One year later
ONE YEAR LATER
Jessie
Mom’s in the kitchen. I always know where she is, because she’s always humming or singing.
She smiles a lot too, and when Cam and Wyatt are around, she laughs a lot. We both do.
Mom plays games and jokes with me a lot more than she used to, too, even when Cam and Wyatt aren’t here.
We all live in a big, new house together, which is great, except that Goldfish doesn’t live with us. He visits, and we visit him a lot, but because he’s Auntie Marissa’s dog, he lives with her.
I miss having him in my bed with me at night, especially in my new room, which is big and kind of scary when I’m trying to fall asleep.
During the day, my room is so pretty, and I love it, because I got to pick out all the decorations. But when it’s dark, I can’t see all the sparkly unicorns on the wall.
Mom puts on music for me at night, and it helps a little.
I miss being able to play with Goldfish every day, too, even though Cam and Wyatt know way more games than Goldfish and I do. They’re even building a mini golf course in our back yard!
Cam and Wyatt are so much fun, and I love them so much, but they’re not dogs.
“Aunt Marissa just sent another video over,” Mom says, when she sees me at the table coloring.
Auntie Marissa sends a picture or video of Goldfish almost every day, and I love it, but sometimes it also makes me miss him more.
“He’s so cute!” I can’t help but laugh as I watch him lying flat on his belly, sniffing a treat that’s just in front of his nose.
As Mom clicks off of the video, she says, “Maybe you can send Auntie Marissa a picture of your dog today.”
“What are you talking about, Mom?” Sometimes, she’s silly these days, but now she’s being kind of mean.
“Here, follow me.”
When I take her hand, she leads me toward the back door. Cam and Wyatt are kneeling on the patio, and there’s a wriggly little puppy in Wyatt’s arms. It’s black and white and brown, with the cutest, floppiest ears, and a little wagging tail.
“Mom, it’s a puppy!” I’m jumping up and down, while Mom takes forever to open the door.
“She’s your puppy, sweetie. Cam and Wyatt picked her out for you.”
“Let her smell your hand,” Wyatt says when I finally get out there.
“Hello, little puppy.” I’m so excited, I’m shaking, but I hold out my palm and the puppy licks my fingers, making me laugh. “She likes me!”
“You’ll have to think of a name for her,” Cam says.
Wyatt sets the puppy down, and she follows me out into the grass. When I sit down, she crawls all over me and licks me some more. When I get up and run, she runs after me.
I show her around the big yard, and tell her about Goldfish, sure they’ll be friends, too. “We’re going to have so much fun!”
When we get back to the house, Mom, Cam, and Wyatt are all standing together, smiling.
Stella
“Jessie’s going to sleep a lot better with the pup running her around the yard,” I say.
“Hopefully the puppy will sleep good, too,” Cam says, “though he’ll need potty breaks in the middle of the night until he’s older.”
I cringe. “Really? I’ve never had a puppy, or even a dog before living with Goldfish.”
Cam pats my back. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of the night shift, since our work schedule is more flexible than yours.”
The men have been making my life easier in so many ways. I feel spoiled, actually.
They bought this beautiful house for us to live in. There’s so much space for all of us, including an office and a workshop for the guys, a home office just for me, and a playroom for Jessie.
They also built a big, new playset for Jessie in the back yard, and covered the ground around it with thick, spongy mats to protect her from injuries.
They care for both of us in so many ways, and more than I ever imagined was possible.
They’ve become my best friends—though, of course, they’re so much more than friends.
“Good thing we got the pup after your parents visited,” Wyatt tells me, as the three of us watch Jessie and her new best friend. “Your mom doesn’t seem like the type who likes dogs.”
I shake my head. “You’re right. She doesn’t.” I let out a sigh at the memory of their visit. It wasn’t horrible, but it would have been so much worse without Cam and Wyatt keeping the mood light, like no one else can.
At least my mom didn’t have anything negative to say about our new home. Though she doesn’t express it, I think she’s relieved that Jessie and I are living with Cam and Wyatt. Maybe she worries about us, in her own weird way.
