For the first time since he’d gotten back to Texas, Connor’s first thought upon pulling in the driveway wasn’t about how much work he needed to do, but rather how nice the house looked. With Beau’s help, the repairs were going faster than he’d dared to hope, and it looked like they might actually have most of it done before the two-week inspection. That ought to piss the Walrus off. What would he do without something to complain about?

Connor whistled as he walked into the kitchen. He’d had time to stop at the Miele farm stand. Usually, he didn’t get out of work early enough. Buying vegetables fresh from the stand made him feel extra healthy. Plus, he got to chat with Gabe.

The four years between them meant they hadn’t crossed paths much in school, but since he’d been back, he’d seen Gabe out and about, and he’d come to really enjoy talking to the bubbly guy.

The town was small, and the gay population smaller still.

Veggies that had been in the ground earlier that morning, blue skies, warm sunshine, and a short work day. What more could he want? Peggy had kicked him out of the shop around three telling him to go enjoy a Friday with the kids and ‘his man’ as she insisted on calling Beau.

Looked like he was the first one home. Being alone in the house was such a rare occurrence, Connor couldn’t remember the last time it had happened, and the quiet was a bit disconcerting. He had to resist the urge to call for the kids as if they were hiding from him.

Fiona had softball practice, and Sean had started baseball. They were both natural athletes, something they got directly from Brent. Brent had been a football and track star in high school.

Scouts had already started sniffing around Sean, and it was only a matter of time before he signed on with some college. The only question was whether he would play baseball or football.

Connor ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He really was going to have to get Sean a car. Just the thought of Sean driving nauseated him. They had the money, but the thought of Sean ending up in a ditch like his mom and Brent haunted him. Connor shook his head. Maybe if he got something really safe like a Volvo. Or a minivan. Beau had talked up how safe Lady Gaga was when he’d brought her in to the shop.

Yeah, right. As if Sean would ever be seen driving a minivan or a Volvo. He would probably want a truck, just like Connor’s. Well, Brent’s. Connor had been driving it ever since his mom and Brent had died, but it was a tight fit for all of them, even with the crew cab. He thought about selling it every now and again, but it really was a nice truck.

If Brent and his mom had been driving it instead of the Mustang, maybe they would still be alive. But they wouldn’t have driven it instead of the Mustang. Brent had been so proud of the car. The last time Connor had been home, they’d spent almost a week working on it, and Brent had even taken him for a drive. Not that Connor had appreciated it at the time; he’d been anxious to leave. He’d always been anxious to leave.

If he could, he would go back in time and slap his younger self upside the head. He’d make himself see just how nice it was that Brent cared. Brent had treated his mom like a queen and would have been his dad if Connor had let him. There was so much he wanted to say to Brent, but he’d buried it deep down. And now it was too late.

The front door opened and closed, and a moment later, Beau walked into the kitchen, Micah and Benji in tow. Beau carried two heavy bags, his muscles bulging with the weight.

“Hey, what you got there?” Connor asked, forcing himself to look at the bags.

“Science fair project,” Micah said. “Beau’s gonna help me make a battery out of a potato.”

“And he got me new crayons and a coloring book!” Benji exclaimed.

Connor raised an eyebrow. “Did he, now?”

Beau shrugged. “She needed a project for the science fair. We were already at the store, and Benji wanted something, too.”

“It’s got Spider-Man in it.”

“How did you fit both of them?” Connor asked. The van only had two seats when he’d seen it.

“I cleared some stuff out and rolled up the mattress so I could pull one of the seats back up.”

“Oh. How much do I owe you?”

Beau waved a hand. “I got it. It wasn’t that expensive.”

“Dude,” Connor objected. “You’re doing me a favor. I’m not paying you for the work you’re doing around here as it is. The least I can do is pay you back for buying the kids’ stuff.”

He looked like he wanted to object, then shook his head. “Fine. It was twelve-fifty.”

Connor knew it had to have cost more than that, but the look on Beau’s face told him the other man wasn’t going to budge.

“I got you something, too,” Beau said.

Connor frowned. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“But I wanted to,” he said with a smile. “It’s not a big deal. It’s not like it’s a new car or anything.” He pulled something thin and square out of his bag and held it up proudly like a child showing off a good behavior award. “It’s a schedule calendar. That way we can keep track of who does what and goes where when. It was on sale.”

Not just any calendar, it was a ‘Mom’s Family Calendar’ according to the bright yellow cover. A weird-looking anthropomorphic bear, presumably the mother bear, wore a green dress and yellow apron. The little boy bear played a saxophone while his sister rollerskated in a skirt.

“It has nine magnets and two sheets of stickers,” Benji said, pointing to the description on the cover. “But we got more, just in case.”

