“Wanna help me finish up dinner?”
“Yeah, I suppose I can do that,” I say, starting to follow him into the kitchen area. He asks Elijah to go clean up his room, and after a little bit of the normal complaining you’d expect, Elijah heads off down the hall. Bowen remains on the couch, so by the time we get to the kitchen, it’s just us. “Everything okay?”
Since the house is an open concept, I notice Kade keeps his voice down as he faces me. “So he asked me if we were dating today.”
“Bowen or Elijah?” I ask as I watch him gather ingredients for a salad out of the refrigerator. He places everything on the counter and then faces me again.
“Well both, but I was talking about Elijah.”
“Okay,” I say carefully, not really sure how to feel about it. I can’t believe he picked up on it and asked about it.
“I’m sorry, Spencer. I couldn’t lie to him. I...” He looks directly at me, even though I can tell he’d rather look away. He’s antsy, shoving his hands into his pockets nervously. “I told him the truth, but I also told him I was afraid you could get in trouble, and he asked if it was a secret. He actually seemed pretty excited about having a secret, which...”
I walk closer to him and grab both his wrists, coaxing his hands out of his pockets and into mine. I twine our fingers together and look at him. “It’s okay, Kade. I understand. I wouldn’t want you to lie to him.”
“But you know he’s six, and he might not be able to keep it to himself.”
“Hey, he’s almost seven.” I grin, trying to keep it light because I don’t want him to worry about this for even a second longer but don’t release his hands. “I’m well aware of that. It’s okay,” I say again. “I was actually thinking about talking to the principal at school anyway.”
He looks a little pale. “You don’t have to do that for me.”
“I’d be doing it for us,” I clarify because I would. I never really had a reason to tell anyone at school before about being gay—it was never anyone’s business. And while I don’t really think it’s fair that I feel the need to let her know I’m in a relationship—more so because I’m in a relationship with a man—I do know that dating a parent is tricky. And it’s that part that’s the reason I want to talk to her first. “I think it would be better to give her a heads-up in case there’s an uproar.”
“It’s not fair. There shouldn’t be an uproar because you’re dating a man.”
“But if there is, it’s going to be blamed on the fact that I’m a teacher and you’re a parent of my student. I want you both in mylife, Kade. In order to do that, I need to be upfront and try to get ahead of it.”
“You want us both in your life?” He looks so adorably nervous now, not at all like I thought he was in high school. Not like the strong, confident fireman I know he is in his day-to-day life. This side of him is vulnerable.
It comes from never feeling like he had parents growing up. From a failed relationship. From feeling like he let his son down. I want to be there every single day going forward to remind him how worthy of love he truly is.
“Yes,” I answer easily, grabbing both sides of his face in my hands and staring deep into his eyes, hoping he understands what I mean. This isn’t a fling for me. It doesn’t have an end date. “You know what else?”
“What?” He seems lost in my gaze, and it nearly puts me in a dreamy trance.
“I asked Levi about the perfect flower for me. For you. For us.”
A small grin forms on his mouth—he’s intrigued. “And what did the florist come up with?”
“Daffodils.”
His nose scrunches, “That’s . . . unique.”
I nod in agreement. “Like us. They represent the triumph of hope over adversity. Promising happiness.” I smile, the feeling of just that—hope and happiness—bursting inside my chest.
His nose brushes against mine as he leans even closer to me. “I like that.”
“Me too,” I breathe against his mouth, wanting to claim it, but he speaks before I can do just that.
“Do you want to spend Christmas with us? Well... the day after Christmas because I have to work on the actual day.”
“I want to spend the rest of our lives together, but yeah, let’s start with Christmas,” I say and pull him in for a kiss.
My lips just barely brush over his before I hear a small voice from behind us. “Yuck. I don’t want to see that.”
I grin at the sound of Elijah, but then there’s a much deeper, older voice joining him. “Agreed. Gross.”
“Seriously? At least I know his name,” Kade says to his brother before placing a quick kiss on my lips, and I release him.
