and Owen pulled him to his feet, expression unfathomable.
Jason felt for the buckle at his throat. “Thank God only you and that one other man saw me.”
“Someone else saw you?”
“An older guy came in a few times—he saw me trying to push Mary inside one time. Actually, he was the one who suggested I act it out for her.”
Owen’s brow crunched and he rubbed at the creases. “This man. He didn’t happen to have spectacles, did he? Wear a cap?”
“Loves tartan.”
“That rascal.”
“You know him?”
“Like the back of my hand. That, Jason, was my dad. Nathan.”
Jason groaned, dropping his head. Had he come in to spy on his son’s secret boyfriend? “I wanted to make a good first impression, not—”
Gently, Owen raised Jason’s chin. A soft smile. “You definitely made his day. Probably his week, maybe even the entire month.” Fingers fluttered under his jaw and down his neck to the collar. A hum of laughter buzzed at his cheek. “Mine, too.”