My gaze falls on Marcus, who is scrunching his face, looking every bit unnerved by Brody’s persistence regarding getting a pet snake. I feel Caleb chuckle beneath me. He raises his hands. “Snakes gross you out that much?” he asks.
“Why doesn’t anyone wantnormalpets anymore these days?” Marcus gripes. “Is a salt water fish tanktotallyout of the question? Frig, I could bring you home a couple of lobsters or something if it’sweirdyou want.”
I shrug. “I mean, I’d probably boil it up and eat ‘em if you did.”
Marcus gapes at me. “Wow, really? Talk about ice-cold, woman…”
I can’t help but giggle at that.
Caleb peers down at me, a concerned look on his brow. “Should I be worried that I’ll be invited back for skunk stew someday?” he asks.
I snort, shaking my head. “Nah. I could never harm little Peppadew.” Then, I turn my attention back to Brody, who is still standing there, taking us all in. “Tell you what…yes, you can get a snake—”
He fist pumps the air. “Yuss!” he cheers.
I cut him off, however. “But, you have to chip in part of your allowance to help buy the habitat and everything…”
“Okay,” he blurts, quickly agreeing while still bouncing on his toes. “And I can keep saving up to buy the food and stuff too!”
“AndI need to figure out when I can get you over to the pet store to pick everything out,” I add, reminding him that nights like this—ones where I can just relax—are few and far between. “So don’t expect this to happen, like,tomorrowor whatever.”
Brody peers over at Marcus, who holds his hands up defensively. “Don’t look at me, dude. You know I don’t want to be within striking distance of no anaconda. I don’t wantnone, son.”
“But you’ve got buns, hun,” I snark, alluding to the Sir Mix-a-Lot song he just referenced.
His response is simply brushing some non-existent particle off his face pointedly using only his middle finger. Caleb’s chest flutters, barely containing a soundless chuckle, before he gently claps to get Brody’s attention.
“I can take you after work tomorrow. Right after you get out of school, actually, unless you’ve got some other after-school activity on Wednesdays,” Caleb remarks.
Brody’s eyes widen. “I don’t! You’re serious, you’ll take me?” he signs back.
Caleb nods. “If that’s okay with your parents…”
“I mean, it’s fine by me. I am on call every evening for the rest of this week, so I can’t be out and about in case I’m needed, so I know I wouldn’t be able to.”
“I can tell you one thing, Brode,” Marcus chimes in. “This snake is not something you can get bored with and give up on. I will not be the one taking over caring for it if you pullthatbusiness.”
“I won’t get bored of it!” Brody promises, before scampering off down the hallway. “I’m gonna go get ready for bed early, that way tomorrow will come quicker!” he hoots.
I tilt my head to peer up at Caleb. “Thank you for offering to take him. If you didn’t, I’m sure him begging me would be all I’d hear about right before I’d need to be carted off to the insane asylum.”
Caleb smirks. “It’s my pleasure. We can get to know one another a little better while we’re at it. Say, do you think he’d like all my old comic books I used to collect?”
“Oh, gosh yes. Definitely. That would be something you both could bond overas well.”
Marcus clears his throat, picking at the inside of his cheek with his teeth. Whatever he’s about to say, he’s sheepish about doing so. His gaze fixes on Caleb. “I’m, um, I’m sorry, Caleb.”
Caleb’s brows pinch. “For what?”
“I should have let you into my life more, you know, before… Honestly, I was terrified as hell about letting you know I had a family back here. There was this whole life that I was holding you back from. That was so dumb of me too, honestly, because all night I’ve just been sitting here thinking about how fuckin’perfectthis is. Like, all we’ve done is just be all domestic and shit, and I’m—I don’t know—I’m loving it. Really. To think, if I had just let you in sooner—”
“Whoa, whoa. Hold up a minute,” I interrupt him. “I know that for myself, personally, eleven years ago I definitely wouldnothave been ready for something like this. Not at all, Marco. I know I gave you some shit back when we were camping about keeping Caleb from me, but that’s exactly what it was—just some playfulness. I wouldn’t have been in the right emotional space to even entertain polyamory back then, so I apologize if it hurts to hear this, Caleb, but I have to say it… Marcus, you did the right thing back then by keeping Brody and me a secret.”
“It’s fine,” Caleb admits. “Honestly, it did hurt at the time, yes. But if, hypothetically speaking, Marcus and I had stayed together—tried something long-distance—I truly don’t think it would have worked. I’m a clingy fellow, I guess. Plus, it would have killed me if I found out that time spent travelling to meet up would have taken you away from a family who needed you. Besides, if for some reason we had worked out, and if none of those other factors were in play at the time, I wouldn’t have had the time I did with Aaron. I wouldn’t have Cam. Those two helped shape me into the man sitting here today.”
Marcus rubs his eyes, swiping at his cheeks.
Caleb continues, “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, Marcus, so stop letting that weigh on your conscience. I am just glad to be here now. Do I still feel a bit like I’m intruding on your life? Yeah, absolutely. I think those are just newcomer jitters though. Like you and your dress, I’ll need to keep at it until this feels more natural, you know?”
