“Am not!” Scrintum looks up at me. “You’re not freaked out right now, right? Tell him.”
I look at him, then at Plun, then back at Scrintum. I swallow and run my fingers through my hair. I open my mouth to respond but nothing comes out.
“See! Now you’ve done it, Plun! You’ve scared him speechless!”
Plun chuckles softly, moving around me so he can stand beside his mate. He wraps an arm around his waist. “I’m sorry, Christian.”
“It’s fine,” I finally manage. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”
Plun hums and nods his head. Scrintum jumps back in. “We can be a little much but we’ve seen how happy Ghenie has been lately. It would be a shame not to officially meet the reason for that smile.”
My heart skips a beat. The confirmation that I make Ghenie happy does something weird to my insides. He makes me happy too. More than I can say.
“I’m glad he’s happy. That’s all I want. Really.”
“I believe you,” Scrintum says. “Please don’t run away again.”
“Scrintum! We promised not to bring that up!”
“Shit, sorry. Pretend you didn’t hear that.”
“Didn’t hear what?”
Scrintum giggles. “Good man! I knew you and I would get along.”
“Father? Dad?”
Both of them freeze and turn slowly to face Ghenie like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar. It would be comical if I wasn’t so tense from meeting them.
“It’s not what it looks like. Umm, we were actually fucking! No, shit. Sorry. That’s weird,” Scrintum says, covering his face with his hands. I burst out into laughter at what he’s just said, surprised that’s his go to for getting caught.
Maybe I don’t actually have anything to worry about with these two. Maybe they’re just ordinary people who happen to be Ghenie’s dads and not someone I need to try to win over.
Plun hums, squeezing his mate even harder. “We were just saying hello to Christian.”
“And this is going… well?”
I nod my head. “They seem lovely. Maybe we should have them over for dinner this weekend?”
Scrintum lets out a squeal of excitement. “I would love that! I’ll bring some dessert!”
Ghenie lets out a long sigh but I can see the smile he’s pretending to hide. He loves this. I can’t say that I hate it.
Plun cups Ghenie’s face gently, his thumb rubbing over his cheek. “How’s your head?”
“Loud. I could use a walk.”
“Why don’t we take Maribel and you two can relax?”
“I would like that.”
I get Maribel out of the chest harness, kiss her cute chubby cheeks, and then hand her over to Plun. She immediately starts to smile in a way that lets me know she’s going to need a diaper change soon. Perfect timing.
I place a hand on Ghenie’s lower back. “Shall we?” He nods his head. “It was nice meeting you. I look forward to getting to know you better at dinner.”
“You too, son,” Plun says. The words were simple yet they strike a chord within my heart. He called me son. He called meson. I’m not sure how I feel about that. My chest warms but at the same time, that’s yet another terrifying thing, to allow another person in.
For now, I focus on getting Ghenie out of the crowd and into a quieter place so he can rest his mind. Timalah and Miles fall into step with us once we’re on the outskirts of town.
