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overalls, with a plaid shirt that sported pearl buttons.
Hmmph. Did that mean something -- that two clear
opposites appeared to be very happy together? Was he
just looking for signs to tell him what he should do?
Before Angel could answer Lizzie, Brandon spoke
again. "Sure, Lizzie." He pushed back from the table.
"How about some cheesecake? We found a great little
bakery in town yesterday."
With that, the subject was dropped. Angel sighed to
himself. For now.
"By the way, Angel. Did I tell you what Oregonians
call people who move up here from California?"
He shook his head, almost afraid to hear this.
With a slight grin -- and a nod to his frowning wife --
Cliff looked at Angel expectantly.
"We call 'em Californicators."
The Trouble with Angel - 196
Chapter 26
Another week went by.
The kids settled in even more and began to develop
their own routines. Trey began using the bus for school,
at his own request, which they saw as a good sign. Each
day, Angel took Marisa to kindergarten class and
Brandon picked her up.
Angel continued to work remotely, even though he
arranged to use his fifteen days of accrued vacation,
beginning with the current week. He had three long calls
with CeCe to go over deals in progress and follow up on
the contracts he'd been assigned. He did the research
where he'd gotten a little behind; he also managed to put
CeCe off again when she asked what he was going to
do.
The puppies now had free rein in the kitchen. The
glass swing door came in handy for keeping them from
getting into trouble -- and enabled him to keep an eye on
them from the living room.
Brandon began the process of creating his office. He
was doing most of the work himself, including the
electrical. Angel was so impressed by that he almost
didn't know what to say. God, his man was something
else.
His stubborn blond did intend, however, to use a
plumber for the underground work and an electrician to
bring additional power to the shed building. Brandon
had already begun the demo work as he worked on
finalizing his drawings and applying for a permit.
"What are you going to do in this office?" Angel was
honestly puzzled. He broached the question on Friday
morning. "What kind of work do you want to do now?
How are you going to make a living?"
Brandon looked over to where Angel stood in the
The Trouble with Angel - 197
main doorway of the shed. "Well, I'm hoping to get
some type of long-distance internship with the Reznicks.
It's a requirement for licensing. And they seem to be
open to having a conversation about it. If that doesn't
work out, I'm thinking I might go back to school for my
master's in architecture." Brandon appeared at ease with
his decision.
"Wow." Angel was most definitely impressed.
He shivered suddenly. The overnight chill had not yet
burned off, and it was about forty-five degrees. Angel
had grumbled when he'd had to don his new winter ski
jacket to drive Marisa to kindergarten. He frowned at the
sound of Brandon's chuckle. "What?"
"We gotta get you used to this weather. Your hot
Latin ass is going to freeze if you don't toughen up."
Sniffing in disdain, Angel eyed him. "You like my
hot Latin ass just the way it is."
Grinning, Brandon stood up. He'd been on his knees
checking an electrical receptacle in the wall he'd
exposed. "That's ever so true, sugar. Ever so true."
Frowning, he cocked his head to one side.
Alarmed, Angel looked around then down at himself.
"What? What's wrong?" The puppies gamboled at his
feet, tumbling over each other in their play, and he
checked them as well.
"Sugar, you look..."
"What? What?" Angel's voice was strained. His
appearance was very important to him, and he always
looked his best.
"You look a little bit country. Are you actually
wearing... jeans?"
Now Angel could hear the amusement in his lover's
deep voice. The tension in his shoulders released. "Ha,
ha. I have to up here. I'm constantly cleaning up after
Dolly and Gabby -- not to mention Marisa and Trey."
The Trouble with Angel - 198
"Angel. I know you like a clean house. I do, too. But
you can relax." Brandon's voice was now soothing.
"And the kids need to clean up after themselves. They're
not going to be waited on in this house."
Sighing, Angel nodded. "I know, amado. I know. But
they've... lost so much. It just seems like I shouldn't...
hassle them about silly things."
"You know," Brandon said slowly, "I talked to Sheila
about this."
"When did you talk to her?" The pastor's wife had
been very sympathetic and supportive thus far.
"While you were driving Marisa the other day."
Brandon's face showed concern. "I wanted to make sure
we were heading down the right road. I don't know
anything about raising kids. At least you have
experience with your big family."
He did have quite a variety of cousins and children of
cousins. Angel had spent many an hour playing,
fighting, and growing up with them, and, when he got
old enough, he became one of the go-to babysitters.
With the help of his mother, he'd successfully avoided
the gangs, and he'd managed to shelter some of his
cousins along the way. The experiences he'd had were
now serving him well, but he still felt like he had to cut
the Collins kids more slack because of the death of their
parents.
"Yeah, I do have experience with my thousand
cousins," he admitted, "but I'm having a problem
making these two kids toe the line."
Brandon slung an arm around Angel's shoulders,
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