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Derek grunted. “Captain America isn’t that old. He’s played by that guy. The young one.”
“Chris Evans,” I said. “And heisthat old. He was frozen in ice. Haven’t you seen Captain America fighting nazis?”
“I haven’t seen Captain America do anything, except for the commercials on TV,” Derek grumbled. “I wouldn’t have let you dress me up as him if I had known he was so old.”
“We chose that costume for you because you’re aCaptain,not because you’re old.” Clara kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t be so sensitive.”
Suddenly, Clara’s brother-in-law Maurice came around the corner. He had his son, LeBron, in his arms. “I like a sensitive man. I think it’s good to be balanced. A rough, muscular exterior, but emotional and sensitive on the inside…” He gave a happy little shiver.
Jason, Clara’s brother—and Maurice’s husband—put an arm around him. “Okay, I think you’ve had enough of Clara’s rum punch for one evening.”
“What’s wrong with telling the hunky firemen that they’re hunky and muscular and yummy?” Maurice demanded. “It’s not a secret.” He turned to me. “Do you have a fireman uniform my lovely husband can borrow? We need it. For a thing.”
Jason groaned and rolled his eyes. “I think it’s past LeBron’s bedtime.”
“Which LeBron?” Maurice gestured at his jersey. “I’m LeBron from the Cavaliers.” He bounced the infant in his arms. “This is LeBron from the Lakers. Andyouare LeBron from the Miami Heat.”
“It’s pastbothof your bedtimes,” Jason replied. “It was good to see you guys. Clara, walk us out?”
I shook hands with Jason—and accepted averylong hug from Maurice—before they went through the door.
“You don’t need me to wear a fireman uniform,” Jason told his husband. “If you’re good, I’ll pull out my Navy whites tonight.”
The last thing I heard was Clara groaning and telling her brother not to talk about their sex life in front of her.
The last year had flown by. First was the new fire station in Fresno and getting used to different schedules and different customs. Before we knew it, it was May and I was graduating from Cal State Fresno. My whole family came down for the graduation, and I finally got to introduce them to Clara.
I’d had serious girlfriends before, but nobody like her. She was the first one who I liked enough to meet my family. And she handled it with grace and charm, winning over everyone—including my mom.
Of course, we didn’t tell them about the whole arrangement with Derek and Jordan. But they didn’t need to know about that.
After graduating, I was promoted fromProbationary Firefighterto a full-time firefighter. It was mostly a meaningless distinction, but it felt like a huge honor. It meant I was doing thisfor real, and wasn’t just a rookie anymore.
Derek let me crash at his place until I found one of my own. That was five months ago, and I was still staying at Derek’s big house. Everything just sort ofworkedwhen we were all here together: Derek, me, Jordan, and Clara. We went from playing house to actually living it day-to-day. The closet in the master bedroom was slowly being taken over by Clara’s dresses and blouses.
That’s how we all liked it, though. We were happiest when we were together, as crazy as that seems.
I finished handing out candy and then went back inside to help put Baby Anthony to bed. He was really more liketoddlerAnthony at this point: he was twenty-five pounds and growing every day. He had a full head of dark hair now, and had just learned how to walk last month. Now he was a walking machine, marching around the house whenever we turned our back for a second.
The four of us went through the nightly routine of putting him in his jammies, then individually kissing him goodnight in his crib. But I had my own routine. After the others went back downstairs, I slipped into the nursery again and bent over the crib. Anthony smiled up at me happily.
“Taylor,” I whispered to him, enunciating it carefully. “Tay-lor. Tay-lor. Taylor. Can you say Taylor?”
Anthony had been speaking in gibberish for months now, but he still hadn’t said his firstrealword. And I was determined to make his first word Taylor. Sure, that was a more complex word thanmamaordada. But I was determined, damnit.
“Maybe tomorrow.” I gave him a final kiss on his head. “Stay cool, little dude.”
I gave him a fist bump—that was one of the first things I had taught him when he started walking!—and then left him alone to sleep.
“How much candy do we have leftover?” I asked as I went downstairs. The others were on the couch, but the TV was off. “Is the Giants game still on?” I asked.
“Actually, we have a different surprise,” Jordan said. As the Hulk, he was still covered in green body paint, although he had washed most of it off his face.
“A surprise?” I asked.
Jordan aimed the remote at the TV. A movie began to play, with a lion roaring when the MGM logo appeared. The scene opened on a misty forest, with violin music.
“What are we…” I trailed off when I saw the name on the screen: JODIE FOSTER. Then another name: ANTHONY HOPKINS.
