My blood boiled. He had no right to ask me what I was doing here. He wasn't in my life anymore and he didn't control my actions. But somehow even more infuriating was the fact that he asked about Ulysses, like he was just some random man and not the most important person in my life besides Andrew.
Ulysses stood up straighter, if that was even possible with his perfect posture, and held Andrew close to his chest so that he wouldn't see what was happening. Thankfully, Andrew was distracted by the joy of his brand-new dinosaur toy.
"Is there a problem here?" Ulysses asked in a surprisingly pleasant tone. I realized he was trying to keep things neutral so that Andrew didn't worry. My heart swelled. Even now, he was looking out for my son.Ourson.
Cameron furrowed his brow. No doubt he was annoyed that nobody had answered his questions. "No?" he said with a snort. He turned back to me when he realized he wasn't going to get anything out of Ulysses. "Seriously, Ryan, what are you doing here? And in the baby aisle, no less?" He scoffed. "Don't tell me you're pregnant again."
My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe him. He hadn't changed at all. He was still the same irritating, thoughtless manchild that ditched me years ago. It was just a horrible coincidence to run into him here.
But I wasn't going to let that ruin my day. I wasn't the man I used to be when I was with Cameron. I was different now. I had Ulysses by my side, and with him, I could do anything.
I marched up to Cameron. My boldness startled him, and he stumbled back a few steps.
"I am here with my life partner, and the alpha father of my children," I announced. "And if you have a problem with us minding our own business, then feel free to do it elsewhere. I'm done with you. Don't ever talk to me again unless it's to apologize."
The emotions on Cameron's face ranged from shock to confusion to anger. He finally settled on the last one. "What the hell? When did you become such a—"
He never got to finish whatever foul thing was on his tongue. Before he could say it, his shirt suddenly flew up and slapped him in the face. Cameron yelped and staggered, flailing his arms before losing his balance and falling flat on his ass.
There was no way his shirt could've done that on its own. There wasn't even a breeze in the store.
I looked over my shoulder at Ulysses, who had a single finger in the air and a grin on his face with a hint of well-deserved smugness.
Cameron was babbling incoherently as he struggled with his own shirt, which had apparently been imbued with a mind of its own. As I watched Cameron fight off a harmless piece of fabric, I stifled my laughter. He eventually pushed it down long enough to run away and disappear from sight, hopefully forever.
When I faced Ulysses, he simply smiled and said, "Oops."
"You're ridiculous," I said, trying to keep my amusement in check.
"Maybe so." Ulysses flashed me an evil grin. Or at least as evil as a unicorn could look. "But I think your ex looked a little more ridiculous, don't you think?"
I finally let out the laughter that I'd been stifling. It was a sight I wouldn't forget, but more than that, I'd remember the way Ulysses stuck up for me.
He came over and put his hand on my back. "Come. Let us resume our stroller shopping."
He was right. That was far more important than dwelling on my ex.
* * *
The time cameand we finally sat down to tell Andrew about the future. A few months had passed since I met Ulysses, and the size of my belly was getting noticeable. It wouldn't be long before Andrew noticed and would start asking questions.
Despite Andrew asking for a sibling in the past, I wasn't sure how he would handle it. Would he be jealous? Would he think that I cared about him any less because he would have a new sibling? I never wanted him to feel that way.
"Andrew," I said, peeking my head into his room. Since moving into Ulysses's place, Andrew had a room of his very own. It was decorated to his heart's content, which basically meant there were dinosaurs everywhere.
He was sitting on the floor on a fossil shaped rug playing with that same blue dinosaur that Ulysses had bought for him that day in the big box store. I smiled. At least he hadn't been lying when he said that he really, really wanted it. It had been his favourite toy since that day on.
"Playing," Andrew announced.
"I know, but Ulysses and I want to talk to you about something. Can you take a break for five minutes? You can go back to playing with your dinosaur after."
Andrew thought about this, then decided five minutes was a reasonable amount of time to be separated from his dinosaurs. "Okay!"
He waddled into the living room, which was five times as spacious as the one in our old apartment. Ulysses really hadn't been kidding when he said his place was sparse. There was only basic furniture, but they were nice quality. We had gone shopping together plenty of times since moving in. I found it adorable how Ulysses let me take the reins—no horse pun intended—when it came to home decorating. He would stand behind me, fascinated as I picked out pillows, rugs, and other things to make the house feel more like home.
Though, as sappy as it sounded, home was wherever Andrew and Ulysses were.
Ulysses was already waiting for us on the couch. He smiled as Andrew ran and did a flying leap onto the cushions.
