Page 82 of Just A Little Joy
Piled behind one of the porch chairs was a tidy stack of bags. He’d sold his car for scrap since he didn’t think it would make the trip, so everything he owned had to fit in what he could carry. Clothes, essentials. He’d cried last night when he said he couldn’t take the toys we bought together. He’d talked about maybe sending money to ship them, but I’d brushed it off. If he wanted them, I wasn’t taking his money. More than that, I’d hoped it was a string keeping him tied to me.
“The elves must have been keeping an eye on it,” I said as I lifted the first bag.
There were three, packed to the gills. By the time I got them inside, I was panting. Casey hadn’t said whether he wanted them in my room or the guest room. Until he decided, I’d give him space.
“Daddy, can I put…?” He was about to tell me where he planned to stay when his phone buzzed.
“Hold on a sec, Daddy, please.” He hurried off to grab it, wandered back, then answered on speaker. A chorus of greetings blasted through.
“Hey, boys, what’s going on?”
“We wanted to say one last time how much we’re gonna miss you,” Rory said. “And you gotta stay in the group chat because you’re one of us now, and Anders is already researching how we can visit the resort so it’s like you’re not even gone.”
“As soon as you’re ready for visitors, let us know, and we’ll be on the next flight,” Owen said.
Nico snorted. “Well, maybe not the next flight because we need an itinerary, but a flight. Soon.”
“Nico, no one’s gonna make you hike even if you don’t plan an itinerary that says you’re not allowed to go,” Jakob scolded. “We want to come visit you on your new adventure. You can’t disappear on us. You’re in the group chat. Nobody ever leaves the group chat.” His voice dropped so deep it was almost menacing. “No one leaves the group chat.” Then he ruined it by giggling.
“Jakob, are you trying to scare me?” Casey laughed. “You did a good job. I’m super scared.”
“You mean it? For real?”
“Cross my heart, hope to die.”
“I am scary. That is awesome,” Jakob crowed.
“What time is your flight?” Anders asked. “We decided to come to Stone and Vine since that’s where we met you. We wanted a toast when your plane took off for good luck.”
Casey moved across the room, grabbed my hand, pulled me to the couch, and pushed me down so he could curl up with his legs over mine and tuck himself under my arm. He hit the button for FaceTime. The boys cheered.
“No need for a toast,” Casey said. “I decided to stay home after all.”
EPILOGUE
TRAVIS
“Daddy, I love you with every part of my heart, but I’m gonna need you to get out of my way if you want this to happen on time.”
When Casey used that tone with me, there was no arguing with him. He was at the end of his rope, and today, I was the one putting him there. “I’m just trying to help, that’s all,” I said, hands up in surrender.
The Prost kitchen was piled high with prep for the food truck extravaganza happening in our renovated beer garden that afternoon. With Nico managing the renovation and Owen helping figure out the design, we were finally ready to do a soft launch of the revamped space. Casey had suggested making it a fundraiser for the hockey league scholarships, and I’d happily agreed.
“Do you think people are going to like it?” Casey, who was all about efficiency, didn’t stop moving, even as I heard the doubt creeping into his voice. He’d poured his heart and soul into finding the perfect setup for his truck, making sure it was sustainable in the unpredictable Pacific Northwest weather.
“Bub, they love your cooking. Why wouldn’t they love it out of a truck?”
“Maybe they don’t like food prepped in a truck? Maybe they don’t like the way the truck is set up? Maybe they don’t like me? There are a lot of possibilities out there, Daddy.”
Casey stopped long enough to wave his ladle at me, then went right back to work. I set the cheese I was grating down and made my way over to him. I grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back into my arms. He grumbled a little, then snuggled closer.
I leaned down and whispered in his ear. “Everything’s going to be fine. It'll be great. And if they don’t like it, they can get the fuck out of the bar.”
“Daddy, that’s no way to run a business.”
“It’s the way I run this business. If they don’t like it, they can go get food somewhere else. I’m good with that.”
“How do you always know the right thing to say?”