Mark went in to make coffee, and I just sat there thinking about what just happened. I had always known my mom was really nothing more than a selfish child. It was hard to believe, but when she and Ron had married she was only one year older than I am now. What I couldn’t figure out was why she didn’t leave me with Ron. He said that she told him she was too young to be married and that she thought her life was passing her by and she had to go and live it. He’d offered to let her leave me there, but she said no. I didn’t know if she was worried about what people would think if she left her child behind or if she was just afraid to be completely alone, but either way, I can’t help but wish she had left me. He told me he contacted an attorney to see what he could do, and they told him there was basically nothing. He didn’t have any legal rights to me at all.

She didn’t tell him she was leaving that weekend. They left to drop Jake off at his grandparents, and when he got back, we were just gone. She took me to Texas and filed for divorce. The first time he tried to contact her about seeing me, she told him she had taken me to a counselor who told her a clean break’d be best and that he wasn’t to contact her again. Which was totally not true. Then, when I turned eighteen, he’d tried again, and she told him she’d give me his contact info, and if I wanted to talk to him, I’d contact him, but that she felt it’d be best to leave the choice up to me. I have no idea why he believed her, but she’d never even told me he had called.

We talked about Jake, and it was so wonderful to hear he was doing great. I chuckled to myself. To hear Ron tell it, he basically hung the moon and stars. That was always the kind of dad he was though. Nothing we ever did was wrong. Even when he had to discipline us, he did it in a way that was loving and never made us feel like we were bad kids.

Mark came back out with two cups of coffee.

“We need to cover the back deck and get a couch like this,” I told him as we got situated on the couch.

“We should,” he agreed. “We could screen it and then we wouldn’t have to fight the mosquitoes. Suzie and I were talking about connecting the two decks so it’d be easier to go back and forth.”

“We should do a covered walkway like a breezeway between the two; I think that would be awesome.” We sat there enjoying the view, the coffee, and being together. He was giving me time to process everything and figure out what I wanted to say. That was one of the things I loved about him. He wasn’t pushy unless we were in bed, which was great for me.

“He said he already knew I was gay.”

“Really? How? Did your mom tell him?”

“No, he said he had known since I was thirteen or fourteen. I guess he knew before I did.” I laughed. “He said he just figured I’d tell him when I was ready. God, I wish he had been around to talk to when I figured all that out.”

Mark’s arms tightened around me. “I’m sorry your mom took you away from them, but I never would’ve met you if you were still in Arizona, so I can’t decide if I’m mad at her for hurting you or grateful to her for bringing you here.”

“We still would’ve found each other somehow. But it doesn’t really matter because she is gone, we are together, and I have my dad back. So, you are good with taking Emma with us? He is really excited to meet her. I don’t want to overstep, but I’m pretty sure he is already thinking of grandpa names and ways he can spoil her.”

“It isn’t overstepping, Justin. Not at all. This thing between us…this is forever for me. I know it probably seems like we are moving fast considering the fact that a week ago we insisted we weren’t even in a relationship, but we both know we were. We were only pretending what was happening didn’t matter. I was halfway in love with you the first night in the club and completely all the way by the end of our trip to see the wildflowers. I knew then that it was going to break my heart when I had to let you go.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t have to then. I know what you mean though about it seeming fast but that it really isn’t. I think it was there all along; we just needed to get out of our own way. But I agree, you’re it for me. You and Emma are my family... well, and I guess Suzie and Tom too, which is still just really weird you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said as he started laughing. “I can’t wait to hear what the people at Tom’s work think about it. You’ll have to ask him sometime about what they think about us living next to each other.”

“What do you think Emma will think about us being together?” This was a potential stumbling block for us because as much as I loved Emma, if she couldn’t deal with us being together, Mark would really struggle with it. He loved his daughter completely and she came first, as she should.

“Honestly?” he asked, and I nodded because I really needed to know. “I think she already thinks we are together.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She talks about you all the time, and she asks where you are when you aren’t at the house, so I think in her mind, you’re already supposed to be there. So now tell me about your phone call.”

And I did. By the time I finished recounting the phone call, I was emotionally exhausted. Mark suggested we go to bed since we had a ton of stuff planned for tomorrow. I agreed and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I felt like I had been on a roller coaster today. I really wasn’t up for much more than sleep, but Mark and I had never just slept together. I mean we had slept in the same bed, of course, but we had never just gone to bed to just sleep. That seemed like such a couple kind of thing to do.

