Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
JAX
Epilogue – a month later
Even cleaned up, Waldorf, the dog from the shelter that I’d spotted a month ago was still a scruffy-looking little guy.
More fur than face, the near constant wriggling made him look like a fuzzy, off-white blur.
For now he was contained on my lap with a gift bow attached to his collar.
We’d tried to put him in a box so we could surprise my dad that way, but Waldorf wasn’t a fan.
Our first date might have only been a month ago, but I was two hundred percent sure that Ash and Blue were it for me. Was I nervous about the three most important people in my life finally meeting? Of course I fucking was. Hence, Waldorf, the world’s fuzziest ice breaker.
“I apologize in advance for all the dad jokes you’re going to be subjected to. The man doesn’t know when to stop.”
“It’s better to have a dad who tells jokes than a dad who is a joke,” Blue quipped, tossing me a wink in the rear view mirror.
“Dude. That was dark,” Asher said from the passenger seat. As he was the youngest of our group, I tried to make sure he wasn’t always stuck sitting in the back seat when we all went somewhere together. I didn’t want him to feel like we thought he was a little kid or something.
Maybe it didn’t bother him. He didn’t mind being the youngest one of the group.
Mostly he seemed to mind being what he called the messiest. He was still figuring things out for himself, still trying to navigate adulthood, but who wasn’t?
It was a sensitive subject for him, though, so Blue and I did our best to be as supportive of him as possible.
“Do I look okay?” Asher asked as we climbed out of the car at my dad’s house.
He smoothed his hands over his shirt, a simple pale blue button-down.
I’d told him not to over-dress, but I think he was worried about looking too young for me.
We compromised in the end and he at least rolled the sleeves up and left the top two buttons open.
With an armful of wriggling puppy, I went up to Asher and kissed his cheek. Little Waldorf tried to get in on the action, which made Asher laugh. Blue slid his arm around Asher’s waist.
“You look hot,” Blue said.
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I was going for. I’ve never met someone’s dad before. Oh, God, what if he hates me?”
“My dad doesn’t hate anyone. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but he doesn’t hate anyone who doesn’t have it coming.
Like my ninth grade math teacher, who hated jocks.
” Waldorf wriggled some more and I set him down, keeping hold of the leash that was attached to his harness.
“If you’re super worried about it, though,” I said as I pressed the leash into Asher’s hand, “you should be the one to give him Waldorf.”
“Jax, no. That’s—”
“Are you boys going to come inside or are you going to stand on the front lawn and gossip all day?” Dad shouted from the front porch before disappearing back inside.
“You heard the man.” I grabbed Asher’s free hand and led him toward the house. Waldorf was all too happy to follow, though he kept his nose to the ground and sniffed everything he came across.
Before I opened the door, though, I stopped and stole a kiss from Asher. “You’re going to be fine, I promise, but you need to breathe.”
Asher’s shoulders rose and his chest expanded as he sucked in a deep breath.
When he got wound up the way he was now, either from nerves or from the overwhelming emotions, he tended to say things that went off script.
That’s how things went south that day with Sawyer.
It had happened since, not with Sawyer, but with Blue.
Blue’s apartment was deemed too small to house three kittens and a momma cat, so Asher suggested he take them to his apartment. Then he called Blue in the middle of the night in an absolute spiral of panic about how he was somehow not good enough to be a cat dad.
I was trying my best to prevent Asher from a similar performance, only because I knew how hard he’d be on himself later.
“One more deep breath,” I told him.
Asher inhaled, and then the door swung open and my dad stood there, smiling at Asher and Blue. “Are you boys going to come inside or is this a porch party?”
Asher turned and looked at my dad, and he thrust the leash at him, nearly punching my dad in the chest while doing so.
“We got you a dog,” he blurted. “His name is Waldorf, and he’s a rescue.”
Dad took the leash, and he looked down at the fuzzy creature on the other end. “Oh.”
Dad’s voice was soft and laced with disbelief. And then he said it again, but this time his voice trembled and he slowly lowered himself down into a crouch. “Oh. Hello, Waldorf.”
Waldorf wriggled himself right into Dad’s arms and kissed his face.
Dad lost his balance and was knocked onto his ass.
After a chorus of who’s a good dog, you’re a good dog, Dad turned his attention back to us.
“You know, boys, most people bring wine as a host gift when they’re invited for dinner.
” Dad laughed as Waldorf made it his mission to lick every inch of his bare skin. “This is fine, though.”
Dad managed to get to his feet, still cradling Waldorf close to his chest. “This is mighty fine.”
Dad arranged Waldorf so that he could hold him, but also extend a hand to Asher. “I’m David, but you can call me Dad if you’d like. Growing up, all of Jax’s friends called me Dad.”
Asher shook my dad’s hand. Some of the color had returned to his face. “I’m Asher, this is Blue. It’s good to meet you, sir.”
