Real World, page 20
“A whole summer in an RV with these heathens?” Mel blinked. “Good luck.”
Mom’s eyes went wide. “A whole summer? God no. I was thinking two weeks.”
Weldon snorted. Right, like Jakob was going to leave his high-speed Internet connection for two whole weeks. These days he had to change the Wi-Fi password to see his oldest at all. Hell, Weldon figured that little girlfriend of his, Jennifer, she was keeping him busy.
“I took them camping for a weekend and almost died,” Mel said, deadpan.
“Shit, Caleb and Kenzie both slept for two days afterward, and Jakob almost expired from too much nature.” He kissed the top of her head on his way by. “Emma fell in love, though. I bought her a little two-man tent the other day, and she’s asked for hiking boots and a canteen for her birthday.”
“I’ll take her again, anytime. Really.” Mel chuckled. “No more all of them at once.”
“I told her I’d come with her Girl Scouts troop to Inks Lake.” Dan came in from the backyard where he was in charge of letting the preteen and her best friend be in charge of decorations.
Weldon’s mom looked at Mel, mouthing, “He’s taking Emma camping? Impressive.”
“Totally impressive, Mom.”
“What’s that?” Dan asked, giving him a warm smile.
“That you’re here and doing shit with the kids. Last Mom heard, you were on the run.” Weldon saw no reason to quibble.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you seen Maddie when the flat iron isn’t working? You’d run too.”
The moms exchanged another glance when Dan said that, and Weldon rolled his eyes. “Yes, he’s been spending the night. What do you need, honey?”
“Sprite. The punchbowl is ready.”
“Excellent. There are grape juice Darth Vader ice cubes in the freezer for when His Majesty is ready.”
Caleb was in his element, running around with his lightsaber in one of the unused dog runs. So adorable.
“I’ll let them know.” Dan fired off a salute, grabbed two bottles of Sprite and one of Hawaiian punch, and headed back outside.
“I’ll go help the girls.” Dad waved and followed Dan out, leaving him with Mom and Mel. Traitor.
“I need to roust Jakob from his cave, y’all, and see if I can find Kenzie.” Miss Emma had spent the night with Randi, and Audie and them were all coming around one for the party.
“Don’t you run away until you tell me if he’s moving in.” His mom waved a spatula. When had she begun stirring things?
“We haven’t discussed it yet, and it’s neither of y’all’s business.”
“It is, though.” Mom stared him down. “You’re my kid.”
“And they’re our grandbabies.”
“You’re not helping, Mel.”
Mel shrugged, a grin playing about her mouth. “That is not my job. My job is to be nosy.”
“Is it now?” He popped her with a towel. “I’m not pushing, but he’s welcome. I’m really into him. Like seriously.”
“Oh, are we gossiping? I love that shit.” Blake bounced in, waving, with Travis at his heels, a huge cake in tow. “We brought the cake. Strawberry as the birthday boy requested, with a batch of chocolate cupcakes for the heathens.”
“Y’all are too good to me.” Weldon was so grateful for his life he couldn’t hardly bear it sometimes.
“We totally are. Hey, Mom. Mel.” Blake gave Weldon’s mom a kiss and then went to relieve Travis of the cake so Weldon could give Travis a hug.
“Hey, old man. How goes?”
“Good. Good. Hear your man’s running a job on his own. Good deal. He interested in a little reno work on the weekends? I want that walk-in shower.”
“Holler at him, man. He’s outside with Dad.”
“Daddy! Daddy, Caleb falled in the mud!” Kenzie, his little worrywart, came in with a filthy pink party dress on. “And he falled with me!”
Blake backed up, and Weldon’s mom cackled. “Mel, I’ll deal with her. You got the boy?”
“Leave him alone, y’all. If I start changing out clothes now, he’ll be naked by cake time.”
“But, Daddy!”
“I’ll check for blood, but that’s it.” Weldon handed off kitchen duty to Blake and made his way outside.
Dan had the hose out and was rinsing Caleb’s hands off, talking hard to keep the tears at bay. He heard things like “soldier” and “Jedi” and figured Dan had things well in hand.
