Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
“Happy birthday!” Devon and I called out the second my sleepy-eyed boy walked into the living room.
Devon and I had both been up early and decorated Devon’s place with far too many birthday decorations.
But Sage would love it and that was all that mattered.
So what if we went a bit overboard. Poor Sage jumped a foot in the air and squealed when he came out and saw it all.
“Sorry, sweetheart, we didn’t mean to scare you. Happy birthday!” I gave him a hug and a kiss. “Were you surprised?”
“Yes and my heart is racing.”
Devon ran over and squished him with a big hug. “We made you breakfast and we have a special day planned for my bestest bestie!”
I loved how excited Devon was about this. Hearing his story yesterday had made me want to find him the perfect Daddy who’d spoil him rotten. Jesus, had Master Derek rubbed off on me? No wonder that man loved his job.
“Funfetti birthday pancakes for the birthday boy.” I lit the single candle we’d put on the stack. “Blow out the candle and make a wish.” His adorable thinky face as he called it appeared then he blew it out. “Happy birthday!” Devon and I clapped as we sang to him.
“Thank you both, this is so nice.”
Sage would be thrilled if this was all he got, but Devon and I had other plans. “I set your clothes out for today.”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a birthday surprise, silly. You have to wait and see.”
Devon’s smile was infectious. He’d told me he’d never been there and had wanted to go, just not alone. How could I not buy three tickets and plan a day for us? “Want to open your prezzies now?” Who was more excited for that, Devon or Sage?
“I have prezzies?” Those blue eyes widened in surprise.
“Of course you do, it’s your birthday!” Which reminded me I needed to find out when Devon’s was.
“Yay! Prezzies for me!”
Glad I’d separated them from the Christmas ones.
Devon beat me to them and carried them over to our special birthday boy. “Here you go!”
“A Ninja Turtle lunch box!”
“Yes, and it clips onto your backpack. We need to pack sack lunches for today.” The bigger gifts awaited him at home. No use shipping those around then trying to get them back to where they should’ve been already.
“Turtle shirt, turtle water bottle and swim trunks. Thank you, Daddy.” It was hard to decide what to give him now, what was for Christmas, and what was for Mom and Dad’s. Lots of prezzie opening in a week.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Devon, Daddy got you something too,” I said as I pulled a bag out and handed it to him.
“It’s not my birthday, Daddy.”
“Nope, but since I don’t know when it is I’m making up for it today.”
“Daddy is the bestest,” Sage said.
“Oh my gawd!” Devon squealed, “A Frozen backpack, water bottle and beach hat. We’re twinsies, Sage! Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome, sweet boy.”
“This bag is from me,” Devon handed the last one to Sage.
“Our Little Adventure book. You made a book for us?” Sage asked.
“Not quite. This is a picture book we’re making together. Your Daddy and me have taken lots of pictures of us having fun and they’re gonna go in this book and the one I got for me. That way when we’re far apart we can look at them and ’member each other.”
Sage’s eyes filled with tears. “I love you so much, bestie. There’s no way I’ll ever forget you.”
“Ditto. Now open the rest.”
“My bestie is the bestest, t-shirt. It’s so cute. Look at all the flutterflies, Daddy.”
Sage was too cute.
“Thank you, I love it.”
“There’s more.”
“A beach hat with seashells on it, Daddy. Thank you so much, Devon.”
The boys hugged. I loved how close they’d gotten.
“All right, birthday boy and his bestie, get dressed while Daddy packs our lunches for today. Sage, make sure to bring your backpack. Daddy will wash out your new water bottles. Devon, make sure you bring the same, please.”
“Yes, Daddy,” they said as they skipped down the hall.
I packed their lunchboxes with a frozen ice pack to keep their snacks cool. Figured they’d want to get a meal at the park itself or after we left. At least this would keep them sated either way.
“Are we waiting for the car guy?” Sage asked when we stepped outside.
“Nope, I have to drive today. Too expensive to take a service this far. Hop in.” Devon had one of those fancy electric cars. Made sense living out here where they had more sun than snow. “We’ll drive to the beach tomorrow too.”
“Sage, go ahead and sit up front with Devon so you two can chat.” Chat and sing they did all the way there.
“Children’s Fairyland. Is that where we’re going, Daddy?”
“It is indeed.”
“How do I get out of this car?”
“I’d say wait for Daddy only Daddy is stuck too.”
Devon snickered at us. “The button at the top of the handle opens the door. You got out fine after the airport, silly gooses.”
Give me that antique locking mechanism on my old truck any day to this new-fangled I can’t figure it the hell out door system. My boy and I managed to escape our electric captor, and the experience was soon forgotten when we made it to the entrance.
“I’m so excited. Have you ever been here, Devon?”
“Nope. It’s my first time too.”
Security did a quick scan through their backpacks, handed us each a park map, then we were on our way. There were rugrats all over. Shoot, I’d forgotten it was Christmas break… but I’d brave the madness for the boys.
