Chapter 38
Grizzly
Though I knew these people very, very well, I still had an immense amount of nerves going to the Bellports’ house for dinner. Jake’s invite had been put off over and over again. There always seemed to be something more vital to go over.
But putting it off any longer wasn’t an option. Not when Mama Bellport herself stopped me in the grocery store to tell me a date and time to come over. I’d been shocked at the time, both from running into her and also because I could no longer hold off.
We were standing on the front porch of the Bellport family home, seconds away from joining them for dinner when my phone pinged. Normally, I would ignore it on a night like this, but it pinged a second time.
Auden had adapted this pattern of texting for when they wanted to get my attention, so I took a look, hoping it wouldn’t be anything too urgent. Maybe a signature or an opinion on something.
Auden: Meridian — Fully Executed. Congratulations.
I froze. Daddy immediately noticed because he had his arm wrapped around me. He’d been hyping me up all day since he knew I was nervous. I shouldn’t have been. I knew all these people. Had dined with them before.
It felt vastly different with my Daddy at my side.
"Baby? Everything okay?”
I held the phone out to him. It was easier than trying to form words.
His eyes moved across the screen and then went back to the beginning. He was just as shocked as I was.
"Grizzly. Baby, what did you do?”
"It's done. You’ve got one of the biggest sponsorship deals the company has ever offered. This is huge, Daddy.” My voice came out confident, though a bit shaky. Happiness radiated through me in a way I didn’t usually experience with work projects.
This was more than work. It was me providing for my partner in a sense. He was the one playing his best, making the records that got attention. And I went around screaming his praises so others would pour into him as well.
Daddy took my face in both hands and pressed his forehead against mine. We didn’t need to say anything for our hearts to understand what was going on.
The paperwork had been weeks of back and forth, Auden and I on calls with Meridian's legal team, revisions and counter-revisions until it was worth figuring out. When I’d presented it to Daddy, I’d only told him it was a brand completely aligned with his values.
He’d signed without even looking at the name. That’s how much he trusted me.
But standing on this porch with the executed contract in my inbox and Daddy's forehead against mine, I understood that the work had been in service of something larger than a contract.
Meridian was not just a sponsorship. Meridian was a statement.
It was a company that had looked at Paxton Wells—queer, openly partnered, newly signed—and said yes because of who he was rather than despite it.
"We should go in," Daddy said, without moving.
"We should," I agreed.
Neither of us moved for another minute.
Then he pulled back and looked at me with the dimples showing and said, "I think we should walk in there and tell them the news. They’ll be so happy for us."
I didn’t respond directly. Instead, I knocked on the door
Mama Bellport opened it seconds later, which made me believe she’d been waiting for us to have our private moment on the porch. She was thoughtful that way, so it wasn’t a stretch.
I could never really prepare myself for the energy she emitted. As one of the only women in her family, and a powerful force in the community, Mama Bellport made everyone feel welcome no matter the time or place. She was what I imagined a mother should be like—not that I had any personal reference.
She looked at Paxton first. "There he is," she said with the warmth of a woman greeting someone she'd heard about for long enough to feel like you knew them already.
Then she looked at me.
"Grizzly,” she acknowledged me with a kind smile. It was like she knew I was the reason for our delayed arrival.
Next thing I knew, I was swept up in a hug. The emotional whiplash jarred me a bit; however, it didn’t stop me from returning her embrace.
"Come in, come in. They're already in the back making noise, which probably means Royce was teasing Kenneth, or Jake is telling outlandish stories again. My boy has an active imagination. Either way, it’s fine." She looked at Paxton again briefly. "You're taller in person."
"I get that a lot," he replied.
"I like it." She patted his arm once and moved down the hall. "Come eat. We made a ton of food. Also, Paxton, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited your father as well. He should be here soon.”
Paxton looked at me in the hallway. His eyes were bright. “That’s fine. Pops is always welcome. He’s family and family is important.”
Mama Bellport sighed. “Oh, yes. You two are perfect to join this horde of children I’ve amassed.”