Dad was hanging streamers in trees while Maddie and her best girlfriend were tacking up the Death Star piñata and the pin the blaster on the Stormtrooper that Travis had drawn. The cornhole game was set up, as was the horseshoe pit.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Caleb nodded at something Dan said, face lighting up. “Daddy! I’s camouflaged.”
He put on a patently fake confused face. “Caleb? Where are you, son? I can hear you, but I can’t see you?”
Caleb shook his head. “No, Daddy. That’s Jakob.”
“Caleb!” Dan was trying so hard not to laugh.
Weldon didn’t bother to try, though. He let it fly.
Caleb puffed up in a superhero stance, hands on his hips. He looked so proud.
His baby boy.
Damn. Four years old. Already.
You would be so proud, Krista baby. You would. You would love how he’s such a boy.
Weldon blinked hard a few times, and Dan drifted over, a slight frown creasing his face. “You okay?”
“I am. I was thinking about how Krista would have loved this, loved him.” He didn’t see any reason to lie about it. Krista was a part of his whole story. A huge part. A good part.
“She sounds like a neat lady, babe. Really. Dix says that sometimes, that he wishes Ron could see how Randi’s turning out.”
“It’s natural, I guess. I have to admit that I think she’s got her eye on them.”
“Sure she does,” Dan agreed easily, and Weldon had one of those moments where he was glad he and Dan had so many common views.
A lot of folks would call his belief creepy.
Hell, most folks didn’t get how a man who’d been married to the best woman on earth for twelve years could be so in love with a man that it hurt.
Hearts wanted what they wanted.
“So, should I go change his clothes or leave him camo?” Dan asked.
“We’ll change him closer to cake time.”
“Ah. Snap a picture before he slimes himself.”
“You got it, honey.” He got a couple of pictures and then shot the decorations.
“Daddy!”
He and Dan grinned at each another, and Dan went one way while Weldon went the other.
All they needed now was for Emma and the Barrack-White consortium to show up and they would have a celebration on.
“Hey!” Speak of the devil, Audie pushed into the backyard holding a Yoda piñata. “We made it.”
“’Nother piñata!” Caleb squealed. “Doda! Daddy! Dan-Dan! Doda!”
“Oh, wow. You get to spar with Yoda!” Dan high-fived Audie.
“I know y’all had one already, but I thought the younger set needed one just for them.”
Emma gave Weldon a hug, and so did Randi, both girls immediately running to the backyard to see her tent.
“She has Randi so excited about camping,” Audie murmured.
Weldon chuckled and nodded. “Are y’all sending Randi to that Girl Scouts camp too?”
“Heck yes.” Dix appeared, Boomer leading him right to them. “Two weeks, man. Grainger is going to the beach with Audie’s sister and her family. We’re going to… be out of pocket.”
“I bet you are. Good thing Dan can stay here.”
Dixon nodded and then started to laugh, the sound filling the air. “You know, it is. I assumed it would be fine.”
“It’s more than fine, buddy,” Weldon told him. “I’m getting used to it.”
He was more than used to it. He loved it.
Dan returned wearing a bit of punch and hauling Caleb under one arm. “Time to go change!”
“Knock on Jakob’s door and tell him I’m going to change the Wi-Fi password again if he doesn’t come out, please sir?”
“Will do.”
Caleb made airplane noises while Dan carried him off. Weldon thought that was the cutest thing ever.
Audie watched Dan too, then nodded. “Good deal. You want to sit, Dix? Weldon’s daddy has a nice spot set up.”
“I do. That way I’m out of the path of excited kids, but I can still be a part.”
“Come on, then.” Audie led Dix over to sit, and Jakob was there too, all of a sudden, phone in hand and earphones in.
Ah, teenagers.
Weldon winked at Audie before making a side trip by Jakob and thumping his head. “Headphones out when it’s cake and singing time.”
“Yes, Dad. I’m aware.”
Christ, if this child survived to adulthood…. He might not, because the sighing and pseudo-eye-rolling were going to be his death.
