Chapter Twenty-Eight
Skylar Parish
It’s Christmas morning. Everett and I woke to a series of calls from my mother, and as we finally answered the tenth one, she demanded we come to breakfast.
And now we’re sitting around the dining room table, watching as Dad takes a large mouthful of potatoes and nearly swallows them whole.
“I’m so happy you two are here,” Mom beams, a large smile shaping her lips as she watches us eat.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Everett replies politely. “The peppermint hot chocolate is amazing.”
Mom flushes. I roll my eyes.
Everett is the world’s biggest brown-noser when it comes to my family, and I think I finally understand why: this is the kind of family he has always craved.
“I can’t believe you two graduated,” Mom adds. “I promise we won’t celebrate until you get your license, Sky, but I’m just so proud of you boys. Truly.”
Her eyes are misty as she says it, and I’m very tempted to turn and take in Everett’s expression—to see how that praise is affecting him. But I don’t want to embarrass him.
It was already a lot for him on graduation day. He had no one in his corner to show up for him. Luckily, my parents brought two bouquets, gifting him one. How they knew he would need it, I don’t know. But the whole night, as we celebrated just a little over dinner, Everett was beaming.
“Thanks, Mom,” I say.
The spread of food on the table is large, from eggs and bacon to peanut brittle and French toast. It’s a very standard, traditional Parish Christmas ritual.
After this, we’ll head into the living room and open presents from Santa.
“What time do you need to head home, Everett?” Dad asks around a strip of bacon. “We have some gifts for you, if you don’t mind sticking around for a bit.”
I freeze, my fork clenched between my fingers as I stare down at my half-empty plate. We never really discussed what we’d tell my family. Am I allowed to say his adoptive parents suck? That he lives with me now?
That he’s my boyfriend?
“I don’t speak to them anymore,” Everett says, and a breath of relief leaves me and huffs into the open air.
“Oh. I’m sorry, hun,” Mom replies solemnly, giving Everett a frown.
“It’s fine. They weren’t that great, anyway. Very homophobic.”
Dad’s head snaps up, his eyes widening as he takes Everett in for what seems to be the first time.
“Homophobic?” he repeats. “Are you… Everett, are you gay?”
“Partially.”
I can feel him waiting for me. He’s giving me the opportunity to come out and tell them that we’re dating, but he’s also giving me the right to wait. It’s such an Everett thing to do.
“Well, I’m fully gay,” I chime in, stabbing another scrambled egg with my fork. “We’re, like, dating.”
I feel no pressure, no fear. I have never once assumed my parents wouldn’t accept me; I just had no reason to tell them. I didn’t even tell them what Jerome called me when the accident happened, just that he was bullying me.
I couldn’t bear to repeat it.
The room is silent for a moment, and I can feel the tension radiating from Evie where he sits next to me. Under the table, I squeeze his thigh.
“I don’t get it,” Mom says, looking between the two of us in confusion. “Your parents didn’t like that you love Sky? You’ve always loved Sky.”
A startled laugh leaves Everett as he nods. “Yeah, weird, right? I don’t know. They’re not good people.”
“Well, you have a home here,” Dad tells him. “If you ever need people in your corner, just call.”
My heart swells with emotion, not only because I know this is healing some part of Evie, but because I fucking love my family and how they adore him.
“Thank you,” Everett whispers, ducking his head to hide either tears or a blush.
“He lives with me now,” I offer, if only to take the attention from him.
“That’s great!” Mom gushes.
“And he knows. About Jerome, I mean.”
Once again, everyone freezes. It takes a long moment before Dad finally gets the nerve to speak.
“Skylar,” he starts, hesitant. “I thought… I thought you wanted to keep that as family knowledge.”
“Everett is family,” I reply sternly.
Dad startles but quickly recovers as he gives me an awkward smile. “Fair point.”
I won’t tell them about the documents Ash has, or how I hit him for what he called us and how he treated Everett. It would create a whole lot of nasty drama, and it’s over now. But they deserve to know that Everett knows who I truly am.
“I don’t care, though,” Everett interjects, looking between my parents nervously. “I know what he did, but I… I still love him.”
There is a single tear sliding down Mom’s cheek as she rests a hand on Dad’s shoulder.
“I knew this would happen,” she blurts, unable to contain her emotions. “I have said since you were boys that one day you two would—”
“Should we open presents now?” I interrupt, standing from my seat in a hurry.
I have the feeling that whatever it is she is about to say will only embarrass me, and I’m not in the mood for that.
Dad chuckles as he pats Mom’s hand. “Sure, son. Let’s do it.”
We follow my parents into the living room, sitting on the floor by the tree as they sit on the couch. It’s obvious that most of the presents are mine, all things considered, but Everett gets handed a few, and my parents exchange the ones they bought each other.
It takes about thirty minutes to get through all of the gifts. I get clothes and shoes and scrubs for work. I have a few sets from my clinicals, but you can never have too many.
Everett gets some basics as well, alongside a few nice shirts for his future office job—though I have a feeling he won’t be venturing down that path after all.