"Okay?" Daddy asked when she turned to lead us to the dining room.
"Better than.” I gave him my biggest smile, then tugged his hand so we wouldn’t get left behind.
When we got to the room, it was only partially full of people. Considering the noises echoing from down the hall, it made sense. I couldn’t tell if I was happy to see more people or if my nerves were trying to return.
"GRIZZLY!" Jake shouted the minute he saw me.
He was wearing an oversized shirt that said Property of the Bellport Bears with jeans, and he looked genuinely delighted.
He crossed the room and hugged me. "You actually came.
I told Maddox you'd come, and he said not to get my hopes up, and I told him my hopes were already up.”
"Hello, Jake," Paxton said, interrupting his babbling.
“Hey, Paxi. Good to see you too. Mama went all out for dinner. I hope you’re hungry. Oh, and the whole gang is here. They’re just down in the lounge right now.”
Sure enough, there was a flood of couples. Dinner was loud and warm. Conversations stacked on one another, each building in noise and excitement. I couldn’t keep up.
I sat between Daddy and Finn Bellport. It made it hard to focus since Daddy was always a distraction, and Finn wanted to get to know me better. I did my best to juggle the two since I didn’t want anyone to feel ignored.
Paxton’s dad had arrived shortly after us and welcomed as delightfully as we had been.
He didn’t hesitate to drop into a seat and start up a discussion about the breadsticks on the table.
Something about how delicious bread could be on its own without any type of dip.
Of course he faced some backlash for the thoughts.
We had some dip lovers in the group who spoke up.
The food was as extraordinary as the company. I ate more than I planned to, and I talked far more than usual.
Jake was telling a story about a hotel in Miami that involved, as far as I could follow it, a misunderstanding about a room key, two members of a rival hockey team, and a ferret that had not been part of anyone's original plan.
His Daddies, Leon and Maddox, watched him with serene looks.
They were completely at ease with his emphatic performance.
"The ferret," Leon said, when Jake paused for breath, "was mine. That's the part of the story he always leaves out."
The table erupted.
Paxton’s dad leaned forward and pointed at Leon. "Hold on. What was this ferret’s name?"
"Geraldine," Leon replied.
"Geraldine," he repeated, with a sort of reverence you didn’t expect for a tiny animal.
I caught Daddy’s eye during the exchange. Part of me wanted to keep listening to them, but a bigger part needed to share our good news. I wanted to brag about my boyfriend to anyone who would listen.
Royce, because they missed very little, looked between us. "There's something you two aren’t telling us.”
The table settled a bit, as if everyone found interest in whether the statement was true or not.
"What something?" Jake demanded.
"They've got a secret," Royce said. "I can tell. Just look at them."
"I don't know what you're—" Daddy started.
"You've been sitting on it since you walked in. You both have. It's extremely obvious. I held off on saying anything, but you really are killing me. I need to know." Royce’s eyes were pleading.
Mama Bellport called out from her spot. "Let them tell it in their own time, Royce."
"I've given them time, Mama," Royce groaned.
"That's true, they have," Jake confirmed. "Very patient for Royce. They usually don’t make it this long."
"Extremely patient," Bellamy agreed.
Daddy looked at me, as if deferring the choice to me. The question in the look said a lot—our call, our news, our moment. He would wait as long as I needed. He would let me get there on my own.
I put both hands flat on the table.
"Meridian finalized today. Paxton Wells is their first openly queer athlete who is still an active player. It is also the biggest deal they’ve ever signed."
The room went still for exactly one second before screams echoed around us. There were congratulatory hugs and back pats, along with a host of questions. For several minutes, we went over everything we could give them. If felt like an interrogation in some ways even though I knew it was all love.
"When did you find out?" Royce asked once it was calm again.
"Standing on your mother's porch.” I grinned. “The email helped us finally knock. My nerves had been a mess before that.”
"I want the full version from start to finish," Jake said, leaning forward with his chin in his hands. "From the beginning. How long did it take? Who was difficult? I want the difficult people named. We can get them out of there."
"Jake," Bellamy chided.
