“Julian, calm down and quit running in the house. Have you finished putting all your books on the shelves? A tidy room is the sign of a well-organized mind, remember?”

I tried to ignore the bouncing child, closing the cabinet door and moving on to the next while I finished organizing the pots and pans in my spacious new kitchen.

Moving was such a bitch, especially moving one’s household from a whole other country. I’d dragged my feet about returning to Hollydale for the past three years since that detective had contacted me regarding Julian’s sperm donor.

At least, that was the kindest description that I could come up with for that vile piece of trash. It was far better for my son to believe that I’d been artificially inseminated then to ever know the truth that I’d been roofied while on a date back in college.

When I’d fled the States to go stay with my grandfather just outside of Paris, I hadn’t even known that I was pregnant. Becoming a father at eighteen had changed my life completely. I’d gone from being a college freshman to changing diapers almost overnight.

But aside from the deplorable way that it all began, I wouldn’t change a thing about being a father. Julian was the light of my life and I wouldn’t have traded him for the world. Even while I’d been in pastry school, and working long hours as an apprentice to better learn the trade, Julian had always been a good boy for me.

Although my son was now quite wealthy, thanks to the inheritance he had coming from his share of his grandfather’s estate, that money wasn’t to be touched. That was only for his future, it was my job to provide for him now. And if working my ass off around-the-clock baking fancy pastries was the way to do it, I would do it happily.

Even when my back ached and my shoulders grew tense, or when my calves were on fire, and I would sell my soul for a foot soak. Even then, I powered through and kept on working, because my darling Julian deserved all the happiness and security in the world.

“Daddy, are you almost done now? I want to go to the park. Remember the park that we saw down the block? And remember you said that we could go there if I got all my toys and books put away? Come on, Daddy! You promised!”

I looked up at his big puppy dog eyes with that toothless smile, and any argument I’d been about to give simply vanished. I bit back a sigh as I pushed up to my feet. I looked around the kitchen... it was probably about as organized as it was going to be for now anyway.

“All right, kiddo. The park it is. Shall I pack us a picnic for dinner? Or would you rather go out for a big boy burger after you play?”

Julian looked torn. On the one hand, he loved getting cheeseburgers on the rare occasions that I allowed it. On the other hand, who didn’t like a picnic in the park? He glanced at the clock and immediately reached a decision when he saw how late it was getting.

“You know what, Daddy?” he said thoughtfully, rubbing a finger across his little mouth. “I don’t think we have time to pack a picnic today. Let’s do that next time, and have burgers today.”

“That’s a good suggestion, bud. You run and grab your jacket and get your shoes on. Why don’t you grab your frisbee, too? Maybe we’ll get a chance to finally try it out.”

Julian immediately scampered off to do as I requested, while I made yet another look around the kitchen to make sure there wasn’t anything that I’d forgotten to tidy away before we left.

* * *

As soon as we got to the park, Julian took off running in the direction of the playground while I looked around for a place to sit down. A small group of omegas at a nearby table waved me over.

My eyes took in the picturesque pond behind their table with a mama duck and the long row of babies floating along in her wake. To their right was a large sandbox, where about four preschool aged kids were busy erecting what looked like a monster sandcastle.

“I don’t know you, are you new in our fair town?” a perky little ginger twink greeted as I approached. “I’m Tom, this is my friend Cecil, and our friend Liam. Our alphas will be along pretty soon. Is yours coming to join you and your son? Cute kid, by the way, that’s my friend Milo’s son, Artie, that he’s playing with over there right now. Artie wanted to come play with our kids, but I bet he’s excited to find a kid about his own age for a change. These monsters over here are all younger than him, except for my daughter, Allie. It’s not that there’s a major age gap, mind you, his little sister and my twins are all four, but they haven’t started school yet. That’s a big deal when you’re seven, don’t you know.”

I gulped, not exactly sure which part of that to address first. The one named Liam seemed to understand my distress. He laughed and gave Tom a shove on the shoulder.

“Quit rambling, weirdo. And seriously, try to stick with one question at a time, Tom. That’s what polite people do in conversation… they converse. Besides, this poor guy isn’t used to your particular brand of crazy… yet. You have to give him time to acclimate.” Turning back to me, Liam smiled and patted the bench next to him. “Please, come on over and join us. We don’t get too many new faces around here, so you’ll have to forgive my friend’s excitement.”

“I’m Pierre,” I said by way of greeting as I slid down onto the bench beside Liam at the picnic table where they were seated. I looked around at their friendly faces and sweet looking group of kids, and immediately decided to dive right in.

“Julian and I just moved to town last week. We’re taking a break from the dreary job of unpacking to let him run off some of that pent-up energy. But I’m not exactly new to the area. I’ve lived in France for the past seven years, but I lived here during my freshman year of college.”

“Julian? Is that your alpha or your son?” Liam asked hesitantly.