I’ve heard him on the phone with Ashley, debating the logistics of helping her with her bookstore or simply doing side hustles until he figures out what he wants from life.
It doesn’t matter what Everett decides to do; I’ll be there every step of the way.
We thank my parents for our gifts, and I gear up to give Everett mine. Originally, I was going to wait until we were alone. But Mom and Dad know about us now, so there’s no point in waiting.
But as I move to speak, Everett clears his throat, turning to give me a nervous look.
“I have a gift for you, pup. Would you wait right here for a moment?” he asks.
“Uh, sure.”
He leaps to his feet and heads for the front door. Mom gives me an excited look, her brows raised.
“What?” I question.
“What could it be?” She giggles.
“How would I know, Mom?”
Dad chuckles.
Faintly, in the distance, I think I hear Henry’s voice. I’m about to stand and go check when Everett reenters, holding a box. It’s large, unwrapped, and being carried with gentle, easy movements.
“Was Henry just here?” I ask, looking between Evie and the mystery box.
“Uh, y-yeah,” he stutters out, sitting next to me once more as he places the box before me. “He was holding onto this for me. Open it.”
The box, now untouched, shifts slightly. A small whine penetrates the air.
“What the fuck is in that box, Everett?” I blurt, inching away slowly.
Why the hell is my Christmas present whining?!
“Open it, Sky!” Mom squeals.
I send one last weary look toward Everett and reach out, knocking the lid off in one swift movement. Nothing happens. We all sit in silence, in anticipation, as I wait for a snake to lung out and bite me.
There is no snake, but something does eventually reveal itself. The head of a small, chocolate Labrador pokes out, panting over the lip of the box as its blue eyes find mine.
A puppy. A dog.
“For you,” Everett says nervously. “He looks like you, you know? Brown and blue, just like your hair and your eyes.”
He’s right. If I were an actual puppy, I think I’d look just like this little thing. But me? Taking care of another living thing? Terrifying.
“Evie…” I start, staring at the creature in shock.
“We can raise him together,” Evie continues. “I just thought… we’re becoming a family, you and me. It might be nice to have something that’s ours. Or, well, yours technically, but you get what I mean.”
A family. Everett got me a puppy that reminds him of me, because he wants to be a family.
Fuck it. I can raise a dog—how hard can it be?
I tear my gaze from the animal and find Everett’s, smiling softly. “Thank you. We’ll be great dog dads.”
Everett beams, reaching out to pet the puppy’s fur as he says, “It’s the first step toward our future together.”
He’s so sweet and sentimental in this moment. I can tell he’s excited, and that he was worried that he’d made the wrong move.
Nothing that makes him smile this brightly, that means so much to him, could ever be the wrong move.
“Not quite,” I tell him, grabbing my phone from my pocket as he sends me a startled look. I intended to print my gift, but I also didn’t imagine I’d be doing it right now.
It only took me two days—and a secret trip alone—to secure this gift, but it feels like a heavy weight to carry without him. I’m almost relieved to be doing it early.
“W-what do you mean?” he asks.
“Our first step toward our new lives together is this.” I pass him my phone, my email app open for him.
I watch his face as he reads the screen. I experience all of his fleeting emotions with him—the confusion, the surprise, the shock, and the gratitude.
“What is it?!” Mom practically shouts, vibrating in her spot on the couch.
“A new lease in Tallahassee,” Everett murmurs, his eyes drilling into mine with so much emotion I could collapse under it. “Our first apartment together.”
“Our first since we started dating,” I correct. “But yes. And we’ll be far away from Ash and far away from the bad memories. I’ll get a job at a hospital out there, and you can figure things out slowly. With our dog, of course.”
“You’re moving to Tallahassee?” Dad interjects, his brow knitting as he tries to get a look at my phone screen.
“Yeah, it’s not too far. Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner; it was kind of a last-minute investment.”
“Well, he’s a college grad now,” Mom says, shrugging as she tries to console herself and my father. “It’s expected that he’d want to start a life with Everett now.”
My parents begin to have their own conversation, planning out the move and what we’ll need without bothering to include us.
I was never concerned about their reaction. I’ve always been free to make decisions in my own best interest.
I’m watching them, amused, as Everett whispers, “Thank you, Sky. Really. I’m… Yeah, I’m really happy.”
My eyes dart to him, catching the glassy joy there. “We can put your name on the lease when we get there. Move-in is the first of January.”
He leans over, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “I love you. I can’t wait to leave this all behind and watch you grow old.”
I groan. “You’re being so sappy!”
Mom giggles, now watching us again. “You two are so cute!”
The puppy barks, a loud and piercing sound, so Everett grabs him from the box and places him on my lap.
“What are you going to name him, Sky?” he asks.
Name him? I’ve never named an animal before. I could call him so many silly things, or stern ones, like Kevin. But none of it feels right. Why am I the one stuck with this job?
“Um…” I mutter, my brain mulling over the options as all eyes land on me. I’m trying to pinpoint something meaningful and emotional, but nothing is coming to me.
I can’t very well name the dog Everett, now can I?
“It can be anything,” Evie says. “No pressure.”
“Uh, okay. Then how about… Albert?”