Still laughing softly, Zane watched Ty closely, fascinated by the relaxation in his frame and the easy smile that curved his lips. What little tension that had been invested in him last night was gone. He was at ease with both himself and his surroundings, something Zane rarely observed in his partner. He was always alert and sort of twitchy when they were working or even when they were in Zane’s hotel room, as if he always had a sense of impending doom and wanted to be ready when it came.
Seeing this new side to him made Zane’s heart beat faster. He was just glad the two brothers were too busy watching Mara try to wrestle the shovel away from their grandfather to notice his intent focus.
“You boys just gonna stand there?” Earl Grady asked them in a stern voice from the doorway behind Zane.
Both Ty and Deuce jumped slightly—Zane did as well, actually, splashing a little juice onto his plate. He’d been so focused on Ty that he hadn’t even heard Earl approach.
“Go help her,” Earl ordered.
The brothers scrambled to set down their glasses without spilling the contents and get out the back door to do as they’d been told as quickly as possible.
Their father waited until the door had fallen shut behind them before he sat down at the kitchen table with Zane and smiled. “Morning, son,” he greeted nonchalantly as he poured himself a mug of coffee.
Zane felt another flash of mild surprise. These people treated him like one of their own; it was the strangest thing. “Morning, sir,” he answered, reaching for one of the coffee mugs and the sugar bowl after sopping up the juice on his plate with his napkin.
“Is it the garden hose?” Earl asked before taking a sip of his coffee.
“Uh, yeah,” Zane chanced.
Earl chuckled and nodded. “That’s the fifth one,” he told Zane in mild amusement. “He got in a fight with the rake summer before last that damn near killed all of us before it was over. You try taking that shovel from him, you risk getting it shoved up your nose.”
His point was emphasized by a shout from one of the combatants outside. Zane had to laugh again, just at the ridiculousness of it all. “You all are something else,” he stated, still chuckling. Each of them seemed to deal with life’s little absurdities in stride, something Zane had never really figured out how to do. At least not without some form of chemical help. Zane envied them.
He also wondered if this was the root of why everyone in the Bureau thought Ty was batshit crazy.
“Something else,” Earl echoed. “The boys call it the galloping crazies,” he informed Zane seriously.
“Yeah,” Zane agreed. “That’s about right.” He shook his head and scooped a teaspoon of sugar into his coffee. “My family is seriously normal. So seeing this”—he waved his hand around—“it’s an eye-opener.”
“Normal,” Earl repeated, looking at Zane as if expecting him to expand on the notion.
Zane shrugged with one shoulder. “No arguing, no rocking the boat, mind your own business, show up for Sunday lunch or else. Nothing really extraordinary, but not much bad, either. They’re just… normal.”
“Not close, huh?” Earl commented.
“They are,” Zane answered with a rueful curl of his lips. He was the odd man out and had been for a long time. He didn’t spend any time thinking on his family if he could avoid it. There was too much to be angry or upset about.
Earl didn’t respond to that other than to nod in understanding, apparently content with silence just like his son often was. Zane went back to his coffee, letting it go. Earl sat nursing his coffee for another moment before glancing at the window when there was another short shout. “I reckon I could go help them,” he mused.
He was saved from having to do so by Ty stomping back into the kitchen with a length of mangled green hose in his hand. “Hose is a goner,” he told them grimly as he let the piece of hose fall into the trashcan. He lowered his head as he washed his hands and moved to sit down beside Zane, crossing his arms over his chest and covering his mouth with one hand as he tried desperately not to laugh. The others came inside as he pressed his hand over his mouth and slouched further in his chair, and Ty studiously avoided meeting his mother’s eyes as she glared at him.
Chester grinned at them all and sat beside Deuce, propping his shovel against the leg of the table carefully. “That was a big’n,” he told them. “Cold for a big’n like that,” he advised, which caused Ty and Deuce to break into uncontrollable snickers as they tried to hide their laughter from their mother.
Zane just grinned. “I hear you’ve got quite the eye,” he complimented deliberately.
Chester narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger in Zane’s direction, wagging it at him threateningly. “Smartass, eh?” he asked knowingly. “I ain’t sure I like you,” Chester claimed as his eyes narrowed further.
“How about breakfast, Ma?” Ty asked as he leaned forward and tried to distract his grandfather with the movement.
She responded by thumping a plate in front of Chester and sitting down with a huff. “Amen,” she said in annoyance before beginning to dish eggs onto her own plate.
Ty glanced over at Zane and smiled at him, giving him a quick wink. Zane returned the grin and reached for the biscuits, taking two before passing the plate to Ty. Ty’s knee occasionally brushed against his under the table as they ate, but the conversation died down as the food was passed around. It was an odd, remarkable feeling, to be eating breakfast with Ty and his family and feel not only welcome, but like he might belong there.
It was a feeling Zane tried to soak in and store for later.
When the breakfast was mostly over, Ty stood and scooped up the empty dishes off the table. They clattered as he dumped them in the sink. “Are we going to sit here all day, or are we going up the mountain?” he asked as he ran hot water.
The corners of Zane’s lips turned up, and he turned in his chair to look at his partner. “Waiting on you, bus boy.”
Mara walked by and smacked Zane lightly in the back of the head for his trouble. “Be nice,” she chastised as she walked out of the kitchen. Zane just smiled.
Ty laughed softly, turned back to the sink, and rinsed his hands. “If we don’t go now, we might as well wait ’til tomorrow,” he added as he grabbed a dishtowel to dry his hands.
“Got a garage roof needs patching,” Earl suggested as he poured himself more coffee.