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"Actually, he’s the son of an old friend. His name is Wilby, and I met his mom, Georgia, during a stint I did with Vets Without Borders in my twenties. She passed away last year, and Wilby got in touch with me recently and said he had something to give me from her. He’s in the States and wanted to drop it off personally."
"Any idea what it is?"
"Nope. I’ll find out on Sunday. But since I’ve been thinking about Georgia recently, I have an idea I’d like to run past you all." Gus glances over at Tate, who shares his smile.
These two are up to something.
"Tate and I have been talking about escaping winter this year and actually spending a month down under. As an end-of-year bonus this year, I'm thinking of shouting everyone a trip to Australia."
"Oh my god!" Tyler claps his hands. "That'd be amazing!"
Bishop and Fulton are wide-eyed.
Monty looks chuffed, and Jeremy leans in to ask Gus, "D-d-define e-everyon-n-ne."
"All vets…and their fabulous partners, of course."
Tyler clears his throat. Loudly.
"Yes,formervets and their partners, too." Gus chuckles. "Logistically, we can't all travel as one big group, as much as I'd love that, since, you know, we have a vet clinic to run. But Tate and I will be there for a month, so the idea is to split the gang in two and have half come down for the first two weeks, and the other half join us for the last two weeks."
"Gus, that is so amazing and generous of you," Fulton says, having recovered slightly from his shock. "I'll be shouting you coffee from now until forever."
"Not necessary," Gus says modestly. "It's my pleasure. I'm blessed. I have a beautiful partner I'm madly in love with. I get to do what I love for a living. And I have you guys. Talented, passionate, and committed staff and their equally wonderful partners. You're my family, and I think this will be a really special, once-in-a-lifetime trip."
I nod, agreeing wholeheartedly.
As the guys begin chatting away excitedly, making plans and thinking out loud about what to wear—that's Tyler, naturally—my thoughts drift back to my conversation with Bishop a few days ago and having him tell me I'm not the man I once was.
I'm slowly starting to come around to that idea. That I have truly changed and that I need to forgive myself for what I did in the past. And as I look around the room, I get glimpses of the new life waiting for me.
Dinners with friends.
Animals everywhere. The only reason the dining room is currently animal-free is because we sequestered everyone's fur babies into the living room while we ate. It's already enough of a feeding frenzy without them getting in on the action, too.
And of course, there's the man who's got my heart.
Locky.
Did I ever think I'd fall for a guy? No way.
Am I positively over the moon and feeling like the luckiest sonofabitch on the planet? Hell yeah.
Our eyes meet and all the noise and the commotion stops, fading into the background.
This man.
How did I get so lucky?
He gives me a small nod as if to sayit's time to tell these guys. I smile back, more ready than ever.
I clear my throat and prepare to have to yell to get the guys' attention, but nope, a simple, barely audible throat clearing is all it takes for everyone to pipe down and look my way. Well, half of them are facing me, the other half are swinging their heads between me and Locky.
They're being weirder than normal—which is really saying something—but right now, I don't even care because we're about to tell them our big news.
"Gentlemen, there's an announcement we'd like to make," I say, gesturing to Locky.
He shoots me a dazzling smile as he tilts his head and tells them, "Roman and I are together."