“It’s normal, son,” his dad said. “Teenagers are assholes at the best of times.”
Jakob snorted, Dix hooted, and Pepper barked as if to agree.
“What’s funny?” Dan came out with a little boy on his shoulders, dressed in Superman jammies, complete with cape.
“Teenagers,” Dad said, and Weldon nodded.
“Ah. Superman is ready.”
“Perfect. What should we start with? Pin the blaster?”
“Blaster!” Caleb cried out, bouncing so hard that Dan almost lost him.
Weldon grinned and held out his hands. Caleb launched himself into Weldon’s embrace. “Daddy! Now, please.”
“Now. Yes, sir. Time to play.” He threw a look over his shoulder, nodded to Dan with a smile.
This was what they needed.
Dan nodded in return and began rounding up kids while the grandparents did the picture-taking thing they did.
You’d like him, Krista. You’d like him a lot.
Chapter Twenty-Five
DAN TRIED to sneak in and out quietly, knowing it was damned early to be making noise. He’d forgotten his steel-toed boots when he’d dropped by to pick up more clothes, and he was working in Pflugerville anyway, so he’d stopped at Dix’s place real quick.
Dix wandered out of the studio, head tilted. “Who’s there?”
“Hey, bro. Sorry, I was trying to be quiet.” Dan walked over to give Dix a one-armed hug.
“Hey there. You want a cup of coffee?”
“Sure. Uh. You okay?” What was Dixon doing, working at five thirty in the morning?
“Huh?”
“It’s not even dawn. Hell, Audie’s still asleep, I bet.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Dixon sighed and headed toward the coffeemaker. “I can’t get my days and nights in order. Everything’s dark, all the time.”
“That sucks.” He wondered if there was a therapy for that. There had to be drugs, but Dan hated that idea.
“Indeed. I’ve been napping when Audie goes to work the horses. I don’t know that he’s noticed.”
Right. Like Dix hiccupped that Audie didn’t notice.
“I notice. I’m thinking tying you to the bed might help.” Audie wandered in, taking the cup of coffee Dix had made and handing Dix another empty cup. “Hey, Dan.”
“Hey.” Dan grinned. “Sorry if I woke you.”
“No worries. I’m taking the kids to school, and then your brother and me are going to have a chat. How’s you?”
“Good. Heading to work in a bit, but I wanted to get my boots.” He’d surprised himself, loving construction work. Scott had given him his own crew, and he was doing work for Blake and Travis next door while the guys were on another trip. It suited him to the bone.
He loved leading a crew, but he liked the solo gig as well. Working with his hands gave Dan an immense amount of satisfaction.
“Ah.” Audie looked at Dix and smiled, like Dix could even tell.
Still, Dixon rested one cheek on his hand and took the coffee Audie offered him. “So when are you moving in with him?”
“Huh?” Dan blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Weldon. You know, the guy you’re in love with? The one with kids that adore you? The one that talks about you like you’re magic? That guy. When are you going to start shacking up?”
“We haven’t talked about it.” They’d started to a hundred times, and something always happened.
Audie chuckled. “You should. You’re there six nights a week. Just jump in the fucking pool, you chicken.”
“I’m jumping! You try talking about it with five kids.”
Dixon started laughing. “You should send him a text. Dear Weldon, Wanna shack up? Love, Dan-Dan.”
Dan rolled his eyes, but honestly, he loved that all the kids called him that. Kenzie had come up with it one night during video games and it had stuck.
“It’s better than Daudie….”
“Yeah, Grainger just calls me Daddy Dix.”
“As long as they call,” Audie said. “Someday they’ll all want to be independent. Are you two going to adopt?”
“Fuck you, Daudie.”
Audie hooted. “Yeah, yeah. You don’t know. You might get the urge to have one of your own.”
“We have five. Five. One that still wets the bed once a week at least.” He had what he needed.
Dix snorted. “He’s teetering on the age where he’ll be over that in no time.”
“Thank God. Every so often I feel like an extra in The Sound of Music.”
“Oh, you’re totally a speaking role, Dan. Totally.” He was going to pop Audie in the nose. Seriously. The guy was sleep deprived, though, so Dan would give him the benefit of the doubt.
