I woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing through my house. I still wasn’t quite used to the sound—I’d been in the house for over a month, but the doorbell had only been used a couple of times. I blinked my eyes open and saw daylight pouring through my windows—real, actual morning light—and realized that Emmett and I had finally been able to get a proper sleep.

Emmett blinked awake, and I could barely believe it. Part of me had still been expecting him to get up and leave in the middle of the night, to frown at me and explain why he couldn’t do this whole “relationship” thing with me.

But no. He was smiling serenely in the light, stretching and sitting up. “Who would be at the door right now?

“It’s Stella,” I said. I checked the time and saw that it was seven thirty. “Wow,” I said, “Anna slept in just like we did. I gotta go get her up.”

“Stella’s here?” Emmett said, and when I looked over, I saw a brief flash of fear in his eyes. “Is she… would she be okay, knowing that I was here last night?” He looked nervous, skittish, almost.

“Would she be okay with it?” I said, smiling incredulously. “Emmett, she’s Anna’s mom, not my wife. I can do whatever the hell I want in my free time. And besides,” I said, getting up out of bed and stretching, “Stella has been wanting me to find someone for years. A boyfriend,” I said, saying the last word slow and deliberate.

Emmett’s smile returned, a big, goofy grin. “Boyfriend. Fuck. That word has been terrifying to me for so long, but I kept thinking it over and over again last night as I fell asleep. Boyfriend. You’re my boyfriend, Ryan. You’d better get used to it.”

“You’d better get used to it. Now, if you’re not ready to meet Stella, you can stay in here. She’s just here to pick up Anna. But you are one thousand percent welcome to come meet her if you want. I’ll be up front,” I said.

I hurried out to the front door, opening it wide to let Stella in. “Late start this morning,” I said to her, bounding back over to Anna’s room. When I peered into her crib, she was still sleeping peacefully in her purple galaxy print onesie, breathing lightly, her face so pure and innocent in contrast to last night’s scream-a-thon.

Stella came in the room behind me, leaning over and watching her. “Late start, huh? Was it a late night last night?” Stella asked, gently running her hand along Anna’s cheek until she started blinking awake.

“It definitely was,” Ryan said. “She went down at her normal time but woke up in a fit a couple hours later. Took a lot of coaxing to get her back to sleep.”

Anna made some babbling wake up sounds, smiling at her mom as she woke up.

“I’d better stay here to give her the morning bottle so that she doesn’t get irritated,” Stella said. “I wanted to stop by the grocery store before I went home, so she definitely needs to eat first.”

We got Anna out of the crib and gave her a diaper change and a clothing change before heading out into the bright light of the living room and kitchen.

“Aw, Ryan,” Stella said, stepping out, “The Christmas tree! It’s so beautiful! I had no idea you could do such a good job decorating.”

“I’ll be honest, I did a lot of Google image searches for Christmas trees and just tried to copy what I saw there,” I said. “But thank you. I’m really happy with it.”

While we stood for a moment looking at the tree, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye coming in from the hallway. I turned to see Emmett, emerging into the living room, a slightly shy look on his face. He’d put on his real clothes, and it seemed like he’d tried to make himself look presentable.

I couldn’t help a big grin from spreading across my face.

“Stella,” I said, nodding over, “This is Emmett. Emmett, this is Stella.”

Her face broke out in a huge smile, and she gave me a momentary look of shock before turning to him. “Oh my God! Hi there, Emmett,” she said. “Yes, I’m Stella, otherwise known as the baby-mama.”

Emmett laughed, nervousness draining away from his face. “Even if I didn’t know you were the baby-mama, I’d be able to tell,” Emmett said. He looked from Anna back to Stella. “She’s got your eyes, for sure.”

“Well, let’s hope she doesn’t inherit the fact that I need wickedly powerful contacts to even see,” Stella said, grinning. “But thank you.”

Anna smiled when she saw Emmett, reaching out from her place in Stella’s arms, bringing her hand to Emmett’s cheek.

“Gah-bah-bah,” she babbled, squeezing Emmett’s cheek in her hand.

Stella laughed. “Oh, good, she likes you,” she said.

“If Anna didn’t like my boyfriend, I’d have to give her a thorough talking-to,” Ryan said, grinning. “Let me go make up a bottle for her.”

As I made Anna’s bottle in the living room, I heard Stella and Emmett getting to know one another—they seemed to hit it off immediately because apparently, Stella had been doing much more work to get to know Rose Falls than I had. She chatted with Emmett about all sorts of shops and hikes and waterfalls in and around the town, and when I came back out into the living room, I almost felt like I was interrupting their conversation.

