A proper housewarming

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Carter hesitated at the traffic light. Campus was still deserted enough that no other cars were waiting behind his. That would change by the end of the weekend. For now, though, on the Friday before the fall semester began, students were just starting to trickle into town. Including the one in the passenger seat beside him. “Are you sure you didn’t want to stay at the dorm?” Carter asked.

Elena shot him a sideways smirk. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to get rid of me so you can bone Dad in every room of the house?”

Carter returned the smirk. “You assume we haven’t already.”

Her teasing grin died, and she covered her face with her hands, letting loose an exaggerated groan of embarrassed disgust. “Gross. I didn’t need to know that!”

“Well, not your room, of course. No promises on the others.”

Elena groaned louder and tilted sideways, slouching dramatically against the passenger window.

Carter laughed out loud as he rolled them through the intersection. “Seriously, though, you know L and I are happy to have you at the house anytime, but you shouldn’t feel obligated—”

“You two moved here.” She gestured out the window at their surroundings, every lamp post and storefront on Main Street decorated with blue and gold Welcome Back, Studentsbanners. “To Apex, the same town where I’m going to college, so—”

“We had opportunities here too.” Opportunities that had started chasing them shortly after they wrapped their case here five years ago.

“You didn’t let me finish.”

He lifted a hand off the wheel, palm out. “Sorry, sorry, go on.”

“So,” she said, the two-letter word three syllables long, “I’m going to take advantage of the cushy new queen bed in my room, the free laundry, and the free food.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is?”

She straightened in her seat. “That’s how it is, and I’m technically not supposed to be on campus until Sunday.”

“Perks of being Apex U’s top basketball recruit.”

“Not to mention my parents are the new head archivist and the deputy police chief.”

Carter beamed, delighted at how good—how settled—Elena’s words made him feel. He was excited to go to work every day for the Apex PD, serving the town that had accepted him and his family, and working for Chief Josephine Lang. He was equally excited to come home every night to Lincoln, and on the occasions she wandered off campus, to their daughter. The life he’d dreamed about having had become reality.

“Thank you,” Elena said, “for helping me build the loft today. The extra space it made in the dorm room will be nice.”

“Happy to help. It was good to get out for a bit.”

“Dad has been exceptionally uptight.”

“And unpacking at warp speed.” Their renter had moved out at the end of July, and after a week of minor repairs and cleaning, which Jeremiah had managed for them, they’d moved down last week from Dumfries with what could fit in Lincoln’s Wrangler, Carter’s new Forester, and his old Forester, which was now Elena’s car. The moving truck with the bulk of their belongings had only arrived a few days ago.

“Y’all have been married less than a year,” Elena said. “It’s better to get out of his way when he’s like this.”

“We’ve been together five. I’ve seen him riled up before.”

She rolled her eyes, the similarities to Lincoln in their color and gesture uncanny. “Not like this. When you two got together, and even when you moved in, our daily lives didn’t change that much. You slid right in. You just fit. This is not that.” The spike of worry must have shown on his face because Elena reached out and laid a hand on his closest arm. “Don’t get me wrong, Dad’s happy. Happier than I’ve ever seen him. But it’s also a lot for him. Life in a twister kind of a lot, everything getting picked up and moved someplace else. And with Mom and Trina in the mix too, it’s some F5 level shit.”

His worry disappeared on a chuckle, recalling the scene he’d snuck out of earlier today: Lincoln, his ex-wife, and his sister all in the kitchen arguing over the placement of the coffee machine. “Accurate. Also, how many times have you watched Twister?”

“It’s Dad’s favorite. Too many.”

They were both still laughing, as they wound their way into Sardis Woods, past Susanne and Jennifer’s place and the houses of other neighbors they were getting to know. They’d only just moved in, but it felt like home already. All the return trips over the years—first for biscuits and visits, then for college tours and prep—had made the transition easier. They weren’t strangers to Apex, nor was Apex a stranger to them.

Turning into the drive of the familiar brick colonial, Carter parked behind the Wrangler, next to Trina’s Beamer that she and Gabby had driven down in this morning. Despite the cars, and the earlier chaos, the house looked calm now… and dark. No lights on inside or out, despite the waning light of day.

