“I’ll see you all tomorrow at the party.”
We waved him goodbye. A few minutes later, my phone dinged with a message.
TROY
Remember my promise…
“You look happy,” my dads said simultaneously as we walked into the living room, where a tray with tea and my favorite Lydovian cookies sat on the coffee table.
“Wow, you sound like twins now. It’s a little incestuous, isn’t it?”
They both grabbed a pillow and hit me with them while I laughed.
It was good to be home, and the anticipation of seeing Troy tomorrow made it even better.
11
TROY
I’d been hangingdecorations all over my parents’ place since I walked through the door.
Well, not before my mom was satisfied that I hadn’t starved myself while at college, and my brother teased me about my size, saying I wouldn’t have a problem scoring hookups now that I looked a lot more like him.
They say you can’t pick your family, but despite the ribbing and the all-too-extra love I received, I would pick them every time.
“Look who’s here,” Mom said, coming into the living room.
“Toy! Toy!”
I put down the decoration faster than you could say excitable child and picked up my nephew. “Hey, Miles. Look at you so big.”
He put his tiny hands on my face and pursed his lips for his version of a kiss.
“I missed you too, little dude.”
“There’s a round of coffee coming up for anyone who needs it,” Mom said from the kitchen.
I tickled Miles’s tummy. “Who do you think needs it more? Daddy or Papa?”
“Papa. Papa.”
I laughed. “You’re right. Your daddy runs on cupcakes, and your papa runs after your daddy.”
“You’re not wrong there, honey.” Tom came in holding a cake box. It was too small to be the birthday cake, and knowing him, he was starting a new family tradition called the pre-celebration-cake cake.
“Hi, Tom.”
“Hi, sweetheart. Do you mind keeping an eye on him? There’s so much to do, and he’s been a little fussy today. You know the wholeIt’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to?” He straightened Miles’s blond hair. “He’s got that part down.”
“Leave him with me. I’ll show him my LEGO collection. As soon as I can grab a coffee.” And then I whispered, “Dad is taking this whole fitness thing way too seriously. He woke me up for a run at six this morning.”
Tom smiled. “He says he wants to teach Miles to play football, and he’ll need to be ready for when the time comes.”
I laughed. “If only one of Miles’s dads was a former pro-football player and coach.”
“Toy!” And that was Miles talk for “pay attention to me.”
I grabbed a drink from the kitchen and went upstairs to my old room. I still had a bunch of old LEGO sets, so I picked the ones with the bigger pieces and dropped them on my bed.