“Thank you,” Stella said, taking the bottle from me and starting to feed Anna.

“So,” I said, waggling my eyebrows at Stella. “I seem to recall you had a date last night, Stel?”

She smiled, and I could have sworn a faint hint of pink appeared across her cheeks. “I did,” she said.

“Went well, huh?” I asked.

“Her name is Madeline, and let’s just say, she is fuc—I mean, freaking awesome. She took me to this arcade bar, and we ended up playing pinball and air hockey over drinks. And then… ah, we went back to her house.”

“Hell yeah!” I said, giving Stella’s shoulder a squeeze. “That is promising.”

“Wait,” Emmett chimed in, holding out a hand. “What was her last name?”

“Fielder,” Stella said. “You know her?”

“Do I know her?” Emmett said, his eyes wide. “Shit, Madeline was the coolest girl in my high school, two years ahead of me. Wow. When I was a freshman and she was a junior, she was like… I didn’t know whether I wanted to be her, or be with her. She’s an incredibly talented artist.”

“She showed me some of her illustrations—she’s had them in the New York Times, in Rolling Stone, in Time Magazine… she really is incredible,” Stella said. “I am secretly really hoping things work out between us.”

“I hope so, too,” I said.

Stella chuckled. “I can’t believe you got a boyfriend before I got a girlfriend, though. And he seems like a good one, too,” she said, smiling over at Emmett.

“You are going to make me blush, if I’m not blushing already,” Emmett said, standing up. “I’m going to go take a shower, but it was so nice to meet you, Stella.”

“Likewise,” she said, and he disappeared down the hall.

When he was out of the room, and we heard the shower head starting up, I bit my lip, looking over at Stella. She seemed to sense my anticipation—I wanted to know what she thought, wanted to hear her opinion.

“I love him already,” Stella said with a nod. “I was honestly a little worried, when you told me about him, before. But… clearly you’ve gotten him to boyfriend status, huh?”

I nodded. “It was a bit of a bumpy road to get there, but yes,” I said. “I’m so hopeful, Stella. I’m so excited. I haven’t felt this way in… well, in a really long freaking time.”

She reached out with her free hand, squeezing my shoulder. “You deserve it. Totally and completely. I’m so happy for you, Ry.”

* * *

A half hour later, I went back to my room and found a shower-fresh Emmett sitting on my bed, beautiful as ever. He was looking down at his phone, seemingly responding to a text message.

I plopped down next to him, pressing a kiss to his temple.

“Stella and Anna headed out,” I said. “We’ve got the place to ourselves, now…” I said, trailing off as I kissed softly against his neck.

“Mmm,” he hummed, “that… feels way too good. But I actually have to leave soon.”

A ghost of fear passed within me. Was this it? Was this when he finally realized he didn’t want to do the whole relationship thing with me?

“Okay,” I said, trying to keep my voice even and unaffected. “I understand. We probably both will need to take it slow, keep some space. It’s healthy, that way, I know—”

“Want to come meet my parents for lunch?” Emmett chirped, smiling up at me.

I blinked at him.

“Well, also my sister, my brother, and maybe his boyfriend?”

I laughed out loud, strong and clear and hard. Emmett stared at me, one eyebrow cocked, until I stopped. “Very funny, Emmett.”

He just shrugged up one shoulder, glancing back down at his phone. “I’ve got to go home and bake up a quick loaf of lemon cake that I promised I’d bring, but I’m supposed to meet them at my parents’ house around noon. I’m totally serious, you’re welcome to come if you can.”

I stared at him for a moment. “Emmett… isn’t that kind of a big step? I mean, I know you met Stella this morning, but that’s a little different.”

He shrugged again. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I’m just saying, are you sure you’re ready for that? For me to meet your… whole family? I would be perfectly happy to, but I want to make sure we go slow enough for you. I know you’re new to this, y’know?”

He swallowed, taking a deep breath before looking back up at me. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, Ryan. You don’t have to come, but you’re certainly invited.”

His voice sounded clear and matter-of-fact, and while I was a little nervous about it, I decided I had to trust him. We would never be anything if I couldn’t trust him.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll come along.”

He smiled. “I’ll let them know my boyfriend is coming.”

Emmett headed home to bake, and I told him I’d drive over to his house after I was done doing some laundry and taking a shower.

