Every Saturday Night (Firsts and Forever 6)

Chapter14

Six Weeks Later

The Saturday night before the custody hearing, Lucky and I tucked Owen in together. Once he was asleep, we slipped away to the garage, leaving Dylan and Lark to babysit.

My boyfriend and I then spent a couple of hours naked in bed. Even though he was living with me now, privacy was hard to come by at the pink Victorian, so our Saturday ritual continued.

“I know you might not want to hear this,” Lucky said, as he rested his head on my stomach and I stroked his hair, “but we need our own place. I love your found family as much as you do, but the Victorian’s too crowded. Owen needs his own room, and I want to be able to make love to you more than one night a week. Plus, seven people sharing one bathroom isn’t great. I know Dylan’s getting close to finishing out the attic and turning it into a useable family room for all of us, but that’s not really going to fix these issues.”

The overcrowding was even more noticeable since Hal had shown up on our doorstep two weeks ago with a giant suitcase—not in tears, but with a fiery determination to start fresh. He’d walked in on his boyfriend cheating on him and decided to leave not just the relationship, but Southern California in general while he figured out what to do next. He’d been crashing on our couch ever since, and of course we’d all welcomed him to stay as long as he needed to.

“You’re right about all of that,” I said, “but it would make me so sad to move away from everyone. I know they’re our family no matter what, but even being across town would feel like it was too far away.

“Also, just to be clear, you’re not suggesting we move into the Nob Hill house with your dad, right? Because to me, that really doesn’t seem like a good solution. I know he’s gone to Miami a lot, but that’s just temporary while he’s training your cousin Enrique on running the company. Once that’s done and he finally settles in here in San Francisco, I feel like he wouldn’t give us much privacy.”

“I totally agree, that house isn’t an option. Between my dad living there and the fact that we’re using the third floor as our west coast office, we definitely wouldn’t have enough privacy.”

“Exactly,” I said. “So, what do we do?”

“I guess we start looking for an apartment no more than a couple of blocks from the pink Victorian. It might be a while before something comes available, but that would be ideal. We could still share meals a lot of the time, and drop in for family game night, and so on. Best of all though, it would help Owen feel like he’s a part of both households—the one he knows, and the one we’ll find for the three of us. I think that’s important for him.”

“We’re totally on the same page,” I said.

“Like always.” He shifted around and drew me into his arms. “With the custody hearing just two days away, how are you holding up?”

“Okay, I guess, but it feels like all of us have been holding our breath for the last six weeks. I’ve tried so hard to think positive and believe the judge will rule in our favor, but it’ll be a huge relief to put it behind us once and for all.”

“They’re definitely going to rule in your favor. You’re the best thing for Owen, and everyone knows it.”

“Everyone except the Wilsons,” I reminded him. “To them, I’ll never be anything besides a young, unemployed college drop-out.”

“The only accurate part of that is the word ‘young,’ since you have a job, and you’ve also re-enrolled at UCLA.”

“But it’ll take me two or three years to finish my degree, since I’ll only be taking one class at a time through their distance learning program.”

“It still shows you’re finishing what you started,” he said.

“True. And hopefully the judge will be impressed by the job you fabricated for me.”

“That’s a real job! You’re Suarez Global’s west coast division IT consultant.”

“Thank you again for thinking of that, although my huge salary is absurd for the two or three hours I help out each week.”

“That’s what IT consultants actually make. I looked it up.” When I shot him an incredulous look, he admitted, “Okay, so it’s at the high end of the scale, but still. And you really have been invaluable in setting up our home office.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course.” He kissed my bare shoulder and asked, “Have I mentioned how proud I am of you? Your plate’s been so full, between reregistering for school, helping with the office, and preparing for the custody hearing, but you always manage to give Owen the time and attention he needs.”

“You deserve a lot of the credit, since you’ve been helping me every step of the way. It’s meant so much to me that you’ve been my cheerleader, my safety net, my muse—”

“Oh, I like that last one! Tell me I inspire you to write really sexy code.”

I laughed at that, and then I told him, “You inspire me in all kinds of ways.”

His dark eyes sparkled as he ran a hand down my chest and stomach. “Think I can inspire you to come for the third time in three hours?”

I grinned and said, “Let’s find out.”