“First stop is at the closest water station to fill your bottles.” Given this fountain was just inside the entrance, it shouldn’t have taken us fifteen minutes to get to it.
Devon and Sage insisted upon stopping at each sculpture to take pictures.
Not just of the sculptures themselves, but with them, then with me.
Yeah, our phone clouds would be begging for storage upgrades before we got home.
Yup, today was gonna be another of those days where a leash would come in handy.
First trip around the park took us two hours. At that point it was time to stop and regroup. “Boys, let’s sit and have a snack.” An empty bench was nearby, and I snagged it before another took it.
I was exhausted just watching them crawl through tunnels, ride the train, hop aboard the pirate ship and pretend to be buccaneers. They’d been through everything at least once and were deciding which areas to hit again as they snacked.
“I wanna ride the carousel again for sure,” Sage told Devon. “And the train.”
“Me too. Let’s take another picture in front of Willie the Whale,” Devon suggested.
Sage’s head bobbed away. “I hope they have a stuffy of him in the gift shop.”
“Me too, and a coloring book of the park. Oh, and stickers for our memory books.”
“Good call, Devon.”
Hearing their conversation had me mentally patting myself on the back for one of the Christmas gifts I’d had sent here for Sage. Thought ahead without really thinking ahead. Yeah, my brain was about done for the day.
With their lunch boxes emptied, we were off to refill their water bottles so round two could commence. Four and a half hours of park time and they were finally ready to hit the gift shop and head back to Devon’s.
“I’ll get you each a stuffie, stickers, and a coloring book.”
“Thanks, Daddy!” You’d swear they were twins with as many times as they answered as one.
Even knowing what they wanted, it took a good half hour for them to make their final decisions. I paid for what I said I’d get plus a set of magnets for our fridge. They each bought a matching shirt so they could be twinsies. Yeah, walked myself into that one even thinking the word twins.
“Boys, do you want to stop for food on the way home or have it delivered?”
Right on cue, “Delivered,” came from both.
If the sigh of relief I felt was audible, then so be it. This was one long day for this tired-ass Daddy.
“I can’t believe I’m going to a real beach today.”
Sage talked about finding seashells and rocks all through breakfast. I only hoped this well-used beach didn’t disappoint.
“You never know what you’ll find there.” Devon was no help.
Given it was Christmas Eve, the beach was thankfully empty. That, combined with the cold, was enough to keep other humans away. Sage had the run of it and that he did, giggling, picking up who knows what, but my boy was all smiles, and I managed to capture it in photos and a couple quick videos.
“Daddy, can I put my feet in the water?”
Cold be damned, I wasn’t denying him this first. “Yes, but let Daddy roll your pants up, and fair warning, it will be cold.”
He plopped down and plucked off his shoes and socks. I made quick work of rolling his jeans up then he took off for the surf. The second the water hit his feet he squealed and ran away.
“Okay, that’s enough. Now I can say I’ve been to the ocean. Brrr, Daddy.”
I chuckled. “I tried to warn you.”
“Look”—he dug around in his pocket—“I found a seashell, it’s broken though, and a couple pretty memory rocks.”
“Nice. Sit down and I’ll wipe your feet off so we can get your shoes back on.” Devon was still laughing his ass off.
“You screamed so loud, Sage.” When Sage stuck his tongue out at him, Devon giggled and added, “I got the whole thing on video.”
So did I, but I kept that tidbit to myself.
“Alright, boys, I think a lazy Christmas Eve at home is just what we need.” Just what this Daddy needed for sure.
Traffic was light; given the day, I was happy about that. I had a lot of wrapping to do tonight and stockings to hang while the boys were in bed. As soon as we stepped inside, they kicked off their shoes and headed straight for the playroom.
“Can I trust you boys to stay in here while Daddy helps Santa for a while?” Those eyes widened as did their grins.
“Yes, Daddy.”
Why wasn’t I buying this sweet act?
“Hmm, I’ve got my eyes on you two.” I shut the door for good measure, than began the unboxing process.
I swear, these shippers could learn a thing or two about paper waste.
Several had tiny, unbreakable things inside huge boxes.
As I wrapped, it hit me that I had the same number of gifts for each boy.
“Huh, what do you make of that?” The smaller items went into the stockings I’d had made for them with their names on them, but the wrapping was a challenge as it was not my forte.
They would never call me out on it though, they were too polite.
My sweet boys…
WTH was wrong with me? Thinking that way wasn’t healthy for anyone but there was no denying that Devon had grown on me just as much as he had on Sage. But did it run deeper than that?
Fuck. No. No, there was no way I’d ever hurt Sage by even thinking that. Just wipe those thoughts from your mind and keep treating Sage’s bestie the way you have. You’re just sleep deprived, Warner, and nothing more.
Yeah. Nothing more…