And the argument began, on cue almost. It wouldn’t be a family meal without an argument. Thankfully, it was contained between the two of them, while my mom and Diane threw questions our way about this new relationship—and most importantly, if I was going to be moving into the guesthouse.
“Eventually.”
24. LORENZO
Moving in didn’t happen immediately. Over the course of a couple weeks, Jace brought more things over, until eventually, he stopped going back to get things. It was just before Thanksgiving when he officially called it his home.
We laid in bed together, staring at the glowing star stickers on the ceiling. Jace in his onesie, cuddled against my chest as I tried not to overheat from his body, the clothes, and the duvet around me.
“Do you think we should host the Thanksgiving dinner?” he asked.
“We don’t have the space for that,” I said, stroking his face. “But what about we make a dessert for the meal, because I’m sure your mom wants to host it.”
“You know what, you’re probably right.”
I took his hand and kissed the back of it. “Daddy’s always right baby.”
“Next year though, we will,” he said with some assertiveness.
“Absolutely.” I was still getting used to having his family be on personal terms with me, but next year, I was hoping to be fully used to the idea. “Plus, you’ve bonded with Bramble, and she demands your attention. Which means you probably wouldn’t have the time to make a full dinner and get out in the field with her.”
Since the announcement and proclamation of our relationship, Jace’s confidence had skyrocketed. It was nice to see, especially around the horses. He still flinched when they turned too quick, and he wouldn’t let Bramble go faster than a gentle walk. She took to being saddled and ridden well. The only one who still resisted was Coal, and that made sense, he was abig horse, probably wasn’t ridden in the past, he had the type of build of a workhorse.
“I think I’ve been forced into that,” he mumbled. “But in the best possible way.” He pushed one of the wooden toys he had close to his chest near my face, unable to see where my face was, he almost poked me in the eye. “She’s just lucky I have this toy that looks just like her.”
“And where are the alpacas?” I asked, giving the horse toy a kiss as he pulled it away.
“They’re in my toy box in their own special area because they can’t be touched.”
“Oh.”
“Yup, you know they’re my favorites, and if they break, I’d cry,” he said, his voice turning to a slight whimper. “That would make me sad because my alpacas mean the most.”
“You think you’ll be able to get more at the livestock show next year?” I asked him. Slowly, and almost suddenly, I’d decided I wanted to invest in the ranch and give him an alpaca, or two, depending on how much they cost. I felt so strongly about Jace and our future, that getting him an alpaca was a secure investment, and a sign that I wasn’t going anywhere. But I didn’t want to announce that to him because it was just a thought, and I didn’t want to come off too strong, even if that’s what a Daddy was supposed to do.
He sighed, it was all he spoke about, so he was constantly thinking about getting more alpacas, but every time he’d asked his family, they didn’t seem like they were willing to, not just yet. “Ideally,” he began, his voice cracking adorably. “Oops. Ideally, I’d like to get some that will breed so then we can welcome baby alpacas to the ranch, and bidding on those alpacas with all the good genes get expensive, so probably not.”
I gave the back of his hand another kiss. “I think eventually, you’ll have one of those fields full of alpacas, they’ll need their own barn just to house them.”
He giggled. “That’s the dream.”
I saw it, sitting on a porch, looking out over a sunset, Jace walking home, followed by a baby alpaca that had clung to him, and he’d have to walk back several times, wearing it out just so that he can come home to me.
My dreams were similar to his, although I wasn’t sure about the dreams he had during the night because I would often get an elbow in my chest and a knee to the groin on occasion. But we had a shared dream to pack this ranch out with animals.
Nights turned to mornings, and we lived a scheduled life, waking early, letting the horses into their field, collecting milk, eggs, and feeding the animals. With it being colder, the petting zoo portion of the ranch wasn’t operational, but there were always deliveries being made into Pineberry with fresh eggs, milk, and cheeses. I’d started driving the van into town, sometimes with Jace, but mostly alone as I developed friendships with Mason, at the hardware store, and with a B&B owner who kept telling me I had to take a break from all the animals and bring Jace with me to stay in one of their rooms.
I wanted to nurture his little side, to make him feel comfortable to let that part of himself out to play. He carried a lot of anxieties with him which he’d slowly been revealing to me, especially where it came to the part of himself that needed to be taken care of.
Breakfast was now one of my favorite parts of the day. I woke earlier than him now, not that he’d admit it, but he was definitely taking as much sleep as he could, no longer forcing himself to be seen so early in the family home as the workhorse he’d been.
In the morning, I made protein pancakes made from mashed bananas, oats, and goat milk. I also added in the maple syrup and a helping of scrambled eggs. You couldn’t go wrong with throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pot, whisking it up and pouring them out onto a plate—speaking for both the pancakes and eggs there.
Jace was teaching me too, mostly about coffee. He’d taught me about fancy beans and how different beans came from different places and they had very different profiles. It mostly went over my head until I was forced into a tea party setting where he’d brewed small pots of coffee just for me to try. That was one of the days when he’d welcomed me into his little space.
Today’s coffee was a Colombian roast, his favorite. He was at the kitchen door the moment the coffee hit the cup, keeping me from delivering the breakfast in bed. Jace always looked so cute, even more-so when he was dressed in his onesie with the hood and especially when they had ears on them.
“Baby, come on now, I’ve got to give you this in bed, where you look all peaceful,” I said.
