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WREN

Six Months Later

Graduation came and went. The Orcas didn’t make the playoffs, but I came second in the fantasy league. Puck and Purl had a great run, and I was five-hundred bucks better off because of it. I’d also managed to crush all my assignments, including the reports for the team, which had brought about some scouts from NHL teams. Mason was recruited for the entry draft picks which were soon to take place. The entire team were annoyed because he was a freshmen. And Daddy signed an ATO for the Vermont Maple Kings. It was going to be nice to have him close, and it meant he was able to at least show off for the team and score a real deal contract with them.

It also turned out that it was two of the guys on the team had tried to sabotage Luke as captain, Owen and Dixon were both issues formal warnings during the season, and one of the reasons the team didn’t get as far as they’d hoped. But their behavior was out shadowed by Liam and Dominic coming out as a couple. My little gay heart screamed when they announced it to the team, and even more screaming when Dominic revealed he also had a stuffed toy collection.

“Hey, babe, are you still journaling?” Luke called out to me.

“Yeah,” I said, kicking my legs around on the bed as I told my diary that I hadn’t been keeping up-to-date about everything that had happened.

That was another thing. We were living together now. The Vermont Maple Kings were a forty-minute drive from Maplehaven, which meant we could rent a small house in town.

“Ok, I’ve got the ice cream out of the freezer, you gotta be quick, I think it might start melting.”

“Which flavor?” I called out to him.

June was always one of my favorite months. The sun was out, I was a year older—well, since May. It was the first summer I wasn’t going home, but that didn’t stop me from getting a summer job. I’d picked up work at Jimmy’s Diner working right beside Lucy who had grown into a close friend.

“Mint chocolate chip, your favorite,” he called out. “With strawberry sauce.”

I looked at Hubert, the largest teddy I’d ever met and now lived in the corner of the room. “He knows me so well,” I whispered, smacking my lips. “One second.” I had to finish my journal entry.

Even with all those changes, the one constant in my life was Daddy. He knew just how to make everything that little extra bit special for me. If it wasn’t for him, I would’ve been a hermit, and I’d never have met so many people, or visited so many of my new favorite places. Wilde Ranch and Pineberry Falls. We’d visited over spring break where I got to see baby chicks hatch from their eggs, and discover they used the alpaca fleeces to create their own yarn. I was their number one customer, and we had plans to visit again after July 4th. I was ready to swim in the lake, with floaties, of course, and eat the delicious pine berries they were famous for.

Once I wrapped up the journal, I slipped it under the bed and looked around for Bloo. He was nowhere to be found. I never went anywhere without it, so I couldn’t understand how he’d managed to escape from me. We’d only just moved into the house two weeks ago, so everything was a mess of boxes, but I could’ve sworn I had Bloo on bed with me.

If I’d lost him, I didn’t know if I could ever recreate him.

Sulking down the stairs with a sour pout on my face, I walked right to the kitchen.

Nobody was there. Daddy had vanished.

First the teddy, now Daddy. This was how a lot of my nightmares started.

“Wren,” Daddy’s voice called out.He was out in the yard from the kitchen. “Come on, I’ve got a surprise for you.”

And there they all were, Daddy, Bloo, and so many other teddies sat around on a checkered blue picnic blanket right on the patch of grass we had in the back. Two bowls of ice cream, one for me, and one of him each with spoons and waffle bits I loved stabbing into the ice cream and then eating when they got all soggy.

“We’ve been waiting,” he said, patting a spot on the blanket. “It’s such a nice day, we can’t let it go to waste.”

I sat and hugged Bloo between my legs. The first spoonful of mint choc chip ice cream was already half melted, but that was exactly how I liked it. A big, cold soupy mess.

We sat in the bliss warmth, a sweet smell in the air, mixed with mint and a light breeze. “I could get used to this,” I said. “The ice cream, the teddies, the house I don’t have to share with strangers.”

“Good, because once I sign that contract to be a full teammate, you’ll have all the ice cream, all the teddies, and most importantly, all the game tickets.”

I hummed. “I’m gonna have to make their mascot as well. Is it a maple leaf or a king?”

He laughed. “It’s a king with a crown of brown maple leaves. And I’m sure you can make it, but I’ve got to say, I’ll always be an Orca.” He touched the side of my face, forcing me to turn and look at him. “But most importantly, I’ll always be yours.”

“Always.”