Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Milo

Milo unlocked the kitchen door and they all shuffled quickly inside. He let out a sigh of relief, grateful to finally not see his breath. While the cabin wasn't quite toasty warm, it was still a welcome respite from the storm.

"Why in the hell did you lock the doors when you left?" Shane asked as they peeled off their boots and shucked off their coats. Pumpkin, too, was divested of her bright flannel coat.

Milo was puzzled by the question. Even in his reckless pursuit of Pumpkin, he'd spared a moment to properly lock up the cabin before taking off. "Why wouldn't I?" he asked back.

"Who else but me was gonna come around here?" Shane began to check each of Pumpkin's paws. "A bear?"

The corners of Shane's mouth trembled and shifted upward.

Was that…a smile?

Milo stood awestruck as he admired the shape of it. That little movement brightened the green of Shane's eyes. There was even a little slip of teeth in it. Shane's smile was a good fit. It suited him. A raw and earnest expression matched such a rugged man.

"Well, a burglar did show up," Milo smiled back, "he had a mask on and everything."

Shane glanced up from his kneeling position. A soft sound escaped his lips before he dropped his gaze and went back to tending Pumpkin.

A smile and a chuckle? Milo felt like Christmas had come early.

Towels. All three of them needed to get dry.

And Milo needed to change his clothes.

He'd…stumbled and fallen a few times in his effort to chase after Pumpkin. The knees of his jeans and the sleeves of his jacket were soaked through. Neither were made out of the right material for snow. Only the scarf around his neck and the boots Shane had gifted him protected Milo from the icy grip of winter.

Milo ducked into the bathroom and came back with his unused shower towel along with a hand towel the perfect size for Pumpkin. Not that Shane went for it. He plucked the larger one from Milo's hands and draped it around his dog. Milo's eyes flicked from his nice shower towel to the smaller towel he'd been left with.

Pumpkin"s happy face gazed up at him innocently as Shane gave her a fast and thorough rub down.

Lucky girl.

Milo made do.

"This is the best mood I've seen you in," Milo commented while drying his face and hair.

Shane shrugged as he stood up, holding both Pumpkin's collar and her soaked doggie jacket. "I'm just…happy to see you and Pumpkin back safe and sound. Here, gimmie that scarf of yours. I'll get this all hung to dry while you go change. And I still got some things to bring in."

"Let me—"

"You're already helping me and Pumpkin by sharing your home with us. Let me take my turn helping out."

Milo pressed his lips together. That was fair enough. It was also a relief to see this change in attitude from Shane. Had that dent in Shane's exterior become a crack? Milo couldn't wait to see what light spilled out.

"Okay," he agreed as he gathered the wet towels and opened his duffel bag. Milo fetched a pair of pajama pants, a tank top, and a sweater. Along with some fuzzy socks. "Will you check on the soup?"

"Sure thing," Shane nodded.

Milo closed the door to the bathroom with a victorious smile. He'd won over that grump of a man.

* * *

"Should we drink what's left of that moonshine?" Milo joked as he re-entered the kitchen area. He'd found another clean towel and was freshly showered. After changing into a warm pair of clothes, he was feeling downright toasty and ready to slurp up soup.

Shane served Milo's backpack up to him instead.

It was unzipped, revealing the stacks of haphazardly rubber-banded cash. "What the hell is this?"

Milo should have hidden the money better. Or moved it before he'd left Shane alone.

The cabinets were flung open and half-filled with dishware. Plates, bowls, coffee cups, and glasses. There was even a curious box of what looked like fine china on the counter.

Shane had done what Milo asked, he'd brought everything he had and stumbled across the money while stocking up the kitchen.

"This is a lotta money. Too much money." Shake shook the backpack. "Did you rob a bank? Get caught up in drugs? What fool ass thing did you do? Answer me, son."

Milo hadn't liked it when Becky had called him that, and he hated when Shane said it.

"I'm not your son," he snapped, "I'm not anybody's son. My mama is dead, I never had a daddy, and no man owns me. Not anymore. I don't belong to anybody…but I think I'd like to be with you, Shane, so I need to tell you something."

Shake dropped the backpack onto the counter. "Say something then," he said while rubbing his beard.

Milo took a deep breath. He felt no need to hide his past from Shane. He might have left it behind, but he wouldn't bury it. Not from Shane. Milo wanted to show Shane more than just the pretty pieces of himself. Just like he accepted Shane's sharp edges and was excited to see the softness behind it, he needed Shane to accept more than his sunshine.

Everything light touched would cast a shadow behind it.

Milo carried a bit of darkness with him.

"You're right. Nobody gets that much cash selling something innocent. I worked…places. Bad places. Bars and clubs and a few back rooms. And I did things there. Things I'm not proud to have done, but I'm not ashamed to have made money from it."

"Hooking?" The question was blunt, but there was no judgment in it.

"Not that far," Milo admitted, "but almost. Mostly, I danced. When I aged out of foster care, I didn't know what to do with myself. There wasn't anyone to save me, so I had to do it myself."

Milo's words went right to Shane's heart. He watched as Shane's eyes welled up.

"You don't gotta tell me all this," Shane held up a hand, his palm up and fingers lax. All the confusion and frustration had scattered off his face like a stone thrown at a flock of birds. "That's your business. Don't need to justify why you moved out here to me—"

"I know."

Milo did know. He didn't have to or need to say anything he didn't want to say.

"But I want to tell you. I want to share everything about me with you, Shane. I want to do more than share this space until your place is fixed up. I feel a connection and unless I'm totally off my rocker, I think you feel it too. Don't you?"

Shane was the cloud to Milo's sun. The roughness to his softness. A dash of pessimism to Milo's optimism. They each made up for what the other lacked and balanced each other out.

Shane went tight-lipped as he leaned back against the kitchen counter. "Fucking hell. I don't know what to say or do around you, boy. You make me feel things I ain't ever felt before and I don't know what to do with that."

"I know what to do with it," Milo said, "I'd like for us to share our lives together."

The money and the soup were both forgotten during their little heart-to-heart.

Even Pumpkin wandered off to allow them some privacy to spill secrets and open up about things they'd never told anyone else.

"I don't know that I'm gay."

Shane's mouth twisted around that word as if it were from a foreign language. Something he had to borrow from somewhere else because it didn't exist inside of him. Milo could see the struggle in that stoic man's face as he grappled with the truth of who he was and what he wanted.

"I know I like you, Milo, but I never thought of it like that. I's too scared to find out for myself."

Milo held out his hand to Shane. "We could find out together if you'd like."

Outside, the blizzard raged in the dark, but inside there was only the warmth of the fire and the shine of Milo's offer. He gave Shane the open-hearted permission that the older man so desperately needed to explore himself.

A chance to put all those newly awakened feelings to bed.

Shane stepped forward and reached out. He took Milo's smaller softer hand in his bigger and rougher hold.

That touch said more than words could ever say.