He caught up with Elena on her side of the car. “Think they went for a walk?” he asked. “Down by the lake?”

She shrugged, then continued ahead of him to the front door. “That or he’s off trying to wheedle more biscuits out of Barry.”

“FP closed hours ago. And biscuits are tomorrow.”

“Maybe something else he realized he needed.”

But that didn’t make any sense. “Their cars are still here.”

She shrugged again, and at her side now, Carter caught the twitch of her lips. She was fighting a smile, badly. Whatever was going on here, she was in on it.

He circled in front of her, but she kept barreling forward, forcing him to walk backward. “Little El, what’s going on?”

She juked around him, the basketball skills Apex U recruited her for as good as ever, and dashed up the porch steps. “I’m not little anymore.”

“You’re stuck with that name. Deal with it.”

“Like you’re stuck with this one.” She tapped her toe on the shoe mat in front of the door. The Polks. The last name he and Lincoln had chosen that night in his condo, and officially when they’d gotten married earlier this summer, neither taking the other’s last name but taking theirs, the name that had brought them together.

Eyes on the mat, mind lost in a memory of him and Lincoln exchanging vows on the beach at Senator Kirk’s place, surrounded by their friends and family, Carter missed Elena opening the front door.

He didn’t, however, miss the booming “Surprise!” that followed.

Chin jerking up, Carter swept his gaze over the house full of people—Susanne, Jennifer and Lydia, Jeremiah, Molly and Poppy, Barry and Trudy, Gabby and Trina, Kirk and Beverley, and other friends from the Bureau and Apex. Banners hung on either side of the foyer —Welcome Homeand Happy Housewarming—and splitting the crowd, a handsome man approached from the kitchen. There was more silver in his blond hair these days, more scruff he didn’t bother to shave as often, but his smile was as sexy as it had been the first day Carter had seen him in class, as were the blue-and-gold argyle socks that matched his Apex U polo.

“Honey, you’re home,” his husband greeted with a sly smile.

“What did you do?”

Lincoln sidled up to him, slinging one arm around his waist and gesturing with the other. “I thought I’d return the favor and throw us a realhousewarming party.” Cheers went up from the crowd. “But no fires this time.”

“Except the grill!” came a shout from the back, and Mark stuck his head through the patio door.

Jo and Drake appeared beside him, echoing, “Except the grill!”

Laughing, Lincoln looped his other arm around Carter’s front, embracing him from the side. “And we finally get to live in ourhome again. That deserves a celebration.”

Carter leaned his forehead against Lincoln’s. “Ourhome. I never thought…” Lincoln’s quick, sweet kiss smoothed over some of the rough edges of Carter’s emotions, enough he could continue. “Thank you for giving me this. Thank you for helping me find… me.”

“Impossible not to. You’re so loud.” Lincoln rolled his eyes, but the soft smile on his face belied the feigned annoyance.

“You love it.”

“I do. I love all of you, even the loud bits.”

“Good.” Carter checked his hip. “Balances out the prickly bits.”

Lincoln smiled even bigger. “It does, perfectly. Thank you for being you,” he said, honey-colored eyes brimming over with easy affection. “For helping me face my fears and for loving a pissy house cat like me.”

The kiss Carter laid on him was anything but quick and innocent, drawing catcalls from the crowd, and a “Get a room” from Trina. Carter couldn’t care less. He wanted their friends and family to see how much he loved his husband, loved the family and home they’d found together.

“Newlyweds!” he said, when they came up for air again.

“You don’t get to keep using that!” Jeremiah countered.

He waggled the braided ring on his finger. “Oh yes I do!”

Lincoln brandished his to match. “I do too!”

Jeremiah groaned, their friends laughed, and Carter pulled Lincoln in for another kiss, their smiling mouths connecting, joy flowing between them.

Their marriage was for real this time. For always. And Carter intended to love on Lincoln as much as he could, to maybe even fuck him in the stacks this week, embarrassment be damned. Just like the newlywed he was. Stupid in love with his husband, with his new reality, and with everything ahead for Mr. and Mr. Polk in this quirky little town they now called home.