Chapter Twenty-Eight
“A-A Ron! My man!” I hoot at the man himself as I stumble in through the door after a day out on the boat.
Lauren and one of the nurse’s aides must have brought him downstairs and set him up to watch a little of the tube. Supernatural re-runs are on, go figure. Lo’s gotten back into watching that big time, probably on account of C’s resemblance to Dean. She’s fangirling so hard. It’s adorable, really.
I approach Aaron and wipe a little drool off the corner of his lip, then I eye the scene on the screen. I chuckle. “God, way to boost Caleb’s ego. Got all of you in this house slobbering over his lookalike.”
An ever-so-quick, blink-and-you-miss-it grin forms at the corners of his lips.
“Ahh, I caught you, didn’t I?” I continue razzing him.
I’m convinced he’s way more alert than Caleb ever made him out to be. Lo was right, he does respond to outside stimuli. Whatever the case may be, my plan is to continue treating him as if he is absolutely lucid.
Has it been a huge adjustment having him here?
Ab-so-fuckin’-lutely, you bet your ass it has, but it’s been so worth all the hurdles Caleb had to jump through to get to this point.
Caleb and Lauren both, actually. I wish I could have been more involved with all the court stuff myself, but with C having to take time off from work to go to court and whatnot, Gannett and I have had to put in the hustle to keep those lobsters coming in.
March is typically a slower season, according to Cap, but both he and his dad seem to be onto all the sweet spots. We’ve been rolling in hard shells lately. I don’t mind one bit though. Actually, I friggin’ love this job. Who else has the whole Atlantic ocean as their office?
Probably marine biologists, in all honesty, but that’s neither here nor there. Lobster fishing is way more fun. And they say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.
“Where’s Caleb?” Lauren asks, stepping out of the bathroom, running a towel through her damp hair.
She must have just slipped in for a quick shower. I probably should too, come to think of it. Caleb did spend most of the day today playing the “let’s see how much we can turn Marcus on” game, so I had to hover next to the bait bin just to kill my non-stop pop-up situations.
“Did you forget? He had plans to go out kite-surfing with that friend of his—I forget what his name is now, shoot—”
“Weston?”
I snap my fingers, “Yeah, him. The one who named his friggin’ kid Easton,” I note on a chuckle. “Who does that?”
Lauren smirks. “Weston Dunphy, apparently.”
I snort. “I can’t believe it, though…”
Lauren’s brows furrow. “What? That Caleb’s actually making friends and going out and doing stuff with them—without either of us there to interpret?”
“Uh, no. He’s fully capable of all those things; I think he just needed to recognize that for himself—”
I’m cut off when Aaron groans.
“What’s that, bud?” I ask him. “You’re agreeing with me that Caleb simply needed to have his training wheels ripped off?”
Aaron makes another noise.
“I know,” I note on a chuckle. “It took Lo and me a bit, but we got him to get out of his hermit crab shell. He’s out doing his crazy guy shit again.
” I turn my attention back to Lauren. “That’s what I couldn’t believe, by the way, that he’s out kite-surfing when the water is freeze- your-balls-off temperature. ”
Lauren rolls her eyes. “That’s why they have the wet-suits, Marco.”
“Speaking of outfits,” I hum. “What should I wear out for our date tonight?”
Yeah, that’s right, I’m taking Lo out to celebrate the success of the project at work she recently proposed and was accepted.
She’s now going to be spearheading a support group for those who have survived sexual assault.
She thought that perhaps hearing from others who have gone through the same would be helpful, and there was no group of that kind in the area.
I guess one had been proposed years ago, but the woman—Miranda something or other—who started that mission passed away rather abruptly.
Lo has seen to it that this Miranda’s vision comes to fruition.
I’m so proud of Lauren. So, so proud. She never would have had the gumption to carry this out if this was her from even a year ago. Just like I love my job, it seems as though she has found her dream career too.
That, and being able to care for Aaron. All of it fills her bucket right up. She practically radiates confidence now, and I’m one-hundred percent for it.
Lauren pops back out of our bedroom with a satiny, full-length dress. There’s a slit in the side that I know goes clear up to my mid-thigh. It’s a mix of elegance and sensuality that I feel oh, so good in.
“I have the perfect pantsuit I can wear that will look good next to this,” she notes thoughtfully. “That is, if we’re really going to Othello’s.”
“You sneak,” I hum. “You saw the reservations on my phone, didn’t you?”