“My son. There’s no alpha in my life. Don’t have one, don’t need one, definitely don’t want one. Julian is my son, and my entire world. I’m opening a new business here in town, if these damn permits ever get approved. I really shouldn’t even be here right now, I should either be unpacking at home or preparing for the inspection at my new shop,” I said regretfully, embarrassed for having revealed so much to these virtual strangers. “But what’s a guy to do? I still need to be a dad too, I can’t let my son spend all his waking hours with babysitters.”

“Oh, trust me. We know all about that permit and inspection bullshit,” Tom said knowingly. “And I hear you on the alpha thing, too. I used to feel the same way, trust me. Although, if you are ever looking for a spot of fun, the Big O is still open on the south side of town. Thursday nights are omega nights where all drinks are half-priced. Not that you look like the club type, I just know that’s where I liked to let off steam when I was single. But then I met my hot alpha daddy, and he keeps me too busy for going clubbing. Now as far as your son goes, that’s simple. We just need to set up a buttload of playdates.”

Julian came running up just then with another boy in tow. I bit back a smile at the sight of the two little guys innocently holding hands. “Daddy, do you have my frisbee? My friend and I are going to play with it.” An older girl with the same ginger red hair as Tom stood behind them with her arms crossed over her chest and a playful smirk on her freckled face.

“I think what he means to say, is that I’m going to throw it and they are going to fetch it for me like the puppies that they are. I’m Allie, by the way, and don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on them both.”

I was impressed by the way this preteen girl carried herself with such self-assurance. I had no doubt that she would keep a very good eye on these two boys. Besides, I was right here to watch the whole time. I dug through my satchel and pulled out his frisbee.

As I handed it to him, I reminded him to let me know if he got thirsty because I had juice boxes in the satchel that I’d brought along with us. I smiled at the older girl, Allie, as I spoke.

“Thank you for playing with him, as an only child he doesn’t get to interact with other kids too much. And now that he’s starting at a new school in a new country, Julian doesn’t have any friends here in Hollydale to play with just yet.”

“Yes, I do, Daddy! This is Artie, he’s my new best friend. He even wants me to come play at his house tomorrow, if you say yes. Please say yes, okay?” The serious looking little boy standing next to Julian nodded his head fervently in agreement. I smiled and promised to think about it as they turned and ran off without another word. Life is so simple when you’re a kid, and friends are so easily attained.

“Here,” Cecil said with wink, as he passed me a bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. “Consider this to be a juice box for daddy.” The guys all laughed as they opened their own bottles.

For the next little while, I had fun getting to know this friendly group of guys, until I looked up at the trio of alphas that were approaching the table. One of them was carrying an adorable two-year-old looking boy on his hip, which would’ve been charming as fuck.

Except for the fact that it was Mr. Small Town. The hot alpha that I’d snuck out on in Vegas a couple months back when I’d flown in to attend the chocolatier’s convention.

My heart stopped when he passed the toddler to Cecil. Fuck my life. I thought he was just a sweet small-town type alpha, when the whole time he’d been a cheating bastard who’d had a family waiting back at home?

His face lit up with a big smile when he recognized me. “Vegas! What are you doing in Hollydale?” I started to say something snarky, but bit my lip since I didn’t want to hurt Cecil, a guy that I could already see myself wanting to be friends with—obviously that was out the window if I had accidentally... okay, totally intentionally but still unknowingly... fucked his gorgeous husband.

I had to say something now, I realized with a start when all my new acquaintances were looking back and forth between the two of us with interest. Even Cecil didn’t seem upset, which surprised me. Usually Americans were much more provincial about things like this. Maybe they had some sort of agreement? That didn’t make sense though. I looked back and forth between Cecil and Mr. Small Town in confusion.

“Wait… Are you guys…” I let my voice trail off as I looked back and forth between the two of them. Mr. Small Town’s face transitioned through several shades of red as he blushed, while Tom and Cecil started laughing. Liam shot them both a dirty look, before turning back to me to explain.

Liam pointed at a man walking toward us. “Kent is my brother-in-law, Pierre, and the resident Pied Piper that all the kids flock to. The alpha walking this way? That’s my husband, Christian. We may all be super close, but not quite that close. Kent and Cecil are just friends. The blonde dick that’s just standing there laughing with these other shitheads is the actual father of little Bruce.”

As I took in this information, I realized that Tom was looking back and forth between Kent and I, his face lit with interest as he calculated the thick tension swirling between us.

“Why is Tom the only one wondering why Kent called our new friend here Vegas? And why do I feel like there’s a story here that Tom would love to hear? Come on, spill the tea, you guys. Enquiring minds want to know.” Tom grinned as he took another swig from his bottle of lemonade and waggled his brows.

Before either of us could respond, the kids saved us. There was a bloodcurdling pair of shrieks from over in the sandbox group at the same time as Julian came running up, his face flushed and eyes sparkling from the badly needed exercise he’d been getting. He tugged on my sleeve to get my attention, while Artie and Allie hovered in the background.

