Inbound traffic delayed their return,and by the time they’d parked and made it to the condo, Caleb wasn’t sure if Everett had already left for work. There wasn’t time to check—as soon as Caleb and Jayne were through the door, they came across Shep and Parker.
“Hey,” Shep said as they came in. He sat several feet away from Parker, who was on his stomach near his play gym. There was a small white teddy bear in Shep’s hand, half of it fuzzy and cute, and the other half chewed to shit by the pre-vocal young man in the shark shorts. The teddy bear was a new acquisition, but it had quickly become Parker’s favorite toy. “You’re late. There’s something I wanted to show you.”
“In a sec, Shep.” Jayne bent at the waist to untie his shoes. “I’ve gotta say hello to my precious little man first. Hello, Parker. Did Everett, Caleb, and Uncle Shep take good care of you today while I was at work? It’s okay if you want to rat them out. I thoroughly expect to have to punish someone tonight.”
“Gaabaa,” Parker cooed. He looked up at Jayne and smiled the same huge smile that Caleb had seen on him earlier that morning.
“Is that right?” Jayne arched a brow. “Caleb tried to feed you ice cream, and you had to tell him no?”
“Hey!” Caleb puffed out his chest. “I did not.”
Parker made another series of amused noises and reached for Jayne.
“He says you did,” Jayne said with a shrug. He kicked off one shoe, then the other.
“I didn’t!” Caleb crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, waiting for Jayne to clear out of the entryway. “I’ll have you know that there’s a difference between ice cream and frozen yogurt. It’s not my fault that Parker doesn’t understand that.”
Jayne snorted and shot Caleb a mischievous look. “Yeah, I was right—someone’s getting punished tonight.”
“Hey!” Shep interrupted, sounding, for once in his life, excited about something. “Jayne, look! Look!”
Jayne, who’d gone from cooing at Parker to making eyes at Caleb, blinked back into brother mode and gave Shep his attention. “Yes?”
“Look!” Shep insisted, gesturing wildly at Parker. “Just look, okay?
“I’m looking.” Jayne tucked his hands into his back pockets and watched his son. “Do you have something to show me, Parker? Shep seems to think you do. What’s going on?”
Parker reached for Jayne again, stretching his chubby arms while he babbled.
“Jayne!” Shep huffed. “I’m trying to show you something! Stop distracting him.”
“Oh. Sorry.” Jayne removed his hands from his pockets, stole a sly look at Caleb, and sat cross-legged on the floor. “I’ll be quiet. You’ve got my full attention, Parker. What are you trying to show me?”
Shep started to wave and wiggle the teddy bear, no doubt trying to entice Parker to look his way, but Parker was too enamored with his father to pay Shep any attention. The more Shep wiggled the bear, the less interested Parker became, until, at last, Parker stopped reaching for Jayne and starting pulling himself across the floor on his belly instead. It was the same thing Caleb had seen him do earlier that morning.
Jayne’s eyes went wide. He lifted a hand to cover his mouth and watched in stunned silence as Parker wiggled across the floor for him.
“Jayne?” Caleb asked cautiously, but Jayne waved his hand frantically. Caleb got the hint and stopped talking.
The way Parker moved was in no way elegant. His back legs sought purchase at random against the hardwood, and sometimes he kicked them out too far, but in the end, he made his way to Jayne and grabbed onto his crossed calves, pulling himself awkwardly into Jayne’s lap.
“Baby,” Jayne whispered. He scooped Parker up and held him out, causing Parker to laugh and kick his feet. There were tears in Jayne’s eyes, but they were nuanced by his growing grin. “You did it! You’re crawling. Who gave you permission to grow up?”
“See what I mean?” Shep climbed stiffly to his feet and walked the distance between himself and Jayne, setting the teddy bear on Jayne’s lap. “He’s been soldier-crawling across the floor since I took over after Caleb left to get you, and every now and then, he does this thing where he lifts himself onto his hands and knees and kind of rocks back and forth. I don’t think he’s figured out that it takes a little more than that to actually crawl, but he’s getting there.”
“Baby.” Tears streamed silently down Jayne’s cheeks. He brought Parker to his chest and cuddled him, tucking his chin over Parker’s head.
“I’m pretty sure it was Caleb’s doing,” said Everett from the opposite side of the room, fresh out of the kitchen. While he spoke, he adjusted the cuff of his shirt. Tonight he’d chosen a classic look—black pants, a slim wool-blend jacket, a white shirt, and a simple black tie. Caleb always had trouble keeping his hands to himself when Everett dressed for work, but tonight he found it more difficult than ever, and not because of what Everett was wearing—it was the look in his eyes as he watched Jayne and Parker interact that made Caleb’s heart race. Caleb recognized that look. Before Jayne had come into their lives, it had been a look he’d reserved for Caleb alone. “He seemed pretty darn good at it by the time Shep and I noticed he could do it.”
Everett locked eyes with Caleb, and the same thrilling spark raced between them Caleb always felt when they were playfully trying to one-up each other. If making Caleb look good in front of their lover was Everett’s new game, Caleb was all in.
“I don’t know.” Caleb shrugged. He hunkered down on the floor beside Jayne and Parker and pressed a kiss to Jayne’s shoulder. “I saw Parker do it once this morning, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me who got him to do it. Everett and Shep have been really hands-on about his care lately. If anyone helped, it was them.”
Satisfied that he’d returned fire, Caleb winked at Everett.
Shep rolled his eyes, and with a throaty grunt of disgust, stalked past Everett on his way out of the room. “You guys are gross. I’m out of here. Have a good night at work, Everett.”
“Have a good night here at home,” Everett replied.
