“Then we’ll start looking at real estate listings. I put together a list of features that are essential, but there may be more you want to add. When we’re ready, we’ll go look at them and see if there's one we fall in love with. We can take our time and find the perfect house for us."
“I’d love that,” Payden said, snuggling against my chest.
“Let’s finish supper, little uni, so you can spend the rest of the night unwinding,” I said, though I was reluctant to turn him loose. Having that contract and being able to contribute now had taken a load off my mind. I’d known I was stressed overthe whole situation, but the tears I’d shed at the table with that contract in my hand had been pure relief.
Tonight, we chatted about movies as we finished eating. Several trailers had popped up on the television that had captured our interests. By the time I’d finished rinsing our plates and putting them in the dishwasher, we had plans to catch a double feature, followed by dinner, and I was excited as hell to see the look on his face when I showed him his surprise. But first.
I blew out the candles, covered his eyes and walked him into the living room that way, one shuffling step after the other with him giggling and calling me silly the whole time.
“Surprise, little uni,” I said as I uncovered his eyes. “You’re very own unicorn station….and your first delivery.”
I’d placed a small plate on one of the box cars, four cookies beneath plastic wrap, with a small, sparkly aqua bow on top that I found with the baking supplies.
First he gasped, then he squealed, then he squeezed the stuffing out of me.
“Cookies and a train station! Daddy, how did you make this?" He asked, once he'd finally settled down to get a closer look at it. I’d used glitter glue to make the sides shimmer in places, the same as the cardboard unicorns, but I’d used yarn for their manes and tails.
“Those two shoeboxes we forgot to throw in the recycling,” I said. “I used one for the station and one to cut up to make the unicorns. I found the unicorn templates online and printed them so I could trace them onto the cardboard and got friendly with the craft supplies. I couldn’t believe it when I found your collection of googly eyes. Where did you find ones with eyebrows and glasses?”
“Online,” he replied. “You can find anything online if you look hard enough. Did you really stage dive off the top of the scaffolding?"
“Have you been Googling Daddy again?” I asked.
“Yup! This is so cool. Thank you, Daddy, no one’s ever made me something special like this before.”
“Then they’re idiots,” I grumbled.
He laughed and reached for one of his ponies. I’d lined them all up around the track and station like they were waiting for a passenger. As soon as we started playing, I could see the shift in him, as the responsibilities of the day melted, leaving my little uni laughing and having fun. He wiggled and hummed when he bit into the first cookies, before moaning like I’d only ever heard him do when he was under me. Unicorn Station had been a huge hit with my boy, a reminder of what could be done with paper, yarn, glue, and a bit of imagination.
Chapter Nineteen
Payden
“Daddy, we’ve looked at a million houses already. I’m tired.” We’d even narrowed it down to three so why did we have to see more?
“Excuse me,” Daddy said to our agent. She was nice enough, but I got the feeling all she saw were dollar signs and was trying to talk Daddy up price wise. “Sweetheart, what’s going on here?”
I shrugged. “I’m tired. We were up late last night and she’s not listening to us. Just keeps pushing more expensive homes.”
“Daddy definitely kept you up late last night,” he winked.
Blush darkened my cheeks as I whispered, “Totally worth it, but I’m ready to get this deal done. She’s too flirty with you.”
Daddy laughed so hard the agent scowled at me. “Sassy uni, but you and I both know she’s barking up one gay ass tree. Total pun intended.” Giggles got out of control when I pictured herand those ridiculously high heels she had on climbing a tree. “Okay, I’ll put my foot down.”
I walked around the house again while Daddy talked to her. This one she picked had five bedrooms and three baths. What in the world would we ever do with that much square footage?
We were specific with our request, three bedrooms, two baths and lots of outdoor space. What was so hard to remember about that? Oh, and close to my parents. Easy peasy.
“Payden?” Daddy called out. “Let’s go.” I zoomed-zoomed out to Daddy and the sour face agent. If she thinks we’ll recommend her services to anyone else she’s sorely mistaken. I nearly stuck my tongue out at her, but I wasn’t a naughty boy and getting into trouble wasn’t my jam.
“She was mad, huh Daddy?” I said as soon as we hit the road.
He chuckled. “She was something, alright. She’ll get over it once that commission deposit hits. Either way you and I are going to lunch and we’re gonna sit there and hash out the pros and cons of the three we’d settled on then we can either see them again or make an offer.”
“Great idea. I have pictures I took of all of them so we can verify what we saw. Yay! I’m so excited!” I’d have my own playroom and Daddy said he’d build me a jungle playground in the backyard. Ooohhh, I wonder if he’d let me get a puppy or a kitty?
Daddy squeezed my leg. “Me too, sweetheart. This will be Daddy’s first real home, aside from the apartment we now share, and I can’t wait to put our own touches on it.”
