Spirit by John Inman Read Free Book Online Page B

boys.”
    Sam gave Timmy a fond smile. “Yeah,” he said, “but so do I, so your warning is invalid.” He then cast a devious glance in my direction, which took me by surprise and made me jump in my seat like someone had poked me with a needle. But it was the ensuing friendly wink that caused my heart to skip a couple of beats. Was I imagining things, or were there all kinds of possibilities in that wink?
    Timmy stared at Sam and me eyeing each other like he was watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, then he buried his face in his little hands and silently giggled. For the longest time, he simply sat there shaking his head, chewing his green beans, and giggling without a sound. It was actually quite astonishing. I had never seen the kid muted by circumstances before.
    As a matter of fact, I was muted too. Couldn’t have strung three words together if someone had put a gun to my head.
    All I could do was stare at Sam, who was now attacking his salmon like he was starved. Lord, the man was beautiful.

Chapter 4

     
    I SETTLED Sam and his one tiny suitcase in the spare bedroom past Timmy’s. After putting his few clothes away, he gently closed the bedroom door for a little privacy and spent some time on his cell phone, presumably pertaining to that business he mentioned earlier, whatever it was. With his call complete, he and Timmy went out to explore the backyard while I parked myself in the sunroom in front of my computer and my quad monitor setup and worked on God of the Sun , my latest video game creation, which seemed to have more bugs in it than a frigging ant hill.
    I watched Timmy and Sam giggling and chasing each other through my cedar trees. Later I saw them sprawled side by side on my hammock, and shortly after that, I spotted them crawling through the grass with their noses to the ground like bloodhounds. When they caught me spying on them through the window, they both popped up on their knees and waved hello, excited as puppies.
    I laughed and waved back, seeing the pleasure on both their faces when I did. Timmy had a new friend, and that made me happy. Sam was connecting with his long-lost nephew, and that made me even happier. I thought it quite possible that before Sam’s visit was over, I might make a new friend as well. I hoped so anyway. Aside from Sam being gorgeous and sexy and apparently kind, he was also secure enough in his own skin to crawl around on the ground with a four-year-old and not have his masculinity threatened.
    How could you not be attracted to a guy like that?
    I slogged away for a while honing the soundtrack for the big finale of the game. Unfortunately, what was supposed to sound like a volcanic eruption in truth sounded more like a dyspeptic choo-choo train, and after twenty minutes of tweaking, the choo-choo train had morphed into a god-awful belching sound like maybe a rhinoceros would cough up after eating a porkypine. Beaten for the time being, I switched over to work on the mechanics of the game instead, the JUMP command in particular. The sound equipment I had used before was now set to blast out show tunes. How gay is that?
    I happily cocooned myself in a thundering bubble of voice and orchestra and the staccato clatter of countless tap shoes. Eyes glued to the bank of monitors, I adjusted and coaxed and tweaked for all I was worth. Gradually, the JUMP command appeared to be improving, so I moved along to the SPIN command just for a change of pace. Lost in my own little world, I had little sensation of the passing of time. Only when the golden light of sunset began to stretch across the yard outside did it snag my attention long enough to make me realize the day was almost over.
    I had not seen Timmy or Sam for hours. And poor Thumper needed to be taken out too.
    I powered down my equipment, groaned my way to my feet, and set off in search of my nephew and houseguest, feeling guilty about ignoring them both for so long. Still, there was a spring in my step because I had moved