And that was it. A big restaurant meal.
Tonight. And there were a few restaurants in town, butthe safest option was Tino’s, the Italian place. And bonus, they had a kid’s menu—for both my family, and in case Caspian was feeling the call of his little space and the comfort zone he found there. He would be right by my side, no matter what.
***
Tino’s was the best place for it. We had a nice big table set out for us. I arrived with Caspian, and we were here first, sitting together, holding hands, and ordering the adult juice as Cas put it. He was nervous. I kissed his cheek, feeling the powdery glitter blush on his cheeks against my lips.
“I have something for you,” he said, pulling out a folded slip of paper.
It was a drawing. He’d done it himself with crayons, putting me in my fireman’s uniform. He was much smaller in the picture, holding my hand and dressed in a cute onesie. “Is that how you see us?”
He nodded. “My big strong Daddy.”
We kissed, just as his parents arrived. I folded the paper into my pocket, knowing I had a perfect spot on the fridge for it later.
His parents arrived once our wine came, and now I was nervous, but a nice swig of the white wine helped wash those nerves away. I’d actually met his mom before, Loni, she was a nurse at the local hospital. She was dressed in anice red dress, asking me and her son if it was a bit too showy. She gave the nicest hug, and his father, Rupert, gave me a stern handshake with the “take care of him” stare.
“It’s really nice to do this,” I said, sitting back beside Caspian.
“Thank you for the money for my birthday too,” he said.
“I came by the bakery the other morning and Toby was filling me in on all the gossip about you having a boyfriend,” she said with a hearty chuckle. “Oh, that wine looks good. We should really get a bottle.” She nudged her husband. “I’m not driving tonight.”
“Me either,” Rupert said. “So I’m getting a scotch. You said your sister is visiting?”
“And her husband,” Cas said. “It’s all last minute. We’ve not even been dating that long, but meeting the family is important, because—” He stared at me, wrapping his arm around mine. He was doing this for me. All that talk about not having a family, and going solo most of my life—he’d brought his family to me. I stared at him, my gaze becoming misty. “Because Rick is special to me, and it’s the most serious I’ve felt about anyone before.”
They cooed over the affection, and my jaw clenched. I’d never had this feeling before, and my body was letting me know just how strange it was—warming, welcome, but scary all the same. I excused myself from the table, snatching a napkin from the center and claiming I was going to check on where my sister was. Caspian quickly followed in myfootsteps, but I didn’t notice until he was hugging me from behind.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, I promise.”
“Well, I know family is—”
I turned around to keep him from finishing the thought and gave him a kiss. The restaurant wasn’t too busy, but I still felt all eyes on me. And then I heard my sister’s voice. Again, probably not how I wanted to introduce Cas to them, but here he was all blushed and flushed. It was a quick exchange, my niece and nephew more occupied with something my sister had promised them—probably a present.
As we sat and drinks were ordered, my sister asked the burning question. “How did you two meet?”
Cas gulped back his adult juice and looked at me to answer.
“Cas is a baker, and he owns a shop with two of his friends. They have a fire alarm in their bakery, which Cas here likes to set off,” I said, pulling him into a side hug, his chair scraping on the ground as I pulled him close. “He thinks it’s overly sensitive, but I checked and it’s fine.”
“It’s definitely sensitive,” he said. “He came out a couple of times, and the first few times it was a full—thing. He was in all the gear, and ready to fire a hose at the situation.”
I laughed. “Not quite how it would’ve happened. The fire house is close, so we answered the call, andafter the first couple of false alarms, I started just walking over.”
“I bet he made it sensitive so he could come in and grab a cupcake,” Adrianna said.
His mom chuckled. “They are delicious.”
“Right!” My sister got all giddy.
It was a story that dissolved into discussion about cupcakes, croissants, and cookies. Caspian’s confidence boomed with the talk, which involved my niece and nephew, and they had all these new flavor ideas. Cas let go of me a little, but I could still feel him yearning to leap into a onesie and find a pile of teddies in the corner of a room to call his cuddle puddle.
As food orders arrived and in the quiet of people eating, I thought about how this must’ve been what some people had growing up in big families at meal times. What I’d tried convincing myself I could have with—well, a wife, but obviously I’d piled rocks on that dream after coming out as gay.
I had pasta, and it was delicious. Caspian had pizza, praising their dough and trying to get everyone around the table to try it. At one point, he even asked to see the chef so he could take a peek at his dough recipe. To which, they knew Caspian’s bakery and declined to share it with him, but offered him some dough to take home with him—and he wanted it. Definitely not shy to ask. I loved that strength about him, even if he did come back and hide at my side—his big protective Daddy and well-known town Samaritan,a nice title for being captain of the fire house.
