“Of course. This is your very own art center. Let your creativity go wild.”
“Is there glitter?” Brax asked, still examining the contents of the drawers.
“No. Glitter is for special nights at Chained. I think we need to keep it that way.” Because heaven help me if we didn’t.
But they didn’t seem to mind and were soon seated on the little stools that came with the set, coloring away and making me thank-you cards for their surprise.
Best boys ever. And the luckiest daddy.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Edwin
Dating Brax and Cliff had been going really well. There were some days when Brax and I would go out to eat or to a movie, just the two of us. Other days, Cliff and I would go to the zoo or a museum. There were also days that they would spend together. And, of course, the times we’d all be together.
I liked that we set that standard where it wasn’t all three of us all of the time or nothing, because that could have easily turned into hurt feelings with me wondering if I truly was an equal. Because obviously, they were together first, so not building those separate relationships had to mean something.
Insecurity setting in had been expected, at least for me. How could it not. Only, it hadn’t, and I believed that was because we all worked hard making sure we communicated and didn’t hold our feelings back. It wasn’t easy at first, but it definitely got better over time.
We were going on a date tonight, but first, I had one last meeting…a meeting with my boss who tended to be pretty long-winded. It didn’t matter if I had to stay a half hour late on nights I went back to my place. Ramen could wait. But tonight, the three of us had plans to go out to eat at the new Mexican restaurant, and I didn’t want to keep them waiting.
I grabbed my laptop and headed to my boss’s office. When I arrived, his laptop was already closed, and he had his messenger bag on.
“Oh, I thought we had a meeting.”
“We do, but it’s not going to take us long. I got an email from HR saying that you got the promotion.” And after dropping that, he started toward the door.
“Wait. What? Got the promotion?” I hadn’t put in for a promotion. “What promotion?”
“Oh.” He stopped and faced me. “That’s the part of the meeting we should’ve probably had last week, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I put you in for a promotion. Surprise.”
“What will I be doing?” For someone who usually didn’t shut up, he was being frustratingly brief and vague.
“You’ll be supervising your department, taking over for Walter, who will be retiring next month.”
Walter was retiring? How had I missed that memo?
“You’ll have to meet with HR later this week and go over the paperwork. But, for now, let’s get out of here.”
I wasn’t going to argue with that.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ve got a date.”
And that explained his rush. Good for him. Maybe, if he had a date, it would lead to a relationship, which would lead to him not keeping us late semi-regularly.
I wasn’t all the way back to my desk to grab my things when I messaged my guys to let them know that I had gotten a promotion.
Congratulations!Brax added all the emojis.
I’m so proud of you! This calls for tonight’s dinner to be a celebration. Did you want to upgrade to someplace nicer?This one was from Daddy, no emojis.
The Mexican restaurant is perfect. And I couldn’t think of two people I’d rather celebrate with than you two.
I went home and changed into comfortable clothes, and watchedThe Little Mermaidwith Monroe for his twentieth time as I waited for Brax to come pick me up. We were going to meet Daddy Cliff there because it was only one bus stop from his work. Brax called me from outside, which was perfect, or we’d have been late, the two of us getting sucked into Monroe’sfavorite movie. I knew this to be fact, because it had already happened…twice.
The restaurant didn’t look like much, nothing but a hole in the wall, but the reviews had been correct. It was some of the best food I’d ever eaten, and by the time they came over to ask if we wanted any dessert, I was stuffed.
“I can’t,” I told the server. “Next time, I’ll need to have dessert first.”
