Page 24 of Colby's Lost Binky

I’d been living with Daddy for two weeks now, officially, even though I had been spending a ton of time there for quite a while. Daddy was my person, and being away from him hadn’t been something either of us wanted. So we didn’t do it often.

Tonight, we were having some friends over—mainly all the people from the munch where we first met, including my friend Hudson from work…my old work, that was. I promised my sister I could still come in, but on an extreme-emergency basis only. I wasn’t sure she’d ever take me up on it, but she appreciated the offer.

We were expecting a few from my new job as well, but, for the most part, it was people from that night. Funny thing was, I only remembered Daddy, Hudson, and Bridger from that evening. I’d been so hyper focused on the man who found my binky and his friends that everyone else blended into the backdrop. Not that I’d ever tell them that.

“What smells so good?” he asked as he came into the kitchen, a case of hot dogs in his arms. He set them down on the counter.

“Making cookies for tonight.” I’d been craving homemade cookies, and the barbecue gave me the excuse I needed.

“I think I want to eat them all.” He reached for one, and I playfully smacked his hand away. “That’s how it’s going to be?”

“No.” I handed him a cookie. I might find it fun to play, but I could never deny my daddy anything. “And there are sugar cookies on the table.”

I might’ve gone overboard on the cookie making.

“Thank you.” He pulled me into his arms. “But I already have enough sweetness in my life.” He kissed me until I was nearly breathless.

He didn’t know that he was the sweetness in this house…in my life. There were days when I still couldn’t believe that this was my life. I’d come to this city broken, poor, and alone. And look at me now—less than a year later, I had an amazing job, the daddy of my dreams, and family nearby.

The timer went off, and I took the last batch of cookies out of the oven and put them on the cooling rack.

We had taken the easy way out of entertaining. We said we would supply all the hamburgers and hot dogs if everybody pitched in and brought everything else potluck style. I added the cookies last minute, but those were more for me than anything. A few people asked about a signup sheet, but we decided not to bother. If we ended up with fifty-two-thousand bags of chips and nothing else, we would eat chips.

Hudson and Bridger were the first to arrive. They said they wanted to help set up, and we appreciated it, but there was nothing left to do.

Hudson held a big bowl out with pride. “It’s my grandma’s macaroni salad recipe, which basically means some diced vegetables and mayo.”

“Sounds yummy to me.” I really didn’t know enough about macaroni salad to know if that was the normal recipe or not. But it looked good, and he was proud of it, making it the best macaroni salad in the world in my opinion.

The four of us headed out to the backyard. We had tables and chairs set up—not a lot because we didn’t have a lot but enough. Most people were probably going to bring their own chairs, and a few people had been talking about bringing a table or two.

“I’d have thought you’d have a jungle gym or swing set,” Hudson said.

“We thought about it,” I admitted. We even went so far as to come up with an excuse. It wasn’t like my nephew wouldn’t come over from time to time, and he was getting almost to the age when he could do things like that. “But, ultimately, we decided to save up for a hot tub instead, figuring we’d get more use out of that over time.” Although we hadn’t fully opted out of having a swing of some sort.

Hudson pulled out his phone and tapped away. “This is the one I like.” I looked at his phone, and on the screen was displayed an in-ground hot tub, which I hadn’t known was a thing you could do outside of hotels. Although I probably should have known—when you were willing to spend the money, people would do most anything.

“Are you kidding?” I asked.

Hudson shook his head. “Nope. Will we get it? Probably not, but it’s my dream.”

“I’m probably not getting one either.”

He scrolled over and showed me a big fancy grill. “But I like looking at different things and seeing how they would fit my spaces.”

He went on to tell me about an app he found that helped him design spaces. It wasn’t something I’d ever been interested in before, but his enthusiasm was contagious.

As other people started to arrive, it was finally time to turn the grill on and get things cooking. We had enough food in the backyard for fifteen neighborhoods—everything from strawberries to a plate that had four kinds of pickles I didn’t know existed, to funeral potatoes to pizza from the local pizza place. If you wanted to eat it, the odds were great that it was on our table.

But the food wasn’t what mattered. It was the people. And I felt so loved being surrounded by our friends. We’d invited my sister, but she had to work.

I leaned back in to Daddy, his arms wrapping around me. “This was a good idea.” I turned my face up and nibbled on his jawbone. “It’s kind of neat seeing all the people who were there the day we met.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He kissed the top of my head. “But then again, I don’t remember much about that night except for you. You stole all my memories.”

I rotated in his arms to look up at him. “I’d like to think I gave you new ones.”

“You have made the best ones and will continue to do so.” Someone called him about the grill, some knob sticking. I didn’t even care why. All I knew was they stole my kisses.

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