one of his favorite microbreweries.
Finn coughed. “That would be me. I picked some up the other day.” When Joel stared at him, he shrugged. “I just happened to be passing through Portland, and when I saw the name of the place, I remembered where I’d seen it before. It was one of the beers you gave me that time. So I thought I might as well pick some up and bring it along as my contribution.”
Yeah right. Joel smiled. “You weren’t just passing through, you went there especially.”
Finn widened his eyes. “How did you know?”
Joel sighed. “Because it’s the sort of sweet thing you would do.”
Finn leaned against him. “You having a good time?”
“It was a great party. And Grammy is quite a character.”
“I meant to ask. When I got back from taking a leak, you two were deep in conversation. What were you talking about?”
“You.” When Finn gave him a quizzical glance, Joel smiled. “I think it came under the heading of ‘checking my intentions’.”
“Really?”
Joel took Finn’s hand in his once more, and they laced their fingers together. The intimate gesture warmed him. “She was looking out for you, that’s all.” He wasn’t about to share her exact words.
She’d speared him with a sharp look. “You break his heart, you’ll have me to deal with, you got that?”
Joel had assured her he’d do everything in his power to make Finn happy. She’d gazed at him for a moment, then gave a satisfied nod.
Then he remembered. He had a message to pass on.
“Carrie called while you were talking to Levi earlier. She said I was to give you her love, and to say Nate wants to teach you to play chess when they visit next time.”
Finn snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that idea.” He beamed. “Your kids like me.”
“Of course they do. They have great taste—just like their dad.”
Finn chuckled. “Not gonna argue with that.”
Joel glanced at the far end of the patio, where seven guys sat around the fire pit, talking and laughing. He made his way mentally around the group, attaching names to faces, relieved he recognized them. He’d been introduced to all of them at some point during the afternoon, and the conversations had varied in length. Some of Finn’s friends were a lot quieter than Joel had expected, but all of them seemed happy to meet him. No one had teased Finn or made jokes.
Joel had a feeling he’d gotten off easy, not that he expected that state to last.
He nudged Finn. “I’m ready.”
Finn gazed at him, his brow furrowed. “For what?”
Joel inclined his head toward the group of guys. “My trial by fire.” He got up from the patio sofa and held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s do this.”
“You sure?”
Joel laughed. “No, but I’m doing it anyway.” Finn grabbed his hand, and Joel hauled him to his feet. “You can lead the way. I’m not that brave.”
Finn chuckled and led him across the patio. The guys fell silent as they approached, and then Seb grinned. “Took you long enough.”
Joel smiled and seized his courage. “Not all of us have your balls, Seb.” That earned him a ripple of chuckles. Finn dragged a couple of chairs over, and the men shifted to make room for them. Their faces glowed in the firelight.
“Dude, your guy is a fast learner.” That was Ben, who seemed to be the youngest. He had a shock of longish brown hair swept through with highlights that he was constantly pushing away from his chocolate-brown eyes.
“How’s the room?” That came from Dylan.
Joel smiled again. “It’s great. I take it we have you to thank for that.”
Dylan waved his hand. “It’s nothing. You’re not the first I’ve done it for. And at least you guys booked it in Joel’s name.” His eyes twinkled. “Someone recently reserved a room under the names of Mr. and Mr. Smith.”
It cracked Joel up that all heads swiveled immediately in Seb’s direction.
Seb glared. “Hey. None of you guys ever done any role-playing before? He wanted to make believe we were on honeymoon, and it was our wedding night.”
Aaron guffawed. “Nearest you’ll ever get to one of those.”
“Hey, you want to watch it, Seb.” That was Noah, the only one of them who wore glasses. “He might decide you’re the one, and that he wants to try it for real.” He gave an impish grin.
Seb snorted. “Yeah right. Never going down that road.”
Finn coughed. “Don’t say never, man. Because you don’t know what’s coming at you, from right around