Finding Home at Randy’s (Diner Days)

Epilogue

SIX MONTHS LATER

“ A re you okay?” Denver sets a hand on my leg under the table, and I pull my attention away from the door long enough to give them a reassuring smile.

“Fine.”

They snort in disbelief, but don’t call me out on it. I’m sure they’re attributing my weirdness to my baby turning sixteen, which is a good assumption. Rory and I have both been out of sorts the last week, because knowing we have a teenager, and our teenager only two years away from being a legal adult, are two very different things.

I am proud of the person Callum is turning out to be, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually ready for him to grow up.

“Dad, are you being mushy again?” Callum asks.

Rolling my eyes, I meet my son’s familiar blue ones, struck, yet again, that this young man in front of me is someone I’m not only raising, but I made . And that gets me a bit mushy.

“If I trusted you, I’d say have your own kid and then come back to me about being mushy.”

Callum is the one to roll his eyes at me. “You’re not supposed to be mean to me on my birthday.”

“Who made up that rule?”

“You did,” Rory answers.

I sigh, because while it's true, it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Looking to the door again, I try to curb my smile when the person I’ve been waiting for walks in. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

Rory leans in to talk to Cal, keeping him distracted for a moment. He’s the only other person who knows about my surprise, because like everything to do with Callum, I ran it by him first.

Denver and Luka both give me looks as I leave the table and head across the diner toward the very nervous looking teen.

“I’m glad you could make it.”

I get a small, shy smile. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Come on, he doesn’t know what I’m planning, so let’s go surprise him.”

Leading the way back to our table, I step up behind Callum and set a hand on his shoulder, leaning down to speak in his ear. “Someone’s here to see you, Cal.”

He looks up at me, brows furrowed. “Who? Everyone is already here.”

I squeeze his shoulder. “ Now everyone is here.” Releasing him, I move aside and motion my surprise forward.

Callum turns around, and when he sees his guest, he freezes, eyes going wide. He almost falls on his face as he scrambles to get up, and Rory helps pull his chair away from the table so he doesn’t hurt himself.

“Nathan!” Callum shouts loud enough to get just about everyone in the diner looking over at us, but when they see it’s Callum, the regulars shake their heads and turn back to what they were doing.

Poor Nathan is swept up into a hug, and it takes them a minute, but whatever hesitation they may have had eases the longer Callum hangs on. I see their body relax and their hands clutch at Cal as tightly as my son is clinging to them.

Rory gets up and pulls me into his side. “I’d say your surprise is a hit.”

Wrapping my arm around him, I lean my head on his shoulder for a moment. “Looks like it.” Looking around my best friend, I wave Denver and Luka over. “Do you think he’ll let Nat breathe anytime soon?”

Rory laughs. “I wouldn’t count on it. Though, Nat doesn’t look like they’re in a hurry to go anywhere.”

I hum in agreement and look over at Nathan’s adults, who are watching the teens with what I’m sure are the same sappy/happy looks that Rory and I are giving them.

Denver comes up on my other side and slides their arm around behind my back, over Rory’s. “Is this why you’ve been weird all day?”

I chuckle. “Yes. I wanted it to be a good surprise for him.”

Luka leans around Denver. “I think you’ve done that.”

Callum finally pulls back from Nathan, though he keeps his arms around them as he turns to us. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! ” he exclaims is a jumbled mix of French and English. “This is the best present ever !”

“Better than a second kitten?” I ask.

He looks torn, biting his lip and glancing at his friend for a minute before nodding. “Yeah, Jolene is fine as an only child. This is perfect.”

“Are you going to introduce your friend to everyone, Cal?” Rory asks patiently.

Callum lets Nat go, only to grab their hand and drag them forward. “These are my parents,” he says. “Rory is my da, and Graeme is my dad—he’s the one who gave birth to me.”

“Callum!” I groan, even as everyone laughs.

“It’s true,” Rory says.

“But he doesn’t have to say it like that!”

“Yeah, well… You should expect it by now, Cher.”

Sighing, I shake my head at how ridiculous my kid is.

“That’s Denver and Luka, they’re Dad’s partners. Dad and Da are not together, even though sometimes I think they forget they’re no longer married.”

Rory groans with me this time.

“You have to admit it’s true,” Denver teases.

“Shut up.” I huff, causing them and Luka to laugh harder.

Nathan gestures to their adults. “This is my brother, Cole, and his partners, Brooks and Lucas.”

I extract myself from Denver and Rory to shake their hands, and after everyone’s had a chance to introduce themselves, I gesture to the table. “Shall we sit? I’m sure the staff would appreciate it.”

Rory introduces his mother to our guests once we’re settled, and then Valery claims themself to be Luka’s almost-cousin, which makes Luka sigh in exasperation, but I still maintain I got the most embarrassing and ridiculous introduction.

Luka leans his head on my shoulder while Denver slings their arm around me. “You’re a good dad,” Luka says softly.

I smile, setting a hand on his leg, and he lays his on top. “Thanks. I try, and Lord knows I’ve probably screwed up along the way, but I don't think Rory and I did too bad a job.” I flip my hand over and squeeze Luka’s. “And I’m glad you and Den are here to join us on the rest of our journey—because we’re never getting rid of him, you know that, right?”

They both chuckle softly. “Yeah, but that’s okay. We love him as much as we love you,” Denver says.

“Probably more than we love you,” Luka quips.

I laugh. “That’s fine. I don’t mind sharing with him.”

And it’s true. All Rory and I have ever wanted was for Callum to have a family who loved him, and when things took a turn with our romantic relationship, it didn’t make that any less true. Meeting both Denver and Luka wasn’t in the cards, let alone loving them both, but this life and family we’re building together is more than I could have ever dreamed.

Sitting here with my partners, my best friend, and our son… It’s perfect, even if we aren’t. What matters is that this family we have is ours . After everything we’ve all been through, we deserve what we have. The rest doesn’t matter, so long as we have each other. Anything that comes after this perfect moment right here, is just a bonus.

The End