When I came out of the bathroom, he was already in bed, but I guess he knew how I was feeling. “Come here and just let me hold you,” he said, opening his arms. God, I loved this man; it was like he could read my mind. Therefore, I did the only thing I could do. I crawled into bed and into his arms and fell asleep.

* * *

I was fairly sure Justin was pretty much emotionally wrecked. I mean I was, and I was just a spectator for most of the events of the day. I wasn’t at all surprised when he fell asleep almost as soon as he got comfortable. What surprised me was that I didn’t.

I laid there for a while, thinking about everything that had happened today. There had been so many things; it was almost like a week’s worth of stuff happened in one day. When I woke up this morning, I had been hopeful but unsure exactly where we were going with this. Now, not only had we agreed we wanted to be together, but we had decided it was forever. We just kinda skipped the traditional dating stuff and went straight to you’re the one. But like he said, we had been dating for the last five months and just pretending we weren’t. Still, it was a big mental adjustment to make. But as I held him in my arms and watched him sleep, I knew it was real. He was my future. I had no doubts at all.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I knew, it was morning and Justin was waking me up. He must have slept well because he was already dressed and ready to get the day started.

“Hey, baby, time to get up. If we are going to have time to borrow some bicycles and go shopping before we go to the shelter, we need to get moving.” I wanted to be annoyed. I really did. I was so not ready to get up, but he just looked so cute—kinda like Emma on Christmas morning.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “I’m getting up. I need coffee first, food second, and then maybe just maybe I’ll get my ass on a bike.”

“No problem. I ordered breakfast, and it will be here in about ten minutes, so get dressed and let’s go.”

After two cups of coffee and the most delicious waffles I had ever eaten, I was awake and ready to go. We went down to the front desk and got a couple of bicycles. It was pretty much a perfect morning. The highlight was when we stopped at the local bookstore, and I learned something new about Justin. He was a total book geek. Which just added to the list of why he was perfect for me. We were in there way longer than we should have been, even though in the end, we didn’t buy much. I bought a book on the history of the area and Justin bought Emma a copy of The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss along with a stuffed Star-Bellied Sneetch. He said if he had to read about the wild things one more time, he was going to go crazy.

We made it back to the hotel with just enough time to change and meet my contact at the shelter and go on a tour. Justin was impressed and agreed it would be a great addition to the city. We were planning to build our own facility but it was still great to be able to see a place making it work. The number of homeless LGBTQIA kids was staggering, and we both felt it was important to try to be a part of the solution. This was something Nathan would want to help with too because he didn’t have a fairy tale coming out story and he often talked about ways we could help the LGBTQIA youth in the community. I couldn’t wait to get started on the project. Of course, it was just in the beginning stages, so there would be lots of fundraising and red tape before that could happen.

With the shelter tour over, the only thing that we had to do all weekend was done. So, we spent the rest of the day just exploring. I loved Austin and had no intention of moving, but if we were going to, San Antonio would be tempting. Justin wanted to find something for Jake for graduation so we just wandered and looked. We went over to the farmer’s market and he found just what he wanted. A local artisan was there with handmade leather bracelets. He offered to put a metal plate on it stamped with “brother.” Justin paid him for the bracelet and then we wandered around, browsing the booths, and buying way more than we needed to while we waited for it to be done. Once we picked up the bracelet, we started the walk back to the hotel.

“I hope he likes it. I have never bought anything for an 18-year-old kid before. I have no idea what he likes or what his style is. I should know that, you know.”

“Just focus on the fact that you are going to get a chance to know him again now. You can’t do anything about the time you lost, but you can make the most of the time you have from here on out. And besides, even people who know 18-year-olds have no idea what to get them as a present,” I chuckled.

“You’re right. I just hope he is as glad to see me as my dad thinks he will be.”

“Your dad sounded pretty sure so I bet he will. I hope he doesn’t mind a 4-year-old crashing his graduation party. That doesn’t seem very cool, does it?”

“I don’t know, but he swears it is going to be a great surprise. I’m just going to trust my dad and not stress over it,” he said.

I just raised one eyebrow and looked at him with my best you have got to be kidding me dad look.

“Okay, I’m not going to stress much,” he conceded with a smile.