KnotMyProblem: I think you mean role call, TD.
TeenDad2: omg it doesn’t matter. But I think I’m right? Isn’t it roll call??? Guys?
KnotMyProblem sent the chat a picture of a dinner roll snatched from the internet.
LoveHarley: I’m actually dying. Roll call. Can I get in on that? xV, can the irl SDSG have roll call instead of role call, please?
xVerity: Duly noted. But just fyi, roll call IS the correct way to spell it
Gwynning: Did someone say roll call?
Gage was halfway through typing out Gwynn’s name in capital letters to welcome him back to the chat when Bo barreled through the door, carrying as much cardboard as he could. “Daddy!” A flattened cardboard box that had once contained a bottle of acetaminophen toppled onto the floor as he sprinted around the counter. “Help!”
Gage tossed his phone onto the couch and jogged over to help Bo. He took the cardboard from his arms and set it on the table. The boxes would need to be cut open and laid flat so they could cover the table most effectively.
“Okay. Here’s the deal.” Gage looked down at Bo, who gazed up at him expectantly. “I wasn’t able to get any of your glitter out of the carpet because I’m too big. If I give you a little dish to collect it in, do you think you can use your small hands and do a really good job collecting as much as you can, so we can make a nice glitter painting for Uncle Alex?”
“Yes!” Bo exclaimed enthusiastically. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, almost vibrating with excitement.
When he got this excited over being helpful, Gage didn’t feel so bad about his little white lies.
“Then you can do that while I prepare the table and get the paper, the glue, and the paint, okay?” They were kept on the top shelf of the upstairs closet in a container with a tricky lid, just in case small hands managed to find their way to them. “And maybe, if we have enough time, we can make a painting to give to Daddy for Christmas, too.”
“Yes!” Bo laughed and clapped his hands, then took off across the living room, carpet-bound. Hummingbirds couldn’t keep up with him. His newfound energy meant that he got into trouble more often than he did before, but if a little mischief meant that his son was healthy, Gage didn’t mind. He’d give Bo a thousand pots of purple glitter if it meant his baby could run and laugh and play.
Nothing had made him so happy as the first time Bo had sprinted for him, excitement sparkling in his eyes, because Gage had made the mac and cheese with animal shapes for lunch.
His little boy was back, and this time, he’d make sure he stayed.
That afternoon, they painted purple glitter swirls for Uncle Alex, and a lion to give to Aaron on Christmas day. Bo had insisted on that one.
“It’s Daddy’s favorite!” he’d claimed.
Gage was fairly certain he knew why.
* * *
That evening,after Aaron had returned from work, dinner had been eaten, and the dishes had been left to dry, Gage cuddled with his family on the couch in front of a new episode ofPeppa Pig—Aaron had tracked down a season that Gage had overlooked and brought it home to surprise Bo. Outside the window, snow fell. It muffled the world and kept them snug together, comfortable beneath the blanket Alex had given Bo one year—Bo’s favorite, patterned with puppies.
As the episode ended, Bo yawned and burrowed beneath Aaron’s arm, tucking himself against Aaron’s side. Like it was nothing, Aaron lifted his arm to allow Bo to settle, then wrapped it loosely around his son and held him in place. The next episode began.
There was no more wheezing. The sickening rattling in Bo’s lungs had stopped. The television filled in the silence, but Gage heard the beauty of sounds of nothingness all the same.
Their little boy was getting better, and their family was whole again.
“Do you think he’s asleep?” Aaron asked not more than five minutes into the episode.
Gage, who’d been lost in his thoughts, turned his attention to Aaron and Bo. Bo’s face was mashed against Aaron’s side, and drool soaked into Aaron’s shirt. His chest rose and fell steadily. His eyes were closed.
“Out cold,” Gage replied. “You want me to take him to bed?”
“I’ve got it.” Carefully, Aaron turned at the waist and scooped Bo up from the couch. Once Bo was in his arms, he stood. Of all the things Gage had ever seen, nothing compared to the sight of Aaron taking care of their son.
He hadn’t thought it was possible to love Aaron more than he already did, but he’d been wrong.
“What do you want to do once I get back from tucking him in?” Aaron asked. “We could watch a movie, plan our wedding, research furniture for the nursery…”
“I think, tonight, all I want to do is be close to you.” Need had settled into Gage’s bones, drifting through him like the snow that fell outside. It blanketed his soul in its presence and demanded that he address it. Right now, he craved to be near the man he loved. It didn’t matter what else they did, as long as they could do it together. “You can put on a movie if you want. That’d be fine. I’m going to pull a Bo and snuggle up against you, no matter what it is.”
