Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 99918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“Please call me Tristan, none of this Mr. Wilder stuff anymore, and you don’t need to apologize to me. I’m not even sure what happened,” Tristan said, taking her hand, but drawing her in for a quick hug.
“I met a waiter tonight at the equality rally who had a picture of you and Dad holding hands. Oh no! Dad, I gotta go to sleep. I have to be downtown at eight in the morning. I have a position on the planning committee.” Chloe kissed his cheek and hugged Tristan quickly again before she was off, heading toward her bedroom. “Goodnight, Mom, I have to go to bed. I have a meeting in the morning!”
“You’ll get used to things like that; they happen all the time.” Dylan gestured with his hand, letting Tristan walk in before him, but he just shook his head at him.
“I’m not walking in there first,” Tristan said. That might have given Dylan his first smile of the night. He walked inside, Tristan followed, and Cate, Chad, Teri, and Mark were standing in the foyer talking. The quiet surrounded them as they stared at one another. Every adult in the room kept their distance from one another, respecting boundaries. These kinds of things gave him hope that they could get through this with as few scars as possible.
“You guys remember Tristan?” He missed Chloe’s lack of decorum, where she would introduce herself to anyone, anytime.
“Hi,” Cate said and let out a yawn. Chad was a little bit standoffish, but he got that. They’d probably need to talk, maybe hit a round of golf or something this weekend. Let him know things were still the same between them.
“Hi, Mr. Wilder.” Chad turned to Cate. “Mom said we could go to school late tomorrow. But we should probably hit the hay.” Chad looked at him and finally smiled. “Will you be here in the morning, Dad?”
“Depends on what time you get up. I have a full day tomorrow at the office, but call me, we can talk then.”
“All right, goodnight,” Chad said and did the absolutely right thing—he stuck his hand out to Tristan who stood there quietly through the exchange.
“Goodnight,” Tristan said, shaking his hand. Cate popped up to kiss Tristan’s cheek unexpectedly. Tristan bent in and smiled down at her.
“Goodnight,” Cate sing-songed. She trailed behind Chad up the center staircase until all that was left was Teri, Mark, Tristan, and Dylan.
“That wasn’t so terrible,” Teri said quietly.
“You’re pregnant and didn’t tell me?” Dylan narrowed his eyes in her direction. Her gaze shot straight over to Mark.
“You’re pregnant?” Mark gasped.
“Shit, I thought you would’ve told him!” Dylan panicked again.
“Dylan, no! When was I supposed to tell him? With the kids right here? Just go! Mark, I was waiting to tell you when we were alone. I’m sorry.”
“You’re pregnant? Teri, are you kidding me? How wonderful!” Mark exclaimed.
Dylan rolled his eyes at his blunder. “Follow me,” he said to Tristan. He wound his way through the kitchen toward the garage, grabbing his keys off the counter as he passed by.
“She’s pregnant?” Tristan whispered as they stepped out into the garage.
“Yeah, four months. I thought she would have told him the second he made it onto the porch. I don’t know how the kids kept it quiet,” Dylan replied, hitting the garage door opener. He clicked the remote to unlock the car and Tristan slid inside the passenger seat beside him.
“Are you okay?” Tristan asked once they were shut inside the car. Dylan stopped before he started the ignition. He weighed that question carefully. It took some self-reflection to answer properly.
“I think so, yeah.” He stared at the keys in his hand as he finished. “I spent most of my adult life in fear of that moment. I thought they’d feel betrayed and disgusted. I was so afraid of losing them. They took it way better than I ever hoped for.”
“What was the general reaction?” Tristan asked, and Dylan smiled when he looked over to see Tristan sitting on his hands. His guy was a toucher and was obviously trying hard to follow his rules tonight.
“I was a little shell-shocked so I’m not entirely certain. I think Cate or one of them said something about living a lonely life.” He looked up at Tristan. “Teri was the one with the bombshell. I never saw that coming.”
“Your kids are incredible.”
“Yep, they sure surprised me tonight,” Dylan agreed as he started the car.
“Not me; I know their father.” Tristan smiled broadly at him. “Now take me to the hotel so I can kiss you.”
Dylan laughed and put the car in reverse. “Thank you for understanding.”
“When you left me at that elevator… God, my heart was crushed. I had to come after you. I was so afraid you’d be pissed, but I couldn’t do anything else. I wanted to be with you,” Tristan said, dropping his head back on the head rest.
“You’ve made this much easier, you know.”
Tristan sighed, swiveling his head toward Dylan. “This is all new territory for me. I don’t know what to say or do. I needed to hear those words.”
“I’m glad you pushed for us. In a million years, I’d have never thought tonight would turn out like this. They were just fine with everything. My kids were really great.” Dylan idled at the end of the driveway. “They really had no reaction to the gay thing at all. Their concern was more of me being alone and shocked about the baby. I admit I was shocked about the baby.”
“I told you, they’re good kids,” Tristan said quietly and patted his thigh. The touch comforted him. Dylan looked over at him and smiled. It warmed his heart to see Tristan so compassionate and patient as he sat beside him. Honestly, if he were really looking at things clearly, he’d been very hard on Tristan since day one. Anytime things got difficult, he pushed him away and that wasn’t right.
For whatever reason, this brilliant, charming man wanted him. And he wanted Tristan. From this moment forward, he needed to set things right between them and do whatever it took to keep things good.