“Oh, please don’t call me sir. You’re practically family so there’s no need for that. The only people who call me sir are people who want money from me.” Dad shook Blue’s hand next. “Come on in. Dinner will be ready soon. Can I get you kids anything to drink?”
Dad led us through the foyer and past the living room to the kitchen where he stopped dead in his tracks. “I guess I need to get Waldorf things like dog food.”
“Oh! We have all that in the car.” Asher was off like a shot before anyone could offer to go with him. When the front door shut, Dad sent me a look.
“What did you tell him about me? He’s acting like he’s coming to be dinner instead of coming to eat dinner.”
“He’s nervous. He wants you to like him.”
“He makes you happy. Therefore, I already like him.” Waldorf sneezed, then shook his body from head to tail, the metal from the leash rattling against the d-ring on the harness. Dad unclipped it and ruffled Waldorf’s furry, floppy ears. “How old is he?”
“Rex, the vet I work for, figures he’s between five and seven years old,” Blue said.
“He’s still a bit thin, but he’s put on some weight since he was rescued.
He’s up to date with his shots, but Rex would like you to bring him by the clinic in a month or two so he can have a look at him. The cost is already covered.”
Asher returned with the box of dog supplies. His cheeks were pink, maybe from embarrassment or maybe from lugging all the doggy supplies into the house in one trip.
“I left everything else in the living room,” Asher said as he joined us in the kitchen. “But I brought his dishes and his food for you.” He set them on the counter, and then let out a breath.
Dad stepped over to where Asher stood and he tugged him into his arms. Dad gave bone-crushing hugs when he wanted to, and he must have wanted to because Asher’s eyes bulged like they were going to pop out of his skull.
“Ease up on him, Hulk,” I said to Dad. “Don’t break my boyfriend.”
Dad backed off but kept his hands on Asher’s shoulders. “The two of you”—he cut his gaze to Blue, then back to Asher again—“will call me Dad. Not David, or sir, or any of that Mister Jackson nonsense.”
Asher looked at me and blinked. “I didn’t know you had a different name from your dad. Good thing, though, or you might’ve been Jax Jackson.”
I let out an inelegant snort. “Mom didn’t want to take his last name, and she put her maiden name on the birth certificate. To compromise, she named me Jackson, which I shortened to Jax.”
While I explained this, Dad went to the fridge and dug out beer for everyone. He passed one to Asher. “You look like you could use this.”
“I’m not twenty-one yet.”
Dad didn’t bat an eye at Asher’s age, something else Asher had been worried about. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know you don’t have the same last name as your dad.” Asher frowned and I took the beer from his hand, cracked it open, and gave it back to him.
“We’ve only been together for a little while.” Blue soothed Asher with a kiss to the cheek and an arm around the waist. “We have plenty of time to learn all the random trivia about each other.”
“How about you kids take a seat, and I’ll check on dinner? It should be done soon.”
I led my boyfriends to the dining room where they took a seat at the round table.
Dad had gone all out and not only had he put a tablecloth on and set the table properly, something he hadn’t done the whole time I’d been alive, but he’d put a flower arrangement on the table.
Asher dropped into a chair, and I stood behind him.
Putting my hands on his shoulders, I started to massage his tense muscles.
“You’re not the only one worried about making a good impression,” I told them, but it was more for Asher’s benefit.
Blue looked laid-back, like the meeting was a mere formality, and that their place with me was already assured.
He was right to be so relaxed. “This table has never had a tablecloth. Not in my whole life. I didn’t think we even owned one. And flowers? Dad wants to impress you.”
“Really?” Asher sounded like he didn’t believe me.
“Really. Because you’re important to me. And he wants you to feel welcome here because now you’re important to him too.”
Dad swooped in a minute later with a steaming hot casserole dish and Waldorf hot on his heels. Waldorf seemed hell-bent on sniffing out his new territory, and his feet clicked softly as he walked around. Dad set the casserole dish on the table, then set the oven mitts off to the side.
“I wish I was a better cook than I am. Even after all these years of doing it, my ability is lacking in a lot of areas. But I can make a bunch of different casseroles.”
After we dished up and started eating, Waldorf, who had been exploring the house, wandered into the dining room and flopped down at Dad’s feet with a groan.
“I can’t thank you kids enough for him.” Dad looked down at Waldorf, who was already asleep, likely worn out from all the excitement. “I have a feeling that he’s exactly what I needed.”
I looked at Blue, and then Asher, and I reached for both of them. Grabbing their hands, I squeezed. “I found what I needed too.”
“You sappy asshole,” Blue teased, and if he dashed a tear away, well, I didn’t see it.
Asher merely looked at me, unblinking for a long moment like he was frozen. And then he smiled a soft kind of smile. “Me too,” and he squeezed my hand.
Under the table, Waldorf sneezed violently, breaking the sweetness of the moment and we laughed together.
Like a family.
And it was perfect.