“No, I accidently let it slip when I told her I could hang out with Brody and Papa tonight,” Cameron states, entering the kitchen to rummage through the pantry. “I didn’t realize it was a secret. My B.”
“Cat’s out of the bag now, I guess,” I reply, snorting. “Let me go hop in the shower, and we’ll get ready to head out.”
On my way by Aaron, I scooch down beside him.
“You rest up good tonight, okay? Tomorrow’s the big day.
Caleb and I are getting you out on that boat with us.
Butt crack of dawn, A-A Ron. You better be ready to drool over your hubby some more…
this time with me. That man got some mus-cles, lemme tell you what. ”
He blinks at me, giving me another twitch of his lips.
“I can’t believe Gannett’s letting you take Aaron and all of his equipment out on the boat,” Lauren says. “You better be fucking careful with him out there, Marco.”
“Oh my god, quit your panicking Lo. He will be absolutely fine. Between Caleb and I, we know how to rig up all his apparatuses. He’ll be in good hands, I swear. The man needs to breathe in some salty, sea air.”
“He needs to not fall overboard!”
“And he won’t, worry wort!” I peer back at Aaron. “Blink if you trust Caleb and me.”
He blinks. Twice.
Affirmative.
I pat his shoulder. “That’s right, my man. We dudes are taking to the high seas tomorrow.”
Lauren rolls her eyes. “Go get that fishy smell off you, Marco.”
“Aye, aye, Captain Lo.”
“You didn’t let one questioning look at your outfit get to you all night,” Lauren notes as I open the car door for her.
No, I suppose I didn’t. That’s likely due to the fact that I couldn’t take my eyes off her the entire evening though.
It never ceases to amaze me how much my heart continues to swell whenever I’m around her, even after all this time.
After everything we’ve been through. After all she’s given me…
a chance to be a father, to raise a family, to be my best friend first and my lover forever.
To reintroduce me to the other person who fills my cup up, and to bring his family into our household.
“Well, I reckon that’s because what any of them thought doesn’t matter. What matters is who I was with tonight, and what she thinks of me.”
She presses her hands to my chest and leans in. “I think that he’s the best damn man in the world. It doesn’t matter what he wears because the thing she loves most about him is what’s right here.” She points to my heart.
“You have been my forever friend, from the moment you first moved to Harrisburg, Marco. I should have known I loved you way back then, but I was just a dumb preteen—what did I know about love then anyway?”
I grin and wrap my arms around her, shielding her from the chill in the night air. “You knew. We both knew. What we had was so much more than friendship. We were just too scared to say anything and potentially ruin what we had going on.”
She rests her chin on my chest and peers up at me, smiling. “Brody did away with all of that for us, wouldn’t you say?”
I nod, smirking. “Yep. Best damn thing to ever come into this world, screaming his little lungs out because he couldn’t hear a damn thing.”
She hums contentedly. “Marco never lost his Polo, did he?”
“Not at all,” I note, shaking my head, pulling her tighter to me.
“Hey, Marco?”
“What’s up, Polo?”
“What are your thoughts on backseat lovemaking?”
I scoff. “Lauren, hello… have you seen the size of me? Fitting me in the back of your car would be like cramming a bowling ball down a drinking straw. Hell no.”
“What about me stroking you off out here in the parking lot?”
I tap my chin, feigning that I’m giving that some serious consideration. “Besides the fact that it’s colder than Frosty’s nutsack out here? No. This dress is dry clean only.”
“Road head while you drive?” She arches a brow up.
My own brows pinch. “The hell has gotten into you? Horny little thing…”
She bites her lip. “I just worry that, like, Aaron hears us back at the house. That, and I kind of just want it to be you and me tonight. You know, like, just us.”
“You’re worried about hurting Caleb’s feelings; is that what you’re trying to say?”
She nods, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. I tug it free with my thumb, kissing her. I let my mouth melt into hers, our tongues doing a slow dance that’s as practiced as you’d see in any fancy ballet recital.
When we finally break apart, after many long minutes of simply making out, I reach up and cup her cheeks.
“You know C usually hangs out with Aaron for a bit, recapping his day and doing his nightly routine with him anyway. Why don’t I just text him and ask him if you and I can have a little extra private time?
He’ll understand, Lo. Wanting individual time once in a while won’t break us.
The three of us are way too solid for that.
After all we’ve been through in such a short amount of time, we better be. ”
She sighs. “You’re right.”
I chuckle. “As usual. You forgot that part.”