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Back The Long and Winding Road
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

He traces the shell of my ear with a finger. “Probably not. But let’s do it anyway.”

I take a deep breath and let it out slow. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

He cups my face, fingers pressing along my jaw as he leans down and kisses me, his nose scraping my chin. He’s warm and tastes like the beer he drank. It’s good. Everything about him is good. “Twins,” he says against my lips. “We’re having twins.”

I smile, and even though it makes the kiss awkward, I don’t care. “Twins.”

“Thank you.”

“For?”

“Your super sperm.”

I laugh, and he kisses my chin and my cheeks and my forehead. “Thank you,” he says again, and it’s fiercely whispered against me, like it’s a secret. Like it’s a prayer. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Life can turn on a dime.

But if you’ve got someone at your side, someone who holds you up when your knees go weak, someone who kisses you every time like it’s the first time, there’s a chance you’ll make it.

I’ve got this.

Whatever might come, I’ve got this.

Because he’s by my side.

He’s up and over the back of the couch, landing on top of me. I complain, telling him he’s too heavy. He laughs against my throat, both of us knowing I’m full of shit. And when he raises himself to rest on his elbows, thumbs tracing over my eyebrows, I tell him I love him because he deserves to hear it as much as possible.

He grins crookedly. “I know. And it’s the best thing you’ve ever given me.”

And maybe we made out on the couch after that, because I couldn’t not. I dare anyone to not try and mack on his face after hearing him say such things.

Impossible. Trust me on that.

8. Where Bear Makes a Promise

JULIE MCKENNA had died five days before Izzie showed up on our doorstep. It was a Sunday, and she’d been at the restaurant where she’d worked as a waitress. Maybe it was the years of smoke and booze, or maybe it was just her time. She’d been carrying a tray of food, and it’d crashed to the floor when she collapsed.

A massive cardiac event, we’re told when we track her to the hospital where she’d been taken. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. There was nothing that could have been done. The woman is apologetic over the phone, and even though I want to tell her it’s nothing, I’ve already identified myself as her son. It wouldn’t be right. She’s just doing her job.