Tom and Liam sprang to action to check on the pair of little girls who were screaming “Ew! Gross! Daaaaaddy! Uncle Tom!” As much as I wanted to see what that drama was about, I focused my attention on my own son’s needs instead.

“Daddy, Daddy! I can’t make the frisbee fly. It looked so much easier when you did it!” he all but whined in his desperate attempt for help. “Will you come play with us, Daddy? Please?”

I felt Kent’s eyes on me before I looked away from my son. I let out a soft sigh and smiled tiredly at him. “Now that we seem to finally have been properly introduced, I would like you to meet my son, Julian. Julian, this is Daddy’s friend Kent.”

Kent’s eyes flicked back and forth from me to Julian. He obviously had a lot of questions, but wasn’t going to ask them in front of the children. Instead, he sprang into action as he walked around the table and stole the frisbee from Julian’s hands.

“Daddy might make it look easy, but your Uncle Kent here’s a pro. Just ask anyone. Come on, Allie. Let’s teach these boys how to throw a frisbee properly, what do you say?” Kent said easily as he led the children over to the open field to play.

“I also find it interesting that Pierre only bothered to introduce Uncle Kent to his son, even though we’ve all been sitting here bonding for the past half hour.” Tom shrugged as he and Liam sat down again and flashed me a wink.

“Careful there, Pierre. When I met my hot daddy Colin,” he stopped to look over fondly at a handsome, older alpha who appeared to be the one now handling the drama among the preschool set, along with the other two alphas. “Tom didn’t think he needed an alpha either. Daddy Colin changed Tom’s mind about that though.”

Before I could respond, a voice came from over my shoulder. “Careful, Pierre. I believe that what your friend is trying to suggest is that love has a way of sneaking up when you’re not looking for it.”

We all looked up to see a short, chubby man who looked like a holdover from the ‘60s. He wore a faded purple and pink tie-dyed shirt that barely stretched over his full stomach. His lower half was covered by threadbare cutoff jeans and a ragged pair of Birkenstock sandals that looked to be older than I was.

His face was downright cherubic, and completely at odds with his hippie attire. His full, pink, bow-shaped lips, big blue eyes, and round cheeks were only accentuated by the mop of curly blonde hair that framed his face. He looked too sweet for words, as he stood there holding what looked like a small harp in the crook of his arm.

“Trust me,” I said when I finally found my voice. “I’m definitely not looking for love, and if it shows up on my doorstep, it will be returned to sender—address unknown.”

“No such number... no such zone,” Tom sang out, snapping his fingers to the beat as he jumped up and stood on the bench where he’d been seated and launched into a full out Elvis impression.

I felt something bump my toe, and turned back, but the cherubic hippie was gone. I looked down at my foot, and saw a flash of gold in the grass by my toe. I bent down to pick it up, and pricked my finger on the tip of what appeared to be a very sharp golden arrow. Its shaft was bent, as though whoever had shot it had missed their mark completely.

I turned it over in my other hand as I absentmindedly sucked on the drop of blood that was dotting my fingertip where I’d pricked it. Why in the name of all that was holy would something like this be in a park where children played? Did people have zero concept of safety anymore? And with all these little guys who’d just been playing nearby, my heart shuddered at the idea of any one of them being hurt.

I shook my head and tucked it away into my satchel for safety. I could dispose of it later, unless it really was the pure gold that it appeared to be. Although, now that I thought about it—who the hell would be going around shooting golden arrows?

My attention snapped back to the group as the alphas came back and kissed their husbands’ cheeks, calmly explaining that they’d be taking the kids over to the playground now, as the sandbox was now a hazmat site.

After they walked away with the group of little ones, Cecil and Liam began laughing quietly as they explained why the girls had freaked out. Apparently, the boys had decided that the moat of their large sandcastle needed water… so they’d whipped out their little wee-wees and filled the moat with the only liquid they’d had handy.

Tom hooted at the story, wiping tears from his eyes. “I know that was traumatic for the girls, but seriously… that was creative thinking, am I right? Boys are so gross. Who the hell would want to play in their own urine? They sure didn’t think that one through.”

He sighed and looked wistfully at the sandbox before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “Now I need to arrange to have someone come clear this out and refill it, today if at all possible. I can’t handle the idea of some poor kid playing in sand that my kid pissed in.”

I watched the alphas over at the playground while Tom and Liam discussed the best plan of attack for decontaminating the sandbox. The older one was pushing the twins on the swings, while the blonde man was helping the others on the short climbing wall.

While it would be nice to have someone that I could lean on to step in and handle kid traumas like these men had, the idea of any alpha being willing to take on an omega with my past and a fully formed kid quickly put any of those yearnings to bed. No, it was better to steel my heart against falling for any alpha—they just ended up disappointing or hurting you anyway, in my experience.