Epilogue
Jay
Chase surprised me. He wasn’t completely worthless on the skateboard like the rest of us. Monty was showing him a trick that involved a one-eighty turn, and Chase only fell on his ass every other time.
The day was getting hot, and I sat on a bench in the shade of a maple tree while Chase sweated in the sun. When he offered to go buy us something to drink from a kiosk on the other side of the skatepark, Monty came shuffling to the bench.
He sat next to me and rolled the skateboard back and forth with his feet.
“It’s getting hot, huh?” I said. I could tell something was on his mind, but if I pushed, he’d only clamp up on me.
“Uh-huh.” He glanced to where Chase was standing in the queue in front of the kiosk, then back at his feet.
“Do you want to head home soon?” I asked.
“In a bit.”
“Okay.”
A minute of silent shuffling followed.
“I like him,” Monty mumbled.
Oh Lord. I swallowed against the lump in my throat. I needed to keep my cool.
“Chase?”
“Yeah. He’s okay.”
I stared ahead at nothing in particular, all my senses on my kid. “He’s nice. I like him too.”
“So he’s your boyfriend?”
“Yes. Are you okay with that?”
He shrugged. “Not my business, right?”
“If he spends time with us, then it’s a little your business too.”
“I guess.”
I took a slow breath. Monty seemed way too careful, which made me apprehensive. “Would you be okay with him being around now and then?” I asked.
“How often?”
“I don’t know. Maybe once every other week?”
He seemed to mull that over. “But you’re meeting him more often than that. You go on dates with him when I’m with Hugh and Kirby.”
“I do.”
“He can come here with us again.”
“You’d like that?”
Another shrug. “It’s a little weird.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Not bad weird. Just…he doesn’t look like a dad.”
I bit back a chuckle. I had no idea what to say to that. I was trying to come up with something when Monty asked, point-blank, “Is he going to live with us?”
“I…don’t know. Not yet, anyway. It’s too soon for that.”
“How long have you been boyfriends?”
I wasn’t going to explain the term fuck buddy to my thirteen-year-old son. “We met six months ago.”
Monty nodded to himself, his expression serious. He was studiously following a couple of skaters on the U-ramp.
“He can come visit. I’m okay with that.”
“And if he stayed over sometimes? Let’s say for a weekend?”
Monty turned to me, squinting. “Like, in your bedroom?”
I was sure my face was burning. “Yeah. Like Hugh and Kirby. They sleep together in their bedroom.”
My son rolled the skateboard back and forth.
“It’s good that you have a boyfriend, Dad. I want you to be happy.”
The overly serious way he said the last sentence made me instantly suspicious.
“Thank you.” I paused, wondering if I should ask the next question. Curiosity got the better of me. “Have you talked about this with someone?”
“A bit.”
“Hugh?”
Monty gave me a confused look. “What? No! With Kirby.” The tone of his voice made it clear how absurd he found my suggestion.
“Why not Hugh?”
“He thinks that your boyfriend should be old and rich.”
I spluttered. “He told you that?”
It was Monty’s turn to blush. “No.”
“Then how do you know what he thinks?”
“I heard them talk when you were out last week.”
“Oh.”
“They weren’t arguing or anything. But Hugh said that Chase is young and that he doesn’t have any money. Is that true?”
“Chase is not rich, no. But he has a good job and works hard. He’s twelve years younger than me.”
“Is that a lot?”
“Some people think so. But Kirby is much younger than Hugh, and they’re in love.”
“And you’re in love with Chase.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah,” I breathed. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. You’re the most important to me.”
“I know that. Jeez, Dad. I’m not completely dumb.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “I’m sorry.”
“Will Chase come home with us for dinner?”
“Would that be okay?”
This time, the shrug was a little more deliberate, but he was smiling too. “If you want.”
“What do you want?”
“He can come, and you two can talk. I have screen time anyway.”
Was he already trying to negotiate some advantage out of this deal? “Not before six,” I said firmly.
Monty just rolled his eyes.
Chase came back with our drinks, and Monty took the orange juice from him, muttering an awkward thanks like he was trying to be super cool yet didn’t want to seem rude either.
“Can we try again?” Chase asked him. “I think I’m getting the hang of it.”
“You gotta stop moving your shoulders first, man. Need to keep them square.”
I covered my mouth with my hand so I wouldn’t laugh. Chase listened to his coach with the utmost respect, his expression impressively serious as he faced my slip of a boy going all bro on him.
“Square shoulders, got it.”
“Five more tries?” Monty said. “It’s getting too hot.”
“Awesome. Let’s do it.”
Monty stood and headed for the ramp, and Chase winked at me before following.
Monty was nestled deep in the living room sofa, with only the top of his tousled head peeking above the backrest. He was wearing headphones, so we didn’t have to deal with the screech of tires as he navigated the racecar through the streets of what looked like a picturesque Mediterranean town.
After eyeing my son warily, Chase leaned in for a soft peck. Monty was with his back to us and deeply into his game. There was no need to be this chaste. I threaded my hand through the hair on Chase’s nape and pulled him down for a proper kiss.
“You were great today, thank you.”
His eyes twinkled. “You think so?”
“Yes. He had fun. And he suggested you come with us again.”
“I’d love to. I had fun too.”
I leaned closer, my lips brushing his cheek as I neared his ear. “And you’re welcome to stay over.”
“Yeah?” he breathed.
“Uh-huh.”
He gave me a wide smile before kissing me again.
A few hours later, Monty was asleep in his room.
Chase and I lay in each other’s arms in my bed after a round of quick and very quiet lovemaking.
I hadn’t planned on having sex when my son was in the house.
I’d soon realized, though, that sleeping next to Chase all night, empty, would have been torture.
“That escalated fast,” Chase murmured into my hair, a smile in his voice.
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.”
“Full disclosure. I’m so relieved you let me fuck you. My balls would have fallen off.”
I snickered. “We’re such horndogs.”
“Zero regrets.”
He rubbed my belly with his palm, over my womb. My heat was coming in a few weeks, but we’d prepared for it. Monty would be staying with Hugh and Kirby, and I would move in with Chase for the duration of the heat and recovery. A tiny niggle of guilt lingered in my mind, though.
“Chase…”
“You know, I can tell what you’re thinking.”
“Really?” I said, unable to keep the doubt from my voice.
“Yup. The contraceptive.”
I groaned. “Are you a mind reader now?”
“No. But you tensed when I touched you here.” He rubbed the spot again, just below my belly button.
I exhaled. He was right, of course.
“Jay, I’m so happy. Meeting Monty, being here with you, in your home. It feels like maybe one day, we’ll become a family. That’s what I want. To be a part of your life.”
Chase had been thoroughly clear that having biological children of his own wasn’t important to him, but it still sometimes worried me that he was making a sacrifice so he could be with me.
But I wasn’t changing my mind about not wanting another kid, so why did I still think he would change his? I was being silly.
“I love you,” I told him, my voice steady.
He stroked my stomach, then over my heart, down again, until he cupped my soft cock.
“I love you too. Thank you for today, Jay. Thank you for trusting me.”
I closed my eyes, the rest of the tension bleeding away. It had been a great day, indeed. The first of many.
The End