As I got ready, part of me felt a nervous energy bubbling up inside—it all felt too easy somehow. Emmett went from being afraid to even commit to dating me, to all of a sudden meeting my child’s mother and inviting me to meet his whole family all in one day?

I hoped he was ready—really ready, instead of just trying to appease me.

But I trusted him. I did. So I got ready, finished my laundry, and headed over to Emmett’s house.

* * *

As the car pulled up in front of his parent’s house—a nice, quaint house with lots of trees, not too far from Emmett’s own—he cut the engine. He made no moves to exit the car, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth, staring out at the house silently.

A spike of fear flared in my heart.

“Everything alright, Emmett?” I said. I reached out, rubbing his shoulder gently.

“Yup,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically high and bright. He was trying so hard to seem undisturbed, but I could tell that he was worried inside.

“Hey,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and leaning over the center console, toward him. “You can be real with me, Emmett. If you need me to not come in today, I understand that completely.”

“No,” he said forcefully, meeting my eyes and gripping against my forearm. “I want you to come in. Really badly, actually.” He let out a long sigh, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again. “I just… fuck.”

“What is it?” I said. “Don’t worry. Take your time, just tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I just… I hope you like them,” he blurted out, his eyes so open and sincere. “They’re going to grill you, Ryan, they’re going to ask you so many questions, and I hope you don’t mind that. And if they say embarrassing shit about me, please ignore it.”

I couldn’t help but let out a slow laugh. “I have no problem whatsoever with being grilled. And embarrassing shit about you? Emmett, I can’t think of anything they’d possibly say that would make me think you were anything but fun, and sexy, and amazing.”

“What if they think we moved too fast, wonder how I could have a boyfriend now when just a couple months ago I was swearing I didn’t do stuff like that?”

I chewed on my cheek, thinking. “I mean, first of all, it’s not their business. But also, didn’t you tell me your family and friends have been wishing for you to find a partner for years?” I asked.

“Well… yeah,” Emmett said. But his face still didn’t look relaxed. “What if… what if this was a mistake?” he whispered.

“It’s not a mistake if it’s what you want,” I said, gripping his hand in mine. “I trust you, one hundred percent. You just have to have that trust, too.”

He nodded, breathing out a long breath. “Okay. Yes.” He unbuckled his seat belt. “Let’s do this.”

As we got out of the car and walked up to the front steps, I wondered about what Emmett had said, though. Was this a mistake? Was it completely foolish of me to even agree to do this with him, so soon? It had felt so right when he’d asked back at my house—it had seemed like something he really wanted.

I’d never admit it to him, but I felt that same nervous fear as we walked up to the front door and headed inside.

When we walked in, the house was alive and vibrant. There was a huge Christmas tree in the front living room, Christmas music was playing, and the smell coming from the kitchen was absolutely divine. Emmett gripped my hand tight and led me to the kitchen, where everyone was gathered.

He put the lemon cake down on the countertop, and got started introducing me to everyone—there was his mom, his dad, his sister Natalie, his brother Devin, and Devin’s boyfriend, Russ. His mom was still busy finishing up cooking, so I sat down at the long table with everyone else.

As we sat, Emmett kept his hand gripped in mine, fingers entwined, the whole time.

“I am so happy to meet you, Ryan,” Devin said, and it looked like he really meant it—he was leaning forward at the table, smiling at me, like I was the most interesting thing Emmett had ever brought over. In fact, I didn’t think Devin had looked at his own brother once since we’d walked in. “I heard you have a little baby?”

I nodded, smiling. “I do,” I said, “Anna is six months old, almost seven months now.”

Devin let out a little squealing sound, and Emmett’s younger sister Natalie dropped her jaw exaggeratedly. “Oh my God,” she said, standing up and squeezing in at the table right next to me. “Pictures. Now.”

“Nat, being a little more polite couldn’t hurt,” Emmett said, giving her a little slap on the shoulder.

“What?” she protested. “You don’t mention a baby and then expect not to share pictures. Especially a cute little girl? Oh my God.”

“Well, you’re in luck because I have a mountain of Anna pictures on my phone,” I said, pulling it out. Devin clapped happily and ran over to my side to look, too. I flipped through all the best ones I had of her—ones where she was in her cute spaceship onesie, one from when she was just born, and one where she had gotten pea puree all over her face.

As I flipped through, I came to a more recent one.

“Oh my God!” Natalie exclaimed, laughing and pointing at the screen. “That looks like all those dumb headbands that Emmett always wears. God, Emmett, look at that—that is totally you. I always knew you had the fashion sense of a baby.”

