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Chapters (31)
  1. The Long and Winding Road
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
  6. PAST
  7. 1. Where Bear Makes the Wrong Assumption
  8. 2. Where Bear Finds Out
  9. 3. Where Bear Makes a Decision
  10. 4. Where Bear Learns the Art of Breathing
  11. 5. Where Bear Has Bro-Time with Creed
  12. PRESENT
  13. 6. Where Bear Attends the Most Awkward Homecoming Ever
  14. 7. Where Bear Tells Tyson Everything
  15. 8. Where Bear Makes a Promise
  16. 9. Where Bear Goes to Lamaze Class
  17. 10. Where Bear Gets Advice About His Sex Life
  18. 11. Where Bear and Otter Role-Play at a Hotel Bar
  19. 12. Where Bear Faces the Reality of Married Life
  20. 13. Where Bear Sees Everything Change
  21. FUTURE
  22. 14. The Long and Winding Road
  23. Epilogue: Or, Otter’s Perspective, As It Were
  24. Coda
  25. No. Absolutely not. No way.
  26. More from TJ Klune
  27. Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
  28. About the Author
  29. By TJ Klune
  30. Visit Dreamspinner Press
  31. Copyright

The holidays were behind us, and the Kid was back at Dartmouth, making plans for himself. He’d told me that when he was ready to let me know what he was going to do, he’d let me know. And for the first time in a long time, I was trusting him with himself.

So I wasn’t really paying attention when Otter’s phone went off on the kitchen counter. He rubbed a hand over my head as he passed me by, and I made a little noise to acknowledge him, but nothing more.

I didn’t even look up when he sucked in a little breath before answering his phone.

“Hello?” he said, and I wondered if Davey Brewer had ever heard of spell-check, because I was dying. “Hey. Hi. Are you—yeah. He’s here. What do you—hold on. Bear?”

I looked up at him. His face was white, and his hands were shaking a little. “What is it?” I asked, heart suddenly thundering in my chest, because life, man. Life fucking turns on a dime. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to put you on speaker, okay?” Otter said into the phone, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen his eyes so wide. He pulled the phone away from his ear and punched a button on the screen. He set it down on the counter and held his hand out for me.

I was at his side in a second, gripping him tightly.

I looked down at the phone.

The screen said MEGAN.

Oh, Bear, it whispered. Here we go again. Just when you thought—

“Can you hear us?” Otter asked, voice tremulous.

“Yes!” a bright and cheery voice said. “Hi, Bear!”

“Hi, Megan,” I managed to say. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Except for one little thing. And seriously, you guys, this is such a breach of protocol because this should be coming from the clinic, but you know what? I just tried calling the specialist and got voicemail, so when you hear from her, you totally need to act surprised, okay? I don’t want to end up on some banned surrogate list, because you know they exist. So you have to act surprised.”

“About what?” Otter said. “Are you—” His voice broke as he squeezed my hand.

“I hope you’re ready,” Megan Ridley said. “Because I took a pregnancy test this morning. And then I took a second one. And then, just because I could, I took a third one, and guess what? I’m pregnant. Bear. Otter. You guys are having a baby. It worked.”

Life turns. It turns and turns and turns.

But sometimes, it turns for the better.

PRESENT

What matters is to live in the present, live now, for every moment is now.

—Sai Baba

6. Where Bear Attends the Most Awkward Homecoming Ever