Last year, I met Wyatt’s parents, and they were so lovely and accepting. His mom was especially kind to Jessie, and she keeps in touch with me often. I’ve met Cam’s parents, too, and though they were a bit standoffish, they seem like decent enough people.
“Do you think Jessie’s going to come up with a name for the pup that’s as creative as Goldfish?” Cam asks.
I smile as she throws a ball for the dog, and then ends up running after it herself. “Hard to say.”
“Chicken nugget?” Wyatt suggests. “Maybe marshmallow.”
I wrap my hand around his arm and lean into his shoulder. “That’s what I’d name her, if it were up to me.”
“How about Miss Scarlet?” Cam suggests in his Southern drawl.
We’re already holding hands, and I give his a squeeze. “She does love those Clue characters. Oh, that reminds me of Halloween.”
During the season, Cam and Wyatt took us to Disneyland again, just as they had suggested during our first visit. We went to a costume party there, and it was Jessie’s wild idea that we dress as Clue characters.
Cam and Wyatt took the lead, putting together the most amazing and creative costumes for all of us, with Cam in a mustard-colored military suit, Wyatt looking like an academic in shades of purple, me in a beautiful dress adorned with peacock feathers, and Jessie as a miniature Miss Scarlet, in a red dress with satin gloves and a red boa.
“That was a lot of fun,” Wyatt says, laughing.
After all this time, the men still haven’t stopped giving me new and fun experiences. Just when I think they’ll surely run out of ideas, they introduce me to a new food, a new place to go, and most fun of all, new toys for the bedroom.
Not too long ago, on a day when Jessie was at school, Cam and Wyatt took advantage of our alone time by setting me up with remote-controlled vibrating underwear! I still get hot every time I think about it.
When they promise, or even suggest, that they’re going to do something, they do it. We’ve gone out to play other escape rooms, with and without Jessie, and they’ve taken both of us out for teppanyaki, which Jessie loves, too.
When we got together, they promised they’d make sure I know every day that they want me and only me, and they show it with gestures both big and small.
There are special looks we share, thoughtful gifts they give me like flowers, and things they do to let me know they’re thinking of me, like making coffee for me in the early afternoon, so that I’ll have energy for the rest of the day. Lately, I need that extra energy boost, especially since our oversized custom-made bed was delivered.
The best thing I ever did was take a chance on them, and I only hope I can spend the rest of my life trying to show them as much love as they show me.
Cam
“Cam and Wyatt, can the puppy be in some of your videos?” Jessie asks, the next time she leads a lap around the yard.
“Hmm …maybe. If you think she should be,” Wyatt says.
“I do! People are going to love her!” Jessie spins in a circle, arms spread wide, and the pup barks at her with an adorable little puppy bark.
It’s not the first brilliant idea Jessie’s had. At first, she liked to watch us build things from a distance. Gradually, she started hanging out right next to us, asking questions and then offering suggestions, and we’ve produced some really fun content as a result of her input.
Now, she helps us make things, too, always behind the scenes, but our viewers know we have a special assistant known only as J. We protect Stella and Jessie’s privacy above all. Our viewers don’t know where our new house is, and we’re hoping to keep it that way.
Our transition to children’s entertainment couldn’t have gone better. We lost some followers, and there were some rough patches along the way, but with guidance from the consultant and after getting involved in some special events, the channel’s now bigger than ever before.
With Jessie often helping us, Stella’s had more time available to focus on her college courses, and because of her continuing education and her great work, she’s being considered for a promotion at Community Bean. If she gets the job, she’ll still be working from home, but she may have to go into the office once a week; and that’s fine, because Wyatt and I are available to chauffeur Jessie anytime.
We’ll support Stella in any type of job she chooses, or no job at all, but selfishly, I’m glad she works from home, because we make use of quick spare moments to enjoy grownup private time whenever we can.
Living with her—waking up next to her and going to bed with her at night—has taught me that I’ll never get enough of Stella’s body.
I’ve also learned that it’s possible to love someone more and more every day.
