Read Online Rough [02] - Roughhousing by Laura Baumbach - Free Book Online Page B

pancakes, sausage, toast, juice, and coffee that Bram seemed to consume by the pound instead of by the serving, James helped Bram clean up the nearly spotless kitchen. By the time he put the last cup back on the cabinet shelf, James realized how much he enjoyed doing the little domestic chores with Bram at his side. He liked the huge, old house with its drafty floors and too-high ceilings. He didn't even mind the charming, if inquisitive, neighbors.
    Even something as simple as sitting down for a meal, an unappealing task on his own, had become a focal point to their mornings together. It was a time spent talking, teasing, planning and negotiating the events of the day. Bram seemed to have a master plan for the weekends, but he seemed willing and eager to adjust things to include James’ needs or desires. In fact, today he insisted James plan at least one item on their schedule. It forced James to share the mundane tasks of his life like picking up his dry cleaning and finding a new security lock to add to his apartment door until he moved out.
    Just after ten o'clock they set out for a large nursery near the city limits. Finding ‘something special’ for the courtyard outside the French doors in the beautiful, empty library in the old house had suddenly become a priority for Bram. Seeing what his lover thought was suitable for the style of the house intrigued James. Besides, any time spent in Bram's company was time well spent for James. He was beginning to feel more comfortable at the man's side than any place else he had ever been. James found it a little scary the way they fit so naturally together.
    With fall setting in, the store's current stock of plants consisted of dozens of varieties of evergreen trees, rainbow-hued mums, and hardy species of bright ground cover too numerous to name. A light mist drifted in the air and the rhythmic thumping of oversized fans worked as a backup band to the irregular conversations between salespeople and customers. The smell of dirt, loam, and fertilizer was peppered with the heavy scent of fresh pine and shrubbery.
    James knew a little about plants from summers spent helping his mother plant and weed the tiny but colorful flowerbeds around their house, but most of the exotic foliage this nursery carried was foreign to him. Occasionally, a whiff of something heady tickled at his nose.
    Bram grabbed James by the hand and began dragging him through the rows and rows of potted and flowering specimens. Bram wove around tables and down aisles under the frosted glass canopy of the greenhouse's massive roof like an experienced, familiar shopper. Just when James thought they were going to run out of pebbled, Japanese-inspired walkway to navigate, Bram took a hard right and entered a hidden concrete courtyard.
    The noise from the greenhouse suddenly dropped away, replaced by the gentle sound of fluttering leaves and the trickle of running water. Everywhere James looked in the wide, circular space was a working fountain of every size, shape, and style imaginable. There were even a few James couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams.
    Leading the way over to a huge marble fountain topped with an ornate dome of scrolled wrought iron, Bram gave the structure a critical look then glanced at James. “What do you think of this?"
    "Of this?” James raised his eyebrows and walked around the massive base, eyeing the four-tiered, clamshell-shaped basins and the regal likeness of Poseidon perched at the top of the towering design. The ironwork was so far above his head he couldn't touch it to feel the grain of the textured surface. “It's beautiful, but what's it for? This can't just go anywhere. It's a formal piece meant for an estate or a three acre garden."
    "I thought so.” Bram stuck his hands in his pockets and frowned at the fountain. “I've been looking to replace the one in the courtyard. It's not original to the house and it's too small for it.” He began slowly walking around the