No paper-thin walls or nosy neighbors to worry about at our house. There, we can get as loud as we want, and Nolan doesn’t feel self-conscious.
He’s also paranoid that Jerilyn might one day stake out his apartment, or hire a PI to do it, and catch us fooling around there. That worry was stronger early on when he first moved there, because she would sometimes stop by at random times, even when he didn’t have Katie.
Like maybe she was trying to catch him doing…something.
A few times, she made blatant attempts to get him to reconcile with her, interspersed with periods of treating him like shit and threatening to take Katie away from him.
I recognized it as “change back” behavior, something Bill also cycled through with me.
Fortunately, Nolan recognized it for what it was, too. Even more importantly, he didn’t fall for it this time.
The day the final decree was signed, he came over to our house for dinner and the three of us made love half the night, because he was finally free.
It was definitely a celebration.
Having him around all the time won’t be a hardship, even when Katie’s home. This is the moment Arlo and I have dreamed of and longed for.
Arlo for far longer than me, I suppose. He’s forty, Nolan’s forty-one, and they first got together when they were fifteen and sixteen. Arlo and I have been together for twelve years, married for eleven. It was close to seven years ago when we had our weekend in Orlando where we thought we’d finally talk Nolan into moving in with us and convincing him to give up trying to chase Jerilyn.
We both knew Nolan wasn’t really in love with her. Even he’d admitted he didn’t feel like he was in love with her.
But his fear still ruled his life. He’d held on to the hope of being a father one day. That maybe he could learn to love Jerilyn more.
Even though she was a bitch who manipulated him from nearly day one.
Can’t fault the guy for trying. Had he not gotten her out of his system, he might never have been able to finally admit what me and Arlo knew all along—that we belongtogether, thethreeof us.
That what we have together isperfection.
Maybe it’s not “normal,” or even “easy.” Definitely not the default permutation.
Except it fills our hearts and soothes our souls.
Before I start packing Katie’s toys, I take a couple of pictures so I know where stuff goes when we set up her room at our house. The guys start loading larger items, like the couch, and Nolan’s bed.
Shit’s getting real.
I can’t stop grinning as I start packing faster.
Like before Nolan can change his mind and chicken out. Because that would break my heart.
* * * *
It’s nearly nine that night by the time we finally call it quits, we’ve all had showers, and Arlo has placed an order for Chinese food to be delivered through Grubhub.
We’ve also succeeded in nearly emptying Nolan’s apartment. Tomorrow, the plan is to pack his kitchen and the rest of his clothes. Then all that will be left is going through and thoroughly cleaning the place—vacuuming the carpets, mopping and scrubbing the kitchen and bathrooms, and emptying and cleaning the fridge. We won’t need a storage unit after all. It’ll take some further rearranging to put our house into some semblance of order again, and our garage is stuffed full, but it’s money we won’t need to spend.
Our house, however, now looks like a bomb went off.
And I couldn’t be happier.
Arlo can’t stop smiling.
Neither can I.
And even Nolan looks practically…giddy.
Lucas and Caine have both pitched in like crazy today, and I couldn’t be prouder of my son.