Emmett glanced over and saw.

“Wait, are those…” Emmett said, looking at the reindeer ears on the baby.

I could feel my cheeks heating. “Yeah. Those are the ones you got at the ice rink. I picked them up from the snow… and I just had to try them on Anna. They didn’t come close to fitting on her head, so I just sort of balanced it on her and took the photo.”

Emmett smiled—a big, genuine one, not the fake, nervous one he’d put on his face when we’d first entered the house. “Well,” he said, “I’m going to have to have a talk with Anna about her stealing my new headband. I don’t think she’s quite old enough to be taking things from my wardrobe yet.”

“I knew it,” Natalie said. “Emmett has the same style as a baby.”

“Oh, shut up,” Emmett said, waving a hand at her. “You don’t see a lot of babies going around with green mohawks and all dressed in black.”

“Well, you haven’t had a mohawk in years, either,” Devin pointed out as he crossed back to sit on the other side of the table near Russ. “It’s fine, you look better with your natural hair, anyway.”

“Aww, Emmett is finally turning into a normal person,” Natalie said, grinning and flipping her hair over her shoulder. “You’ve got normal hair, a handsome boyfriend… what’s next, are you going to embark on some career change?”

“Well… actually…” Emmett said, a smile on his lips. “Nothing has happened yet, but I started up my website, offering graphic design services and selling prints. I’m going to start ads for it next week.”

“Emmett, that is wonderful,” his dad said, appearing again at the kitchen entryway. “If you need any help with the advertising, let me know. And make sure you’re charging rates that you’re worth. You can’t design someone’s logo for two dollars or anything like that.”

“I know, I know,” Emmett said. “but thank you. I’d love to talk with you about it later, actually.”

“Alright, who’s ready for salad?” Emmett’s mom said, bringing over a huge bowl and putting it in the center of the table. “Sorry, it’s not the fanciest salad I’ve ever made, Ryan, but I hope it’ll do. Sandwiches are toasting up in the oven and should be out soon.”

“This looks amazing, Mrs. Crawford,” I said, eyeing it.

“Oh, please. Call me Nancy.”

For the next hour, we ate. The conversation flowed smoothly—in part, due to the fact that Devin told a long and meandering tale about a winter hike he’d taken with Russ, and the painting he was doing now, inspired by the hike. Natalie also spent a little time talking about the latest drama at her college, and as promised, near the end, they shared some embarrassing stories about young Emmett. Apparently he’d been quite fond of swimming nude when he was growing up.

As we ate, every now and then, Emmett would reach underneath the table, putting his warm palm on my thigh. It was equally unexpected and wonderful each time, and as the meal wound down, I realized that all of the tension had drained from me. It wasn’t nerve-wracking or weird at all to be eating with Emmett and his family—actually, it felt really comfortable, the type of mid-size family that I’d never had growing up.

After lunch, when Emmett’s mom insisted on preparing coffee and slicing up lemon cake on her own in the kitchen, Emmett and I retreated to the living room. We perched on the couch across from the fire.

He pulled in a slow, nervous breath. “So?” he asked me, his eyes wide in anticipation. “What do you think?”

“I really like them, Emmett,” I said, keeping my voice soft. I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed me back.

“You do? You’re not just saying that?” he said.

I laughed. “I’m not just saying that. I feel… good here.”

“It feels a lot better coming here with you than it does on my own,” Emmett said, a slight pink blush rising to his cheeks. “Especially after Devin started bringing Russ over again… I sort of felt like the lone wolf of the family, you know? Nat is still so young, but I was the oldest. I had no one.”

“You’ve got me,” I told him, leaning in and giving him a quick, soft kiss. “You know I never had this, growing up. A real family. It’s really nice to get to be a part of it, in any way I can.”

Emmett gave me a strange look, a soft, almost wistful look in his eyes. “That’s the same way I feel being with you and Anna.”

I held him tight against me, quickly kissing his hair to try and make sure that I didn’t blurt out the words that had been so close to coming out of my mouth.

Because when I heard him say that—that being with me and Anna made him feel like being with family—I came perilously close to telling Emmett I loved him.

It was too soon. It was too much. It was not the right time.

But inside, I knew it was the absolute truth. I loved him. I would give him time and build the trust between us, but there was no use denying how I really felt.

What Emmett and I had was the beginning of love, and I was going to be there beside him, for whatever shape that love might take.

Because when Emmett and I had been out by the Christmas tree with Anna last night, I had felt like I found a family, too.