Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Since Ezra had moved in for good, Frank had been forced to face the fact that not every job at Wreck & Repair was an emergency. He needed to prioritize his relationship if it was to succeed, even if it meant letting go and going back to a task the next day instead of working late into the night.
Ezra deserved that.
Frank deserved that.
But since Ezra was also keen to spend time with their friends, they ended up at Costco, shopping for their big Thanksgiving dinner, which Ezra wanted to cook for everyone. He’d even suggested visiting a discount store, suggesting they shouldn’t overspend on food if they wanted that dream vacation.
Frank would have given him every gold bar he owned and then bent over backwards to make more money, but despite chasing high-earning men in the past, Ezra insisted he’d rather spend more time with Frank, even if it meant less cash in their budget. And while Frank vaguely understood that Ezra had chosen to stay because he loved him, this was the proof of how much he cared.
Ezra had even jumped into the world of couponing, so they could save up for that dream trip with more ease. It was as impressive as it was concerning, considering Ezra’s obsessive personality, but at the end of the day the practical nature of this new passion benefitted them both. In the end, Frank decided to let him do his thing and strategize the shopping however he liked. He made sure to bring Ezra any magazines that had coupons, and sometimes they’d sit at the table and cut them out together, chatting or watching the news.
Frank did insist on getting their turkey from a farmer friend. It would be the best quality, and free, since the guy owed him a favor, but all the other choices regarding food were up to Ezra. He took them very seriously, and Frank smiled, watching him check his extensive list as they turned into another aisle. The cast was gone, and while Ezra worried the scars on his face weren’t healing fast enough, Frank definitely saw progress. Talking about them at all was a minefield though, so he didn’t mention them unless Ezra did it first. The same went for Ezra’s eating habits.
Frank fell behind to have a look at the protein powders, but when he caught up with Ezra, his man lingered close to a table with samples.
Ezra stared at a tiny chunk of chocolate-covered marzipan as if it were one of those weird spiders that buried themselves in the dirt and caught their unsuspecting prey by pulling it underground. In this case, the little paper muffin cup holding the candy played the role of the trap, and Ezra was clearly trying to convince himself that digging in wouldn’t be a big mistake.
He had already looked up marzipan online, explained (more to himself than to Frank) that it did contain some minerals and vitamins, so it wasn’t completely nutritionally useless, but at the end of the day it was almond paste with lots of sugar. Ezra’s life would be so much easier if he accepted that not every single meal needed to be balanced, but that was something he ought to work out himself.
Frank could only support him, which was difficult at times, because, having no inhibitions related to food, he didn’t understand the process going on in Ezra’s mind. In fact, he never thought about it much at all and assessed his meals based exclusively on flavor. Being on Ezra’s meal plan convinced him that his previous attitude had been a mistake, since he could already see the results of eating more mindfully, but balance was always best, and it pained him to see how much distress Ezra went through every time he couldn’t be perfectly on plan.
But patience was in Frank’s nature, so he petted Ezra’s toned back in encouragement. This needed to happen at Ezra’s own pace, but he started seeing a therapist about his food issues and was making progress by not measuring the weight of every single meal. Trying new foods was part of the process, so when Ezra shoved the bit of marzipan into his mouth and chewed it like a child trying broccoli for the first time, Frank’s chest lit up with joy.
“How is it?”
Ezra hummed, sucking on the food with an uncertain expression. “Very sweet.”
“Too sweet?”
“Yeah. I mostly taste the sweet cocoa glaze.”
Frank nodded and gave Ezra’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I never liked it much either. At least now you know.”
Ezra shook his head. “I had this one friend, who ate tiny marzipan balls in dark chocolate as a treat once or twice a week. She said she allowed herself that because it wasn’t just pure sugar like gummy bears, but at the end of the day, a sweet is a sweet, right?”