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Spinning the wooden spoon with one hand, Ray looked away from his phone and down at the pitcher of lemonade. The sugar had finally dissolved into the liquid and he could see through the glass to the wall on the otherside. Shooting Gavin a quick - “Geoff + Burnie still fighting. Will try to fix it before Burnie’s bday party” -, he pocketed the cell and picked up the pitcher. Maneuvering through the maze of action figures and legos sprawled across the floor, he pulled the door open and made his way outside.
When he was twenty, he wouldn’t have guessed his bachelor pad would be filled with toys and empty juice boxes.
But a broken condom had changed that six years ago and he couldn’t even begin to imagine what his life would be like without his boys.
Ray’s whole life had come to revolve around the triplets. His days were a loop of running around the backyard with Ryan searching for whatever hole he had buried Edgar - his “favorite” stuffed animal - in, reading stories about pirates and assassins with Jack, or indulging one of Geoff’s attempts to make money.
Today his focus happened to be on the last.
"I got you another pitcher of lemonade," he declared as he walked down the stairs. All three boys were situated in plastic chairs behind the make shift booth, their backs turned towards the house as they faced the road.
The booth itself was made out of polished oak planks with chopped logs making up the ceiling. Chris, the kind of ditzy twenty two year old who lived three houses down, and his two roommates, Brandon and Blaine, had made it for Geoff when it became obvious that he was going to keep coming up with ridiculous ideas to make money off their neighbors. The three had screwed a whiteboard on the front of the base.
"Thank you, papa!" Geoff chirped. He turned as Ray reached them, grabbing the pitcher from his hands.
"No problem." Ray watched as Geoff sat the pitcher down, ice clinking against the glass from the six year olds rough treatment. He rested his arm ontop of Jack’s head, smiling when the boy gave a squeak of protest, and leaned forward to look at the jar the boys had placed on the counter. "It seems a bit more full now. Did someone else drop by while I was inside?"
"Yup!" Geoff declared. He grinned widely, showing off the gap in his front teeth. "Mrs. Hullum came and bought some for her and Mr. Hullum-"
"Did you think her for the costumes she made you guys last month? You wear that Master Chief outfit everyday."
Jack piped in, “I made sure he did!”
Ray ruffled his hair. “At least one of you has manners better than a caveman.”
"-and Blaine came and got one and he said that he was happy I was using this," Geoff continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted.
"There was another guy too!" Ryan said. "We didn’t know who he was but he had really curly hair and lots of brown little dots all over his face. He had a funny accent too!"
Ray felt himself freeze up. He forced a few deep breaths in and reigned in his emotions before saying, “I thought I told you not to talk to strangers.”
"I didn’t talk to him," Jack declared. "Geoff did though."
Geoff’s eyes narrowed and he spat out, “This is why I have to beat kids up for you. No one likes a tattle tale.”
"Hey," Ray chided. "Don’t talk to or about your brother like that."
"Well I mean," Ryan drawled, "it’s kinda true, papa."
"It is not. Plenty of people like your brother. Now stop changing the topic."
Silence reigned for a long while. Geoff was glaring openly at Jack while Jack stared at the counter top with watery eyes and Ryan kept his lips pursed as he stared at the sky. Ray glanced between the three, trying to figure out which issue to deal with first.
There was a cough behind them before someone said, “I came to get another cup of lemonade but it looks like it’s a bad time.”
Ray felt his mouth run dry when he saw the man standing in the driveway. He had brown curls that peeked out under the edges of a black and green beanie and tattoos covering the arms his uniform - one Ray recognized as belonging to the local electrician - didn’t hide. His face was dusted with freckles.
It’d been a long time since he’d been this attracted to someone on sight, much less another guy. Recently, he had found himself looking at girls more often and wondering if they would be a good mother.
"You can have another cup!" Geoff declared. He thrusted his hand out. "It’s fifty cents."
"Alright then, little man." The man dug around in his pockets before producing a few quarters. He dropped the change in the jar. Geoff busied himself with pouring lemonade from the new pitcher into one of the small plastic cups. The man glanced over at Ray, a small grin spreading on their faces, "Are you their dad?"
"Oh um, yes." Ray ran his tongue along his chapped bottom lip.
"They seem like really good boys," he declared. "The little girl next door, I think her name is Caiti, has been following me around the whole time I’ve been installing their new lights. She couldn’t stop talking about how nice Jack is and how much she loves playing with him."
Jack straightened at the words, requesting softly, “She said that?”
"Yup." The man added, "And her mom - Barbara I think? - was telling me how these three are always out here selling stuff. You must be raising them right to have such fine entrepreneurs at such a young age."
Ray gave a small laugh, “Yeah, lemonade stands are just the tip of the iceberg with these three. If only they’d learn not to talk to strangers.”
"Ah…" The man reached into his pocket again before pulling out a small card.
He passed it over to Ray.
Ray glanced it over, reading the little script that said Michael Jones and squashing down the feeling of hope that rose when he saw the phone number at the bottom, before meeting his eyes. He raised a questioning eyebrow.
Michael rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I thought if you knew my name then the boys wouldn’t get in trouble for talking to strangers the next time.”
"Oh, I see." Ray turned the card around in his hands before putting it in his pocket. "Thank you."
Geoff held out a cup filled to the brim, “Here you go, sir!”
"Thank you." He smiled softly at Geoff as he took the cup. Addressing Ray, he said, "Use the number on the card to call if you ever have an electrical problem, okay?"
Ray gave him a mock salute, “Will do.”
He took two steps back towards Barbara and Caiti’s house before turning to meet Ray again. His cheeks were dusted a light pink as he rushed out, “I can do other stuff too so if you ever need your pipes cleaned, call me okay?”
Ray blinked several times before making the connection in his head. He felt his own face heat up as he nodded, “I will.”
"Right then…I’m just gonna…go back to work now."
It wasn’t until Michael had reentered the other house that Ryan spoke up, “Papa, why would we need the pipes cleaned?”