"I want them named so I know who they are going forward. It’s no good to have people working against our family."
"The negotiation was handled professionally.” I skipped over the family bit of the talk. If I thought of it too much, I’d lose what little calm I had.
"That's not a no," Jake pointed out.
Mama Bellport, who’d managed to disappear in the chaos, returned with two bottles and Maddox behind her carrying a collection of glasses nestled in the crook of his arm.
"Juice for those who need it," she said, setting a ceramic pitcher beside the bottles. "We don't make anyone drink who doesn't want to, and we don't make anyone explain why. Those are the rules." She said it without looking at anyone in particular and with authority.
The glasses went around. Champagne for most, juice for most of the athletes, who had early practices the next day. I took juice for myself as well.
The table quieted when Royce stood, glass in hand. "To Paxton and Grizzly. To the announcement that's going to make certain other companies are very uncomfortable. And to the city that bet on both of you first."
Everyone raised their glasses. The sound of it, the small collective ring in a room full of people who meant it when they said they were happy for us, felt amazing.
Daddy's hand found mine under the table. He squeezed it twice, reassuring me yet again that he was in this with me.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Love you too, baby.”
Dessert was pecan pie and tarts with loads of whip cream. I tried to stick to one, but everyone’s encouragement, I got a helping of both. There were zero regrets after trying them out. I didn’t know how anyone could choose.
Jake had moved seats at some point during the conversation and was now beside Paxton’s dad, who I now called Pops too, the pair in what appeared to be an animated debate.
Pops looked like he was enjoying himself thoroughly, and Jake looked seconds away from jumping out of his chair and performing some type of acrobatic move.
It wouldn’t be the first time he needed to get energy out that way.
"He's going to be terrible for Jake," Maddox said, from across the table.
"Actually, he'll be wonderful for our boy. Someone who can keep up with his chaos is a gift," Leon said.
I watched Pops gesture broadly with his hands. Jake nodded with great conviction, and I could see the formation of an unexpected friendship.
"Paxton’s dad," Royce said, settling beside me with a glass of dark liquor, "is a genuinely remarkable person. I don’t think I’ve met anyone like him before."
"He really is," I agreed.
"He told my mother within the first minutes of his arrival that her fern looked happy."
"She talks to it, right?" I guessed.
"She does talk to it," Royce confirmed. "She’s always talked to her plants. Swears it makes a huge difference.”
“I guess in this case it did.” Our gazes moved down to the woman we were discussing.
Mama Bellport was at the head of the table, in conversation with Kenneth, her hands animated, her face open. Her husband sat beside her with a peaceful expression, as if everything and everyone around him was just how it was meant to be.
This is what my parents could have been like had they taken the time to care. Had they been less judgmental and more understanding, we could have built a community full of love too.
I had spent a long time on the outside of things. Looking around the table, I realized I was no longer watching. I’d become part of it all.
Because this was what Bellport embodied. A table with room for everyone.
"You're somewhere else," Daddy said quietly, close to my ear.
"I'm right here," I said.
He looked at me for a moment. Then he nodded once, reading whatever he found in my face, and turned back to the table.
Jake had launched into something new. I could tell by the way Maddox was already covering his eyes.
"The thing about Geraldine," Jake said, "is that he was never supposed to be at the event in the first place—"
"Jake." Leon's voice.
"I'm providing context—"
"You are not providing context—"
"Excuse me, this is context, this is crucial context—"
Pops leaned forward from his seat. "I need to know more about Geraldine."
"THANK YOU," Jake said.
I laughed. It came out full and real and without any management behind it. Beside me, Paxton made the sound he made when he was genuinely pleased, the low satisfied sound, and his shoulder pressed against mine.
Mama Bellport, from the head of the table, caught my eye.
She said nothing. She simply looked at me for a moment with a small grin meant only for me. A small, private gesture across the noise and the warmth of her dining room.
What had started as a night of nerves turned out to be one of the best of my life. Funny how breaking out of your comfort zone can do that.
Well, and having a super supportive Daddy. He makes everything better.