Chapter 40

“Kitchen’s this way.” Ollie and Hank followed Mike as he led them toward the back of the house. Hank couldn’t help but notice how the inside of the house matched the outside, at least in its explosion of bright colors: lime green, yellow, sky blue and other colors all somehow merged to work together and to induce in Hank a kind of momentary joy.

But the joy didn’t stand a chance of lasting for long, not when the two other men were making goo-goo eyes at one another.

Mike said to Ollie, once they reached the kitchen, “I should be kicking myself for not calling. I forgot what a hot man you are.”

“Aw, get out of here.”

“And you can cook too. We talked about that, remember?”

Ollie nodded. “I remember. You were actually the one who told me to think about what I really wanted to do.”

Hank slammed the insulated box down, too hard, on the dark black-and-green granite countertop.

“And this was what you decided to do?” Mike asked.