Chapter 12 RICK
I didn’t want to ambush Cas into meeting my niece or nephew, Lucy and Tucker, but my sister had ambushed me, and they wanted sugar. Or, well, I encouraged them to have some sugar since my sister Adrianna and her husband John wanted to go explore the town—more specifically the bay of Sugar Bay.
We didn’t spend much time in Oh Crumbs, and I didn’t tell them Cas was my boyfriend, though it wasn’t like they cared much about meeting anyone as long as they had their cookies and cakes.
They were far from the type of family I remembered growing up in.
In a way, rewarding them and rewarding Caspian was healing to me.
I took them shopping in the local mart for toys.
We didn’t have any of those blind boxes in town, those were internet ordered, and if my sister hadn’t sprung this on me, maybe I’d have got some for them.
I was their only uncle—on their mom’s side at least. Their dad came from a family of five siblings.
Back at my apartment, my sister came by for her kids.
It was late afternoon, and Lucy and Tucker were leaving their mess across every surface they touched.
Tucker had a new truck, and had left tire tracks on my walls.
Lucy, on the other hand, tore a doll until the stuffing came out, claiming she wanted to know what was inside.
Maybe it was my fault for the amount of sugar I’d given them.
Standing in the kitchen as Lucy and Tucker ran around the three of us, showing us what they’d done, I could see the stress begin to seep into my sister’s face.
“I didn’t think you’d whip them into a frenzy,” Adrianna said.
“The cabin we’ve booked has a nice outdoor area, so they can get all this out of their system,” John added with a laugh, running his hands through Lucy’s hair as she hugged his side, showing him the collection of doll limbs in her hand—probably wanting them reattached so she could remove them again.
“I’m the fun uncle,” I said. “And I was kinda annoyed you surprised me.”
Adrianna tutted. “When you told me you had a boyfriend, I wanted to meet him,” she said. “This is the first guy you’ve ever told me about, properly. You made it sound like you were getting married over the phone.”
John laughed. “Plus, we’ve been trying to get a couple of nights out of town anyway, and what better way to spend it than up here,” he said. “The air is nice.”
“I’m glad you’re here, obviously,” I said. “But I don’t want to put that much pressure on him. It’s still very new. This entire thing could disappear just like that.” I snapped my fingers in emphasis. “Although I hope it doesn’t. It’s new, and I’m not pushing to make it bigger than it is.”
“Aw,” my sister said, giving me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
We went into conversation about how the fire house took the news of my coming out, and it was underwhelming.
In every thought I’d had, people were going to be polarized to either celebrate big or hate hard.
I’d never even thought people would just nod and tell me it’s fine.
It was nice, though, and better that than hate.
My sister was only in town for a few nights, and she wanted to meet and have a meal with my new boyfriend—and me, of course. Cas seemed okay with it, but I wasn’t going to push him to meet my family this quickly. And then he countered me in a series of text messages.
My parents want to meet you too.
Maybe we could have a joint thing.
My folks. Your family.
A new restaurant.
Somewhere we can leave early if it’s too much.
And that was it. A big restaurant meal.
Tonight. And there were a few restaurants in town, but the 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 a nice 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 my footsteps, 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, and after 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.
* * *
We made it through dinner without any problems. No calls from the fire house.
No dark stares from across the table. We were all there to celebrate us, and I was still in the midst of processing all of it when we got back to the apartment—just the two of us.
Cas was in my arms, carried like he was my big baby, cradling the large box of dough the restaurant had given him.
“What are you gonna do with all that?” I asked, leading him to the kitchen where I maneuvered him into a seated position on the counter. “Are we having pizzas for the rest of our lives?”
He smacked his lips and then leaned in to kiss me. “That doesn’t sound too bad. Does it?”
“With you, nothing could sound bad.”
“Tonight went well,” he said into a yawn.
I yawned back at him. “I’m really glad I got to meet your parents before we took this any further.”
He giggled. “Any further?”
“Well, yeah, I feel—bonded to you. Don’t you feel the same?”
With his signature pout, he nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”
I laid my hand on his shoulder, stroking across his neck until I was cupping his cheek. “That’s exactly what I mean,” I whispered. “My baby, I like having you here. And maybe it’s too soon, but I’d love you to—”
“Oh no,” he let out.
“What?”
“Don’t ask me to move in yet,” he blurted.
Through laughter, I replied. “I wasn’t going to take that leap, but I do want to make this place more accommodating for you—for us.”
He was going red behind the makeup now. “Oh god, I bet you think I’ve made it weird.”
“Don’t you even dare sink into yourself like that.” I continued to stroke his chin with my thumb.
“It’s just the guys were talking about it, and I was nervous about you asking because it’s too soon, and too early for that,” he continued to ramble.
“I promise you, you’ve not made it weird.” I took one hand away from the dough container and kissed the back of his knuckles. “But I do want you to spent time here and have more fun.”
“Speaking of then,” he said, sucking in a big breath. “We’ll need to buy a lot of books because the guys are a bit salty that I took a bunch already.”
“Deal, done,” I said, continuing to kiss his hand. “Those beanbag chairs, I think would also be a fun addition, right?” I pulled out the picture he’d drawn of us. “And we absolutely need to pin this baby somewhere.”
He nodded. “Yeah, they would. Oh my god, I wondered where you put that.”
“It’s going on the fridge.” I turned around to the fridge door and he pounced on my back.
“Yes!” he giggled.
“I seem to have grown a shell,” I said, wiggling around. “I hope it doesn’t fall.”
“I’m not gonna.” He continued to snicker in the most adorable way.
I stomped a little. “Let’s have a think about redecorating while we brush our teeth and get ready for bed.”
“I love you,” he said. “Daddy.” He squeezed himself around me before letting go.
“I love you more.”
“Most.”
“Infinity.”
It felt like a dream. We could’ve gone back and forth on it all day.
I’d never felt my chest swell with so much love before.
With each breath around him, I felt like I was taking in the sweetness he produced, and with every “Daddy” he uttered, a lip-biting groan ripped right through me.
He was my family now, which was wild to think.
Perhaps I was latching on to the first good thing that healed the wound my own family had dug.
He’d come in, smoothed it over, and now we were ready to build on that.
Once Caspian got into it, he was somewhat a home development expert, and I knew before long this place would be covered in color and love. I just didn’t want to wait for it. I wanted it all now—the togetherness, his sweet submission, and my understanding of what it took to be a Daddy.
Grumpy Rick was gone, and thankfully Caspian had never met him—his light was too strong, it always had been, blasting through the grump. I should’ve known then, but at least I know now.
We continued to go over who loved each other the most with toothpaste in our mouths. It might’ve been then that I knew this was my forever. Or maybe it was when we’d kissed in the hallway that first time.
“Love you to the ends of the galaxy and back.”
“Love you double that,” he countered.
It must’ve been true, alright.
THE END