Apparently my love language was acts of stupid service. But every time Tee crooned over the cats being able to spend time outside, I was grateful for every splinter the damned thing had given me.
Inside the little house were funky rugs on the hardwoods and framed photos on the walls. I’d made him move his skydiving photo out of the bedroom since it gave me nightmares, but he’d replaced it with an adorable shot of our nephew, Wyatt, who Teo insisted on calling Jet to tease my sister for one of her cornier ideas during the last stages of her pregnancy.
Wyatt was currently being bounced on our niece Bella’s slender hip. The fat baby was almost bigger than the skinny ten-year-old could handle, but she adored him. Whenever both sides of the family were together, Bella took charge of Wyatt and my sister went searching for the nearest glass of wine.
Teo began to wiggle in my embrace. “Was it my imagination, or was there a ring?”
I leaned in and kissed the hell out of him first.
As I slid the sugary peach ring over his finger, he squawked. “That’s cheating!”
I laughed and brought the real ring out of my pocket. “I thought you might be snacky. It’s been thirty minutes since your last piece of candy.”
My parents approached with their congratulations. After hugs and cheers all around, my dad began with the trivia. “Did you know that in Ancient Greece, men proposed to women by throwing apples at them?”
Teo’s face lit up. “Yes! Oh my god, I thought I was the only person who knew this. It’s because Eris, the goddess of chaos, was a total jealous bitch. Excuse my language, Lori.”
That was the moment Teo officially became a Snyder.
And trivia night was never the same.
“You need a hobby,” I said into his ear. “Besides learning obscure facts.”
Tee leaned in to whisper back. “I also know some things about another Ancient Greek named Aristophanes, who came up with 106 ways of describing male genitalia.”
Oh.
“So if you want me to share some of those with you… later… you might want to appreciate me as the well-rounded erudite pantomath that I am.”
“You hooked one of them smart ones,” Ty stage-whispered. “Wanna swap?”
Rourke smacked him in the stomach and began muttering even more obscure Greek facts that absolutely zero people around us wanted to hear. Well, except my dad and my soon-to-be husband.
“I don’t know what any of that means,” I said, pulling Teo closer and moving my hands down to cup his perky ass. “But I do appreciate how well-rounded you are. And I’ll be happy to show you how much a little later.”
The sound of his laugh was all I ever wanted to hear, and it rang across the waterfront park on and off for the rest of the afternoon as we spent time with friends and family enjoying our lives together.