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from his mom, those and his damn-he’s-pretty features.
    “I’ll take care of it,” Evan said.
    Kelly scowled at the bike. “Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it.”
    Evan moved to stand behind his cousin. “All right. Want some help with this?”
    “Nah. It’s done. But. I can’t really face everyone right now.” The wrench clanged on the concrete as Kelly dropped it. Evan picked it up and hung it on the Peg-Board.
    Jonah stood awkwardly in the doorway. This was like the time he’d gone to the wake for his coworker’s dad and there were all these prayer and rituals. Everyone knew the right words except for him.
    Kelly and Paul had been together ten years. They hadn’t come for Thanksgiving, but then again, they lived in St. Louis. But with Facebook and emails, Evan was always in touch with his family. Jonah wanted to know what had happened. How it had happened.
    Kelly stood slowly, dusting off his jeans. Abruptly, he spun and kicked a box that went flying. “He just fucking left. Two weeks ago. He sits me down and goes, ‘I don’t think I’m in love with you anymore, Kel.’ What the fuck does that even mean?”
    “I don’t know,” Evan said, shooting a glance at Jonah, who wished he had an interpreter. Did that look mean Leave us alone ? Help me ? I’ll always love you, Jonah ?
    “How do you wake up and not be in love anymore?” Kelly’s voice was rough.
    “Did he cheat, like was there someone else?” Jonah suggested.
    “He sure as hell had someplace to go. Was already packed,” Kelly snarled. He looked back at Evan, and in a pleading tone added, “But we could have worked through that, you know? Worked something out.”
    Evan nodded.
    Did that mean Evan was okay with cheating? Like it was no big deal if occasionally you needed something extra? Sure as hell had never worked that way from what Jonah had seen.
    Kelly took a deep breath. “I asked...if he wanted to open things up again, like when we first got together.”
    “And?” Evan’s voice was gentle, a murmur that reminded Jonah of middle-of-the-night fucks, half asleep and sloppy with need and hunger for each other. That hadn’t happened in a long time.
    Kelly picked up the box he’d kicked and slammed it back into place. “He said that wasn’t the problem so it wouldn’t fix anything.” He turned his back, shoulders hunched up close to his ears.
    Evan stepped up and rubbed his hand down Kelly’s back.
    Turning with a choking cough, Kelly let himself be pulled into Evan’s arms. “He said he needed to be happy. What made him stop being happy with me?”
    There wasn’t any sound, but Jonah could see Kelly’s shoulders shake. Evan lifted his head a fraction and tipped it toward the door. Jonah was only too happy to bolt for anyplace less awkward and complicated.
    Dinner conversation struggled under the weight of avoiding the topic of Paul’s absence, as if that prohibition made it impossible to find a safe topic of conversation. Most of the time, the expectation that Jonah’s IT degree meant he was permanently on call to all family and friends drove him nuts, but he leapt at the chance to clean up Evan’s mom’s laptop. Anything to escape the halting sputter around coffee and dessert.
    He didn’t have a chance to talk to Evan alone until they were finding a comfortable arrangement of bodies on Evan’s old full-sized mattress. When Jonah turned again and punched at the pillow, Evan tucked him in against his shoulder.
    Jonah found Evan’s free hand and laced their fingers together. “What do you think happened?”
    “I don’t know. They’ve had some issues over the years but always worked it out.”
    “Like that open stuff?”
    Jonah felt Evan turning to peer down at him.
    “Like that.” Evan’s breath moved through Jonah’s hair. “Though they both agreed to it so I wouldn’t call it an issue.” Evan rubbed his leg along Jonah’s. “Is that something you want to talk about?”
    It was the perfect