“Indeed we did.” Beau sat the bags on the big island in the middle of the kitchen and pulled out four packs of stickers. “They wanted some for holidays, some with dinosaurs, and I was specifically instructed to get some hockey-themed ones.”

“Two packs in different colors,” Micah said. “One for when you have home games at home, and the other for when you’re gone.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t a good system.” Beau took the calendar back from Connor peeled the plastic from it. “Just stating the facts.” Two giant sheets of stickers fell from between the pages.

“That’s a lot of stickers.” Connor picked up the plastic pages. There were more dressed up animals: chickens with electric guitars, rabbits with backpacks, and hippopotamuses in tuxedos. Connor wondered what occasion would call for that particular sticker.

Beau opened the calendar and he laid it open on the table. Fully opened, the thing was huge, easily two-feet long. Unlike a normal calendar, this one had the day and date running in one long column down the left of the page. Next to that was a column labelled “mom” and four blank ones.

“This is obviously you,” Beau said to Connor, pointing at the mom column.

“No dad column?” Connor asked. “That seems unfair.”

Benji hopped up onto a barstool and took a sheet of Christmas stickers. He quickly flipped to December and peeled the first one off, placing it on the thirteenth of the month.

“Um… Benji, you do know Christmas is on the twenty-fifth, right?” Connor asked.

Benji nodded. “Yeah. But everyone always talks about the twelve days of Christmas, so I don’t see why we can’t decorate for it.”

Connor chuckled. “By all means, go ahead.”

“Give me that. You’re doing it wrong. You have to leave space for the activities.” Micah yanked the calendar away from her little brother.

“Look.” She flipped to the current month before Benji could object. “This is Tuesday, right? So I have flute lessons and Fee has softball.” She wrinkled her nose as she stared at the sheets of stickers, scanning them for the appropriate one. Triumphantly, she peeled two off, sticking them to the tips of her fingers. “Give me a pen.”

Beau obliged, pulling one from the pen cup next to the phone.

“We’ll go by age.” She wrote everyone’s names neatly across the top row, frowning when she got to the end. “There’s no space for Beau.”

“That is sad,” Beau said, giving Connor a sad face.

Connor rolled his eyes and walked over to the island. “Oh, I’m sure we can squeeze him in somewhere.” He quickly scanned the calendar. “Might as well put him as the mom. It’s not like my schedule changes. Work Monday to Friday. Driving you terrors around on the weekends.”

“I get to be mom!” Beau said with a fist pump. “First in line!”

Connor had to smile. He loved Beau’s lightness and the way he seemed ready to enjoy life and celebrate everything, no matter how small. That was something they could desperately use in this house. Things were still so far from normal here. He could count on teary breakdowns from at least one of the kids every few days.

“I’ll fix it.” Micah took the pen and, using the cardboard from the package of Christmas stickers as a guide, neatly divided the first column in two. She scratched out the word mom and wrote Connor/Beau in its place.

For some reason Connor felt the urge to look at Beau, to see his expression. He didn’t, though he could swear he felt Beau’s eyes on the back of his neck. “That works,” he said quietly.

“Okay, then.” Beau said voice more subdued than it had been. “Let’s start filling this baby out. I’ll get my schedule.” He pulled out his phone.

Leaning against the cabinet, Connor watched as Beau, Benji, and Micah attacked the calendar, decorating almost every day with a different sticker, whether there was a reason to or not. Micah laughed at something Beau said, and he tousled her hair, giving her a big smile.

Something about the move made Connor’s chest hurt, and not just that beautiful smile. He pressed the heel of his hand against the ache.

Benji and Micah’s voices rose, shrill in the way Connor had learned to associate with an impending fight. “What’s going on, guys?” A quick glance at Beau showed his eyes wide with alarm. “What?” Connor asked again.

Benji flounced dramatically in his chair. “Micah said Mac and Cheese can’t have babies ‘cause they’re both boys. But that’s not fair! Why can’t they have babies just ‘cause they’re boys?”

Connor’s gaze snapped up to Beau, who was fighting a smile. He seemed surprisingly calm. Then again, knowing Benji, this wasn’t the first time he’d brought the subject up today.

“Well?” Benji demanded. “Why not?”

“Um… well…”

The back door slammed, and Fiona and Sean barged into the kitchen. “Well, what?” Fiona asked, dropping her backpack to the ground.

“Put that where no one will trip—” She wasn’t listening.

Sean headed straight to the fridge, no doubt to grab a snack before dinner. He ate enough for four people, and Connor would be lucky if he didn’t eat them out of house and home. Connor remembered being sixteen and always being hungry.

“Why can’t Mac and Cheese have babies just because they’re both boys?” Benji asked Fiona.

