That almost sounds so juvenile to call him my boyfriend, but I also don’t want to call himmy lover. While what I feel for Caleb is certainly well on its way to feeling love adjacent, using that term just sounds—icky. As for referring to him as my side-piece? Well, that just feels entirely wrong.
Caleb isn’t my sideanything, if I’m being entirely honest. He’s at the forefront of all my thoughts all of the time lately. His sweetness and understanding of how measured I’d like our steps towards intimacy to be makes my heart skip beats. Which, if I’m being even more honest, were it not for the realization that we’re building something together, I’d be asking my primary doctor for a referral to see a cardiologist.
He’s just so friggin’ patient with me and,gah!How did I manage to land someone so willing to handle everything on my terms? It seems unreal, like coming across the lost city of Atlantis not once, buttwice, since Marcus has always been just as understanding. Maybe there's more to this fate BS that Caleb waxes poetic about than I can explain away with sound reasoning after all...
For the life of me, and for the survival of this budding triad, I just hope that Brody will be just as accepting. The plan is to tell him tomorrow, after we come back from river rafting so he has a chance to see how well we all mesh together first. I want him to see what life as a family unit could really look like for all of us before we break it to him that we’re more than just friends.
Cameron too, for that matter. I mean, he obviously knows about Caleb and me. One of our “dates” consisted of me going over to their house and indulging in some of Caleb’s Nana Wilmot’s cottage pie—and yes, Cam peeled all the potatoes. It was absolutely delicious,by the way, and my plan is to tell her so myself when Caleb introduces me to his family like he’s promised to do.
I wonder how he broke the news to them about me. Did he call me his girlfriend then? Did they frown when and if he told them about the life I share with Marcus, thinking that me dating him is just an afterthought, taking second place to my day-to-day life?
I certainly hope not. I hope they realize that my intentions here are good. I pray that they understand that I want nothing more than for Caleb to feel welcome and adored, especially after the heartache he’s endured by himself, in silence, over losing the person Aaron used to be.
“Earth to Lauren Mayberry!” Marcus calls over to me, and my head snaps up. “C, is asking if you can go grab Pepper so we can hitch him up and see if this rig works.”
“Oh. Yeah, I can. Sorry, I was lost in thought.”
“Is everything alright, babe?” Caleb signs to me, still sitting on Marcus’ shoulders, his brows pinched.
I nod. “Yep! Perfectly fine!”
“You’d tell us if it wasn’t, riiight?” Marcus questions.
I snort at that. I don’t even know if he realizes that how he just worded that makes them sound like a team for my well-being, or if it was just a subconscious slip of the tongue. Either way, I don’t hate it. Melts my heart a little more, if I’m being honest, because lately that block of ice in my chest has been doing an awful lot of thawing. Such as slowly coming to the realization that not all men are created equal, and not all of them are misogynistic pigs. Trust me, some still are, but then again, some women are just as bad. Marcus told me about a little incident he and Caleb had to deal with at Portside Pub about a month and a half ago…
I'm just glad that I've found myself forming strong romantic connections with two men who are also doing their best to raise stand-up gentlemen as well.
“Yes, I’d tell you both!” I reply, making sure to emphasize the both part so they know I appreciate their combined concern.
I hop up and unzip Caleb and Cameron’s tent, only to find Pepper curled up and fast asleep on Cam’s pillow. I crawl back out of the tent and zip it back up. Marcus bends so Caleb can hop off, both of them giving me quizzical looks.
“Is he not in there?” Caleb asks me.
“He’s had an exciting day so far,” I explain. “The poor babe is sound asleep.”
Marcus chuckles. “I did give him a run for his money earlier, chasing him around Double C Ranch.”
“Double C Ranch?” Caleb echoes with his hands.
“Your house. Caleb and Cameron. Double C Ranch.”
Caleb’s throat bobs with silent laughter. “Does that make your house Mayberry Mansion? It’s huge for just the three of you…”
Marcus snickers. “More of us are Antonuccis than Mayberrys, I’m afraid, since Lo and I have been financially better off unmarried on paper only. I have always kinda dubbed it the Ant Farm.”
“You’re ridiculous,” I hum, curling my arm around his waist. “I’ve never heard you call it that.”
“Maybe Cameron will let you borrow his hearing aids then?” Marcus teases.
“Doubtful,” Caleb replies. “He’s pretty attached to them. Cam is as low-conflict as it gets, but back when he attended public school, you can imagine the shock I got when I had to come pick him up from the principal’s office because he gave one of his classmates a shiner.”
“Someone tried to take his hearing aids?” Marcus asks.
“Yeah,” Caleb replies. “Stole them while he was showering after gym class. Socked the other kid good too. Didn’t know he had it in him, honestly. We had to have a good long chat after that about not resorting to violenceto settle issues. But, and this doesn’t leave this conversation, internally I understood why he snapped like that. The kid had been a bully to Cam for years—referring to him as deaf and dumb—and no amount of chatting with the school administration ever seemed to make it right.”
I peer up at Marcus. “Don’t get any ideas about telling Brody that’s how to handle things with Ryker…”
“Hey, don’t look at me. I didn’t say a word.”
