Leaning on the porch railing, Wyatt looked over at DJ who was watching the dogs like a hawk, and Riley who was watching a caterpillar climbing up one of the railing pickets. "Hey, guys, I wanted to tell you that Sam and I like each other, like boyfriends," Wyatt told them. With a lump in his throat, he waited for them to react.
"Two boyfriends?" DJ said like it was a math problem he was trying to figure out.
"Is boyfriends and boyfriends like boyfriends and girlfriends?" Riley wanted to know.
"It is when it's two guys," Wyatt told him.
"With kissing?" Riley asked then he giggled and covered his face with his hands.
"Yes, with kissing and sleeping over," Wyatt told him. From what he could tell, Riley seemed fine with it. But DJ looked thoughtful and unsure about what Wyatt told him. "What's on your mind, DJ?" Wyatt asked him.
"You're not going to go away?" DJ said and a scared look came into his eyes.
Wyatt didn't know why he thought that, but he got down on one knee and pulled DJ into a hug. "No. I'm not going anywhere. Sam and I are still going to spend time with you guys, but we're going to spend some grown-up time together too."
DJ nodded but now Riley objected.
"Grown-up time without me and DJ and Barney and Brownie?" Riley said with a frown.
"That's right. You aren't grown-ups yet," Wyatt told him. "And some of you are dogs."
Riley made a face like he had to accept that verdict but only under protest.
By the time they got the dogs back inside, Sam was done with his shower. He joined them dressed in Wyatt's shirt which brought out the gray in his eyes beautifully.
"Good morning. I slept late and now I don't have time to show you guys how to make real waffles. I have the breakfast shift at the café," Sam said to the kids regretfully and got down to pet the dogs.
"Real waffles?" Riley said.
"From scratch," Sam said, but Riley didn't know what that meant.
"Waffles that aren't frozen," Wyatt explained.
"We like frozen waffles too," DJ told Sam consolingly.
"We'll have something better than frozen waffles at the café. Now let's get going," Wyatt said.
This time, Wyatt decided to leave the dogs home alone. The kids weren't too happy about that, but it was time to start doing that.
"We can't always take them with us, and Barney and Brownie have each other for company. We'll go shopping and buy them treats to make it up to them. How's that?" Wyatt told them.
The boys agreed and hugged and kissed the dogs and promised to be back soon with treats. Watching Sam as he smiled at the kids' heartfelt goodbyes to the dogs, Wyatt thought about how they might do this every morning -- wake up together, have breakfast together, and maybe find time for something sexy in between.
Chapter 16
As soon as they arrived at the café, Sam went into the back to start his shift. Instead of putting in an order, Wyatt told Sam to pick something for them. The café was bustling this morning, but Wyatt and the kids managed to get a table. After a bit, Wyatt noticed Noreen waving to him from behind a cup of coffee.
She and Lara and two other ladies had their heads together at one of the tables in the back. They looked busy with papers spread out in front of them and each of them had a phone in her hand, so Wyatt didn't want to go over and disturb them. But a little later, he saw Lara go up to the counter, and he went over to join her.
"Hey, just the lady I wanted to see," Wyatt said to her.
"Treating the boys to breakfast? Me and Noreen are doing some event organizing," she told him and pointed toward their table.
"Does that mean your schedule is full? I wanted to arrange a date night with Sam, and I need a babysitting favor," Wyatt told her.
"Tomorrow night Gloria and her cousin are having a sleepover. If that works for you, the kids can all have a slumber party at my house," Lara offered. "I got this new frosting kit I want to try out, so I'll make a bunch of cupcakes. We'll pig out. It will be great."
"Really? Do you want the dogs too? I think they are OK to stay at home now." Wyatt knew the kids would miss them, but he didn't want to overwhelm Lara.