“As long as I’m an Austrian.” He grinned. “Okay, thanks for the coffee. I’ll let y’all know what Weldon says.”
“Right. If you start hauling boxes, we’ll notice.” Dix stretched, back popping. “Have a good day, Bubba. Tell your man hi for us.”
“I will. We should do supper soon.” He needed to go now, though, and let Audie get Dix back to bed.
“Uh-huh. We’ll do burgers and potato salad. Come on, Dixon.”
“Later.”
Audie took Dixon by the hand, and Dan was pleased not to feel the weird pang of longing he used to get watching them. He had that now.
In fact, he had a man who had kissed him good-bye this morning in the shower so well that he’d be tasting Weldon on his lunch hour. His body tightened a bit, heat flooding him.
He grabbed his phone on his way out to the truck, keying up Weldon’s number.
“Hey, babe,” he said when Weldon answered. “Just wanted to thank you for this morning.”
“Yeah?” Weldon sounded about as pleased as punch. “Thank you. You grab your boots?”
“I did. Dix was up. Man, Audie is peeved.” He chuckled, hopping into the truck so he could get his hands-free unit going.
“Is everything okay?”
“I just wanted to talk for a minute. No one else is up, right?” Dan felt nuts doing this over the phone, but he had time on the drive.
“No, thank God. I’ll start waking the top three in half an hour, and the last two in an hour.”
“Cool. I—okay, this is crazy, but I want to move in. With you.”
“Okay. Bring your stuff. We’ll sit tonight and talk to the kids.”
Dan grinned like a fool. That was his Weldon—no stress, no worry, no big deal. Okay. Bring your stuff. I love you.
“Really? Fuck yeah.” He cackled madly. “Okay. I don’t have much to bring.”
“Well, I’ll clean out part of the closet and some of the dresser nonetheless.” Weldon chuckled softly. “Is it wrong to be unbelievably tickled?”
“No. I love you.” There. He thought he’d said it before late at night, but this was right out there.
“Good. I love you, honey, like for real. I’ll pick up hamburgers and tater tots for supper tonight?”
“Sounds like a plan. Sonic?” Dan loved those tots.
“You know it. You want a pineapple shake or a limeade?”
“Limeade, please.” He loved the shakes, but they didn’t love him these days.
“You got it. You working up north today?”
“I have a one-day thing in Pflugerville today. Won’t take me long to get home.” Home. God.
“Good deal. I’m in the office today.” Ah, that meant Weldon would be hunting and pecking on the laptop, dealing with draws and invoices and e-mails.
“Oh, then I’ll get supper, babe. Seriously. I’ll text when I’m on the way.”
“I have to do the dance—softball, Girl Scouts, guitar lessons run. How about you bring Jakob home from Audie’s, and we’ll meet at the house at six?”
“That’s fair.” He could grab his footlocker and his clothes and all.
“Thank you.” He could hear Weldon’s smile.
“Not a problem. Okay, babe. Pulling in at work. See you tonight.”
“Love you. Good day.”
“You too, babe.” Dan didn’t want to hang up, but he had to because he had to work.
Because he had people counting on him and a family waiting for him to come home.
Damn.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“MADDIE, GRAB your stuff, honey. Coach said you hit two home runs today, huh?” Weldon got backpacks out of the car and unfastened Caleb’s car seat, thanking God that Dan had agreed to grab supper and pick up Jakob before they all came home.
All of them.
Coming home.
Together.
A very private part of him squealed like a little girl, so excited he couldn’t breathe for a second. Kenzie would laugh at him and clap her hands.
Well, after she finished practicing whatever it was she was doing for her recital.
“I did pretty good,” Maddie said, very offhand, which meant she’d done well.
“I did too. I got three badges already. Three. I am so good at Girl Scouts.” Emma grinned at him, her eyes twinkling. “I earned two more than Randi already.”
“But you’re not rubbing it in, right?” He knew she could be a little abrasive.
“Nope. I know I’m doing better. She doesn’t have to.”
