Chapter Twenty-Two
Edwin
Dating Brax and Cliff had been going really well. There were some days when Brax and I would go out to eat or to a movie, just the two of us. Other days, Cliff and I would go to the zoo or a museum. There were also days that they would spend together. And, of course, the times we’d all be together.
I liked that we set that standard where it wasn’t all three of us all of the time or nothing, because that could have easily turned into hurt feelings with me wondering if I truly was an equal.
Because obviously, they were together first, so not building those separate relationships had to mean something.
Insecurity setting in had been expected, at least for me. How could it not. Only, it hadn’t, and I believed that was because we all worked hard making sure we communicated and didn’t hold our feelings back. It wasn’t easy at first, but it definitely got better over time.
We were going on a date tonight, but first, I had one last meeting…
a meeting with my boss who tended to be pretty long-winded.
It didn’t matter if I had to stay a half hour late on nights I went back to my place.
Ramen could wait. But tonight, the three of us had plans to go out to eat at the new Mexican restaurant, and I didn’t want to keep them waiting.
I grabbed my laptop and headed to my boss’s office. When I arrived, his laptop was already closed, and he had his messenger bag on.
“Oh, I thought we had a meeting.”
“We do, but it’s not going to take us long. I got an email from HR saying that you got the promotion.” And after dropping that, he started toward the door.
“Wait. What? Got the promotion?” I hadn’t put in for a promotion. “What promotion?”
“Oh.” He stopped and faced me. “That’s the part of the meeting we should’ve probably had last week, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I put you in for a promotion. Surprise.”
“What will I be doing?” For someone who usually didn’t shut up, he was being frustratingly brief and vague.
“You’ll be supervising your department, taking over for Walter, who will be retiring next month.”
Walter was retiring? How had I missed that memo?
“You’ll have to meet with HR later this week and go over the paperwork. But, for now, let’s get out of here.”
I wasn’t going to argue with that.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ve got a date.”
And that explained his rush. Good for him. Maybe, if he had a date, it would lead to a relationship, which would lead to him not keeping us late semi-regularly.
I wasn’t all the way back to my desk to grab my things when I messaged my guys to let them know that I had gotten a promotion.
Congratulations! Brax added all the emojis.
I’m so proud of you! This calls for tonight’s dinner to be a celebration. Did you want to upgrade to someplace nicer? This one was from Daddy, no emojis.
The Mexican restaurant is perfect. And I couldn’t think of two people I’d rather celebrate with than you two.
I went home and changed into comfortable clothes, and watched The Little Mermaid with Monroe for his twentieth time as I waited for Brax to come pick me up.
We were going to meet Daddy Cliff there because it was only one bus stop from his work.
Brax called me from outside, which was perfect, or we’d have been late, the two of us getting sucked into Monroe’s favorite movie.
I knew this to be fact, because it had already happened… twice.
The restaurant didn’t look like much, nothing but a hole in the wall, but the reviews had been correct. It was some of the best food I’d ever eaten, and by the time they came over to ask if we wanted any dessert, I was stuffed.
“I can’t,” I told the server. “Next time, I’ll need to have dessert first.”
She smiled at that. “How are we dividing the check tonight?”
Cliff raised his hand. “I got it. We’re celebrating.”
“Somebody’s birthday?”
“Nope. Our boyfriend got a promotion at work.” He looked directly at me.
I could practically see her running that sentence through her brain at the words “our boyfriend,” as opposed to “my boyfriend.”
“Well, congratulations. I’m sure it’s well deserved.” When she came back, she placed a box of what I soon discovered was très leches cake in front of me. “You can have your celebratory dessert at home.”
Home. Only I wasn’t ready to go home. But it was getting to be that time. It was midweek, and, as a rule, I tended not to impose on them too much. Daddy Cliff always went out of his way to make breakfast for me when I stayed over, and he didn’t need that on top of his normal getting-ready routine.
“Hey.” Daddy took my hand. “You gonna stay with us?”
“Yes, please.” I wasn’t going to play coy or shy. I wanted that more than anything. I didn’t love that it meant Cliff was going to get up early to cook for me, but they had offered what I’d been wanting. There was no way I was turning it down.
“I hate this,” Brax said, sticking his lip out.
Maybe I’d been too exuberant?
“What do you hate, my sweet boy?” Cliff asked.
“I hate that it’s ‘sleeping over’ and ‘coming over’ and ‘staying over.’ I want it just to be ‘coming home.’ I want him here all the time.” He spoke as if I weren’t sitting right beside him.
“We said we weren’t going to rush him,” Cliff said.
I’d been completely unaware that this was a topic either one of them had been considering, and now that I knew they were, it changed everything.
“I want that too. That’s not rushing me. I want it too,” I blurted out.
“We were going to get you a key in a fancy box and a key chain and do something formal, eventually. Make it special.” Brax tapped on his phone and showed me a picture of an adorable teddy bear key chain. “This one.”
“I love that key chain, but this is special without it.” I held up my box of cake. “There’s cake. That always makes it a special occasion.”
“You know what I mean.” Brax rolled his eyes.
“I do, and trust me, this…tonight…all of it is special. And once we get home, I can show you just how special I am.”
I was careful to call it home and not your home or back, because after this conversation, it was my home too. “I love you guys.” I stood up. “Now, let’s go home.”
“We love you, too, sweet boy.” Daddy stood up and took the box from me.
“Yes, Edwin, we love you too.” Brax grabbed my hand. “Now let’s go home.”
I had a feeling we were going to be saying home a lot, and I loved it.