She smiled at that. “How are we dividing the check tonight?”
Cliff raised his hand. “I got it. We’re celebrating.”
“Somebody’s birthday?”
“Nope. Our boyfriend got a promotion at work.” He looked directly at me.
I could practically see her running that sentence through her brain at the words “our boyfriend,” as opposed to “my boyfriend.”
“Well, congratulations. I’m sure it’s well deserved.” When she came back, she placed a box of what I soon discovered was très leches cake in front of me. “You can have your celebratory dessert at home.”
Home. Only I wasn’t ready to go home. But it was getting to be that time. It was midweek, and, as a rule, I tended not to impose on them too much. Daddy Cliff always went out of his way to make breakfast for me when I stayed over, and he didn’t need that on top of his normal getting-ready routine.
“Hey.” Daddy took my hand. “You gonna stay with us?”
“Yes, please.” I wasn’t going to play coy or shy. I wanted that more than anything. I didn’t love that it meant Cliff was going to get up early to cook for me, but they had offered what I’d been wanting. There was no way I was turning it down.
“I hate this,” Brax said, sticking his lip out.
Maybe I’d been too exuberant?
“What do you hate, my sweet boy?” Cliff asked.
“I hate that it’s ‘sleeping over’ and ‘coming over’ and ‘staying over.’ I want it just to be ‘coming home.’ I want him here all the time.” He spoke as if I weren’t sitting right beside him.
“We said we weren’t going to rush him,” Cliff said.
I’d been completely unaware that this was a topic either one of them had been considering, and now that I knew they were, it changed everything.
“I want that too. That’s not rushing me. I want it too,” I blurted out.
“We were going to get you a key in a fancy box and a key chain and do something formal, eventually. Make it special.” Brax tapped on his phone and showed me a picture of an adorable teddy bear key chain. “This one.”
“I love that key chain, but this is special without it.” I held up my box of cake. “There’s cake. That always makes it a special occasion.”
“You know what I mean.” Brax rolled his eyes.
“I do, and trust me, this…tonight…all of it is special. And once we get home, I can show you just how special I am.”
I was careful to call it home and notyour homeorback, because after this conversation, it was my home too. “I love you guys.” I stood up. “Now, let’s go home.”
“We love you, too, sweet boy.” Daddy stood up and took the box from me.
“Yes, Edwin, we love you too.” Brax grabbed my hand. “Now let’s go home.”
I had a feeling we were going to be saying home a lot, and I loved it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Brax
“Are you sure, Edwin?” Cliff asked as we stood in our new little’s bedroom at the Little House. Which was about to be his former bedroom. Daddies weren’t normally allowed in this part of the house, but he had special permission to help Edwin move. We’d asked Edwin to move in with us, and he’d said yes. In fact, he wanted to move on his next day off, which was today.
Cliff and I came over to help him finish packing and to help him with the move in. But he had just informed us that he didn’t want to take any of his toys. Toys that he had brought to this house. Things that meant something to him, that he so freely shared with others.
“I’m sure. What if someone new comes here, and they find these toys and it makes them feel like they belong? What if they comfort them? Besides, I have so many toys at your house.”
“Our house,” I reiterated. This would take a while to get used to for all of us.
