What I enjoyed most about this book was the interspersed commentary about life in Britain, its politics, its customs all told in an amazingly common sense manner. This aspect is not often mentioned and attention is just centred on the hilarious antics. All these stem from the same source, Gilli's ability to analyse, over-analyse and pick the remaining bits to shreds before gathering them all up and starting again.The interaction between the three men, the Dom/Sub-Dom/Sub all playing out their roles to perfection became just that, roleplay. Best summed up after Gilli's emotional trip home to see his motherDick and Shane arrived home to find me knee deep in snot and tears, sitting on the bottom stair, holding a soggy Christmas card and babbling incoherently about robins never sitting on the same branch. I didn’t even understand why I was crying. I only knew that the tears were an expression of some grief that I had yet to find words for, that I had yet to come to an understanding of. Maybe that’s just the way it is for most of us, and maybe most of us will never find the words, maybe we will never understand. Maybe the lucky, the successful people in life are the ones who accept that some things can never be fully explained and understood? Dick was all kind concern. He cuddled me, I was his honey, his sweetheart, his pretty baby and I wasn’t to cry because he was my Daddy and he’d make everything better. Shane was all sharp impatience. I was a tiresome boy, and what the hell had I been doing all day, not what I should have been doing, that much was abundantly clear. He did not appreciate coming home to find that dinner was going to be delayed because I’d neglected my duties in favour of having an impulsive, emotional away day. In future I was to consult with him before taking a workday off. He told me to sort myself out or he’d really give me something to cry about. The smack he applied to my backside was balanced by the kiss Dick applied to my lips. I got on with making dinner and felt better. Later, curled up on the couch between them, my head on Shane’s lap, my feet on Dick’s, I felt much more peaceful Were Shane's words meant to be taken literally in this case? I don't think so, they were simply to give Gilli a constant, a certainty while he came to terms with his over-thinking.Was it a healthy relationship? To answer that question, you have to go back to the section which describes what Gilli's life had been like after leaving home at 17. Yes, he was looking for a father figure, but in turn they were in Shane's case looking for a reminder of the youthfulness he'd lost* and in Dick's case an ability to top/care for/baby. If they wanted a mature acting adult, they could have easily turfed Gilli out. Leo would have taken him in like a shot.* Good call there. I wrote this before I started the second book where I had my suspicions confirmed: His life would be bland without me around to put his watch through the washer, break the toilet, ruin the computer and forget to pick his stuff up from the cleaners. I keep him young.