Wyatt
The sight of a child and a dog has never done something to my heart like it’s doing right now. I’ve always enjoyed watching Jessie and Goldfish play together, but seeing this little pup looking at Jessie like she’s her world, and knowing Jessie’s going to have so much fun with the new pup, well, it has me feeling things I can hardly name.
Jessie doesn’t call us dad, because she already has a dad, and because we’re not married to Stella, though I hope someday that will change. Nevertheless, I love her like a father, and I always will.
Cam and I met her father, Brandon, on one of his visits last year, and we even helped him when he moved into a house across town. He’s never going to be a good buddy, but he was a decent enough dude, and I appreciated that he didn’t seem to harbor any ill will toward Cam and me.
His play to get Stella back last year seemed half-hearted at best, and he assured us it’s a thing of the past. Poor guy. His loss, our immeasurable gain.
I respected Brandon more when he expressed regret for not having been in Jessie’s life as much as he should have been, and ever since he moved closer, he’s been taking steps to change that.
We told him that we’re not trying to take his place in Jessie’s life, but that we wanted to provide for her in any way we can.
His general opinion was that as long as Jessie’s happy, he’s happy, and I respect that, too.
When the puppy starts to slow down, Stella calls out for Jessie. “Time to take a break. The puppy needs a nap.”
To our utter surprise, Jessie ends up falling asleep on the couch a few minutes after her dog does. “Naps are very few and far between these days,” Stella whispers as the three of us creep out of the room.
I pull Stella into the kitchen for a leisurely kiss, aware from her near-silent moans that Cam’s getting handsy with her at the same time. The two of us enjoy her for a few minutes, until she pushes us away.
“We’d better stop, or we’ll end up in the bedroom, and I’m not sure Jessie will sleep long enough for us to fully enjoy ourselves.”
“Later, then,” I tell her, right before I steal one more kiss. “I’m going to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Want to help?”
“I’d love to,” Stella says.
As I start to set ingredients on the counter, Cam picks up the bag of chocolate chips, looking at it in a disinterested way. “Did you know the Mayans and Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency?”
“Didn’t you say you had something to do in the garage?” I ask him in response.
All three of us are laughing quietly as he gives Stella another kiss, then leaves us alone to bake.
Later that night, after Jessie’s in bed, the three of us are back together, sitting on the couch, sharing a plate of cookies with milk. Jessie had a cookie after dinner, but we waited until now to enjoy ours.
Things were hectic all evening, with us taking the still-unnamed puppy outside frequently for potty breaks, then cleaning up puddles in the kitchen and the dining room, despite our best efforts.
“What a day,” Stella says with a sigh, before taking another bite of her cookie.
“Things are going to be extra fun around here for a while,” Cam says.
Stella smiles at him. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Speaking of fun—” She reaches for her phone on the table, and taps the screen. “There’s something I want to show you.”
She holds the phone out at a distance, urging Cam and I to lean in closer, so we can both see the screen. “I hired a graphic designer from Community Bean to do a little side project for me. I asked them to make a new logo for your channel.”
Cam and I exchange a look, both of us confused, because we never mentioned needing new branding, and we’re fine with what we have.
“Even though you still do plenty of childish stuff in your videos, you’re not boys anymore. You’re men, through and through, so I thought it was time for you to drop the ‘boys’ in Battle Duel Boys.”
What an odd thing for Stella to do, I’m thinking as I watch her pull up the logo design. Then I read the new name, and stop breathing for a few seconds.
“Stel, tell me that name isn’t random,” Cam says.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” I blink and then look at the screen again, making sure I saw what I think I saw.
She nods, a radiant smile spreading across her face. “What do you think? Are you ready for a name change to Battle Duel Dads? Because in eight months, that’s what you’re going to be!”
I toss the dish of crumbs on the coffee table as I get to my feet, then pull the love of my life into my arms. “We’re going to be dads?”
Stella nods, just before I crush my lips to hers. I’m going to be a dad. We’re going to be dads.
The four of us—five, counting the new puppy—are going to grow our family.
I don’t want to let her go, but Cam’s right there, so I open the hug to welcome him in, and the two of us hold onto Stella … for the rest of our lives.
***