Early loved it. Joy was a perfect look—on his husband and his sons.
Jaxson climbed on Connor’s back, and they zoomed around the shallow end, while Jayden showed off his underwater handstands. He’d finished his coffee before Connor finally glanced his direction again. He got a big grin and a shrug.
“I have time to shower before family day, right?”
“Absolutely. You look great in there, darlin’.”
“Boss! Boss, we got horses out!”
“Dammit.” He bit the word out. “Get them in and fix the fence. I want you to put two men on riding fence. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Everything okay?” Connor moved toward the steps to get out of the pool. “Did he say the horses were out?”
“Yeah. We’ve got a fence problem. Goodie.” Early rolled his eyes. “I think it’s just weak spots the guys were being lazy checking.”
“It’s tough being the boss.” Fortunately Connor’s undies were tighty and black, not white, so they weren’t obscene wet. “You need to go see what’s up? I’ll pull the kids out of the pool for a quick shower.”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I’m going to have a chat with the guys, do a little encouraging.” He stood and stretched, back popping.
“Go ahead. I’ve got this. I’m only a little out of practice.” Connor kissed his cheek. “Go be a cowboy.”
“Yes, sir. You go be a dad, and in a few hours, we’ll go be a family.” And he was going to be over the moon.
15
Connor sat down on a bench in the shade and took a big swig from a bottle of water. It wasn’t terribly cold, but he didn’t care. That potato sack race took it out of him, and he was thirsty.
It would have been fine if they’d done a family race, because he could have hung back with Jaxson and just hopped along until they finally crossed the finish line. But no, they’d set up a “Dad’s race”. So he was lined up next to a bunch of cowboys, including his husband, who took this whole potato sack thing way to seriously.
He hadn’t come close to winning, but he’d been toward the front of the pack, he hadn’t fallen, and he’d even gotten applause from people he didn’t even know as he finished.
“Early! Introduce us to your guy!”
All these people came to meet him—mostly women, but there were a handful of men, plus Chay, the pretty Navajo man they’d met after the funeral.
Early introduced him to every single person that asked.
And there were many.
A lot.
Jesus Christ, Early knew everyone. It was exhausting, and he wasn’t going to remember anyone’s name. And it was ridiculously intimidating because these weren’t just acquaintances—these were friends of Early’s parents, friends of Early’s from school, his kids’ friends’ parents. Teachers. Neighbors.
“This is exhausting,” he said out loud, and then sighed because he hadn’t meant to. And there wasn’t much chance that Early hadn’t heard him.
Early blinked over, eyes widened for half a second before he spoke. “If you want, there’s a coffee shop a block down and over. I can come pick you up with the boys once they’re done.”
“What?” He glanced at Early. Did his husband really think he’d just go have coffee and leave his family here? “I didn’t mean the event. Not at all. I’m having a great time. I love seeing everything the boys have been doing. It’s just…meeting all these people. You seem to know everyone, and I feel like I’m walking into this enormous…life. I’m having trouble keeping up.”
“Okay, how can I help?” Early bumped shoulders with him, giving him a wink. “You want me to build you a fort? We got juice boxes.”
He shook his head, eyes rolling, but Early had managed to make him smile, right? “You’re an idiot. Yes, please. Can you build it around the hot tub?”
“Oh, that’s a good—”
“Daddy? Dad? Can we spend the night at Jack and Daniel’s tonight and they come to our house tomorrow night?” Jayden ran up with his brother and a pair of red-headed, freckled twins.
“Uh. Jack and Daniel?” Cute. He looked at Early. “You know their parents?”