The little nugget barely woke up—apparently she’d been subjected to hours of board gamesandclassic Disney movies—but that didn’t stop Jordy from enjoying the quiet drive home with her in the back seat and Rowan sitting next to him, where he belonged.
Still, it didn’t surprise Jordy when he woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find Kaira standing beside the bed.
She hadn’t had any bedwetting issues since the move to Vancouver—actually since Rowan had agreed to be the one to take her—but Jordy prepared to get up anyway. “Hi, peanut. What are you doing up?”
“I had a scary dream. Can I sleep with you and Rowan?”
Soon she’d be too old for this, Jordy thought to himself as he scooped her up and plopped her in the middle. If she thought it was strange he was sharing with Rowan, she didn’t mention it.
“Better?” Jordy asked, kissing her hair.
“Uh-huh. Night, Daddy. Night, Rowan.”
Jordy would’ve sworn Rowan was still dead to the world, but he mumbled, “Nigh’, poppet,” and gave her a little snuggle before subsiding into sleep.
New Year’s Eve was Rowan’s last full day in Vancouver, which meant lots to do. Kaira had already been introduced to her new nanny via FaceTime—a teammate whose kids had grown out of needing one had recommended her—but her stomach fluhad prevented an in-person meeting. But with Rowan leaving, formal introductions could wait no longer.
But neither Rowan nor Jordy wanted to give up any more time with Kaira than they had to, so they decided to make use of Rowan’s Christmas gift and take a trip to Science World. That would give Sandy and Kaira a fun atmosphere to get to know each other, and Sandy could take the lead without Jordy sacrificing Kaira time.
He felt a little wistful about it, hanging back and holding hands with Rowan as Kaira and Sandy did most of the exploring, but Sandy’s patience and Kaira’s enthusiasm assured him he was doing the right thing.
“How are you so chill right now?” Rowan asked quietly when Kaira and Sandy were challenging each other to make the letter T out of different shapes. “I’mnot chill. I want to push her out of the way and bare my teeth, and she’slovely.”
“Mostly I just don’t want to get arrested,” Jordy joked. Sandy was five foot three and maybe a hundred and five pounds. “No, but… it’s a reality of my life. I can’t be here all the time. Kaira deserves someone she likes to hang out with when I’m not. So that makes it easier, if not exactly easy.”
It was probably worse for Rowan because he was leaving. Soon he wouldn’t get to spend any time with Kaira at all.
Or Jordy, for that matter.
But Jordy wasn’t allowed to say that. “Anyway,” he went on, “just keep holding my hand so I don’t punch her.”
Rowan checked his shoulder. Jordy pretended to let it push him.
That evening, they headed to Ryan and Nico’s family-friendly party. They’d enlisted the help of teammates to have supervision for the kids while the parents ate and drank. The spread was extensive and, according to Ryan, catered, because fuck no, he was not cooking that much food for you losers. Hedid take credit for the large vat of mulled wine—or “glue vine” as Nico called it—and the somewhat baffling pot of something calledFeuerzangenbowle(“foyer song in bowl ah”?), which Nico lit on fire with the same flair Jordy might give adding ice to a glass of whiskey.
They stayed long enough to eat and enjoy a drink each, but by that point Kaira was wilting, still not yet fully recovered from her flu. Jordy used his napping daughter as a convenient excuse to make an early exit. Ryan and Nico all but waved them out the door and didn’t make a single snippy comment about Jordy being a lame old man.
At home, with Kaira back in bed, Rowan and Jordy followed suit. They made love in Jordy’s bed, pressed close together, hands clasped, while Jordy moved inside Rowan as slowly as he could, trying to make the moment last, to remember every second of Rowan’s mouth, his skin, his gasps and groans. Why didn’t Jordy get to keep this?
As they lay tangled together in the sheets, catching their breath, Jordy wished he could beg Rowan to stay. But that wasn’t allowed, so he kissed him and then suggested they raid the fridge for leftovers.
They welcomed in the New Year standing half-naked in Jordy’s kitchen, eating cold slices of pizza and leftover Christmas chocolate.
“Happy New Year,” Rowan said and leaned in for a sweet, hazelnut-flavored kiss.
Jordy kissed him back with all the love and wanting he had in him. “Happy New Year.”
Whatever you’re doing at midnight, you’ll be doing all year.
Or so people said.
If only it were actually true.
ROWAN DIDN’Twant to get out of bed. Once he got out of bed, he’d have to eat breakfast, say goodbye to Jordy and Kaira, then go to the airport and fly away from the first family who had ever really loved him.
In other words, getting out of bed meant breaking his own heart.
Breaking his own heart only to go home to listen to “I Will Always Love You” a billion times on repeat and cry into tubs of ice cream.