Sean spluttered and coughed from behind the fridge door.

“Don’t drink milk from the container,” Connor said, desperately looking for a way out of the conversation.

It didn’t work. Five pairs of eyes looked to him for an answer.

“Everyone knows you need a girl and a boy to make babies,” Micah said with the superior knowledge her eleven years on the planet gave her.

“But why?” Benji pressed.

The kid wasn’t going to drop it until he had an answer. In the few months Connor had spent with him, he’d grown to know Benji pretty well. When he wanted to know something, he was a pit bull. He’d latch on and never let go.

“Yeah, Micah,” Fiona said with a smirk. “Why do you need a boy and a girl?”

Connor pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Would it be worse if Micah knew why or if she didn’t? He looked over at Beau again in desperation. That was a dead end. The little shit was sitting there with a stupid smile on his face, like it was the most fun he’d had all day. There were several ways Connor could think of to wipe that smirk off his face. All of which would be the most fun Connor would have all day.

All he’d wanted was a quiet night at home. Make dinner, get homework started, and maybe watch a movie with the kids. Giving a lecture about the birds and the bees had not been on the agenda.

“Because one has to be the mommy and one has to be the daddy,” Micah said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her hands on her hips and the look of uncertainty on her face belied the confidence in her voice.

Sean shut the refrigerator, turning around with the leftover lasagna Connor had been counting on for lunch tomorrow. He should have known better. Next time, he’d hide it in his room, or in Beau’s trailer.

“Because, Benge,” Sean said matter-of-factly, “biologically, all mammals need a male and female working together, each contributing a different part, to make baby animals. When you have two males or two females, they just don’t have the right parts.” He put his hand on Benji’s shoulder. “It’s nothing against Mac and Cheese. They’re awesome piggies, dude.”

“Oh,” Benji said with a nod. “That makes sense.” He pulled his new coloring book out of the bag.

Beau and Connor exchanged looks. Beau smiled and gave Sean a double thumbs-up. Crossing the floor to Sean, Connor clapped him gently on the back.

“Thanks, man,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I was not ready for that conversation right now.”

Sean shrugged. “It’s no biggie. Don’t overthink it. Ben likes science. He gets stuff that way.”

“So, you’ll give him the talk when it’s time?” Connor teased.

“Yeah, sure. And you can talk to Micah all about getting her period.”

Connor blanched, and Sean had the nerve to laugh in his face before taking the lasagna into the living room.

“So,” Benji said, looking up from his coloring book. “Can Mac and Cheese adopt a baby? My friend Serafina’s adopted. She told me her mom couldn’t have a baby, so they got her from the…” he trailed off, waving his crayon in the air, “from somewhere. Wherever you get babies from. Where do people adopt babies from? Is there like a baby shelter?”

Letting out a groan, Connor banged his head against the nearest cabinet. This time, at least, Beau came to the rescue.

“Why don’t you and Micah go put your stuff away and then come help get ready for dinner, okay?”

“Okay.” Benji shoved his coloring book and crayons back in the bag and ran up the stairs.

He really was a good-natured kid. Connor was glad for the chance to get to know him, despite the awful circumstances around it.

Beau stayed for dinner, as he did most nights he didn’t have a game. It hadn’t slipped Connor’s notice that he’d been buying groceries for the entire family. He claimed they were for him and said he didn’t mind sharing, but Connor knew the truth. Most of it was chicken breast. A lot of chicken breast, since he, Fiona, and Sean played sports. Beau was good at knowing how to best feed athletes. Better than Connor whose dinner-making skills were still rudimentary.

Beau was so great with the kids. The last almost-two-weeks had seemed like a dream compared to the time before it. He found himself looking forward to the evenings Beau could eat with them. He breathed a little easier with the other man there. Knowing there was someone else to help him out, that he wasn’t completely alone, lifted some of the burden Connor had been carrying since that first, horrible phone call.

As Beau helped dish potatoes onto Micah’s plate and at the same time talked to Sean about some new exercises to try out, Connor froze, his fork halfway to his mouth. He set it down as the realization hit him like a train: He liked Beau. Like, wanted to get to know him better and spend time with him and be boyfriends, liked him.

And from the looks of it, he wasn’t the only one. Benji and Micah had taken to him, clearly. He was fairly sure Fiona had a crush by the way she kept scooting her chair closer to his.

Sean was the hardest to figure out. He went from being super helpful to surly around Beau in the flick of an eye, which only frustrated Connor.

There were no two ways about it, though. Beau had inserted himself so integrally in their lives that it would be painful if he ever left. When he left. Connor let out a sigh and took a drink. This definitely wasn’t good. He’d be fine, but the last thing the kids needed was another loss.