Jax walked up beside me. “I have an incredible chef.”
“It’s impressive for sure but I’d be happy with PB&J.”
“Oh well, try this one. It’s fig jam and almond butter on cinnamon wheat bread. If you like the jam, we have one at the end, combined with goat cheese.”
“I’ll try this one.” I stacked two on my plate and tried one. It was pretty good, but the sandwich was kind of small, so I took two more.
Joey had one with some kind of fancy cheese on a hard roll. I didn’t know why he didn’t try mine. But he simply shrugged and said he liked cheese.
Some of the daddies drank wine, but I only liked the sweet fruity drinkies. Then Daddy gave me a glass anyway. “Just try it. If you don’t like this, I’ll drink it.”
I was skeptical, but I tried it, and it was sweet. “This is good.”
“It’s Muscato.”
“Why don’t we have this at home?”
Dady Warner’s eyes went wide. What did I say?
Oh.Home.
How about that? When I thought about Warner’s house, I immediately thought of it as home. And maybe vice versa, so what was my apartment now? I smiled. Well, that solved that. The next step was happening, but I still didn’t know about anything else.
Daddy didn’t say anything about my slip. He kissed the side of my head. “We can buy Muscato anytime you want.”
Chapter eighteen
Warner – Lovely Cruise
After lunch, we swam some more, then we went to take a nap, since Jax had closed the pool deck to prepare for the Pride party later that night. They were going to pull the platforms in and take down the slide before decorating the pool deck and lounge. Dinner would be another buffet-style in the dining room, but then they would have snacks and drinks in the lounge. It sounded like a fun evening. The entire cruise had been fun, and it seemed like Cody was having the time of his life, running around with his little friends and being carefree. Plus, when we were talking about the wine, he’d referred to our life together ashome. I took that as a good sign. Maybe the problem had been that he was too much in his head about all of it. Once he finally relaxed and stopped thinking about the move-in plan, he eased right into home.
Still, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I pulled on a fresh pair of swim trunks and a tank top before waking him up from his nap.“Cody.” I rubbed his back. “Time to get up and get ready for the party.”
“Mm…” He rolled over and opened his eyes, smiling when he saw me. “The party will be great, but it also means we go back to shore tomorrow.”
“Let’s enjoy it while we can. Look what I have for you.” I’d packed a surprise for my little. I pulled it out of my suitcase and held it up.
“Whoa. For me? I can wear it to the party?”
“Yes.” I tossed the tank top with PRIDE written on the front with a rainbow shadow behind the letters at him.
He wiggled around as he held it up and sang, “Pride tank, rainbow colors, pride tank, better than the others…”
“Silly boy. Wash your face and get dressed.”
“Yes!” He jumped out of bed and into the bathroom. A few minutes later, we were headed up to the dining room deck for dinner. Vince was meeting us there with Joey, but I’d bet some of our other friends would be there too. I hoped Crow and Skyler would be, since I hadn’t seen enough of them this trip. We’d have to do some paddleboarding together after we hit the next campsite. I fully expected the road trip home to be better than the one coming out here.
Once again, the dining room was set up as a buffet. That honestly made it easier for everyone since the guests could show up whenever and get what they wanted, and it had to be easier for the wait staff as well.
“What’s that?” Cody got my attention, pointing at the far side of the buffet.
“Let’s go see.” I held his hand as we walked over to a flat grill set up beside a display case of different cuts of raw steak.
“Pick your steak, let me know how you like it, and I’ll grill it right here while you grab sides,” the attendant explained.
“Yummy. I like steak.” Cody practically pressed his nose against the glass. “Is that a sirloin?”
“It is. Would you like that one?”
