It's the summer break, and for the first time in his life, Mike would rather stay in the bloody classroom.<br><br>It's wedding season, and Mike is doomed to spend all summer sipping cheap champagne and pretending he likes tiny portions of posh food. From the passive-aggressive torment of Mike's mother-in-law to the insulting incredulity of his colleagues over what his mysterious husband actually looks like, Mike would voluntarily teach sex education to fourteen-year-olds for the rest of his life if it would only get him out of one more wedding. Even his husband in a kilt isn't going to save this one.<br><br>But there's nothing like watching someone else get hitched to remind him of where he's come from ... and where he's determined to go from here.

Married Ones

They made plans, too, Stephen logging onto the café’s WiFi and looking up routes and tickets, wanting—of course—to visit everything that was older than Aunt Alicia. Bloody history teachers. He enthused over the number of museums, and Mike called for another beer—sir-vay-sir was apparently close enough, even if the bloke smirked a bit when he asked—and tried to wheedle a bit of beach lounging as well.


“It’s a holiday, not a marathon event.”


“You run twenty-six miles in a marathon, you don’t walk it with a map and lots of rest stops in bars.”


“Bloody should, I could be an athlete again.”


They mock-argued over dinner, and then when the plates were gone and they got another round of drinks in, they settled down to watch the football. They picked opposing teams, just for the hell of it, and when Stephen’s lost, he bought the third round.


Chapter 37