Chapters (31)
- The Long and Winding Road
- Table of Contents
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
- PAST
- 1. Where Bear Makes the Wrong Assumption
- 2. Where Bear Finds Out
- 3. Where Bear Makes a Decision
- 4. Where Bear Learns the Art of Breathing
- 5. Where Bear Has Bro-Time with Creed
- PRESENT
- 6. Where Bear Attends the Most Awkward Homecoming Ever
- 7. Where Bear Tells Tyson Everything
- 8. Where Bear Makes a Promise
- 9. Where Bear Goes to Lamaze Class
- 10. Where Bear Gets Advice About His Sex Life
- 11. Where Bear and Otter Role-Play at a Hotel Bar
- 12. Where Bear Faces the Reality of Married Life
- 13. Where Bear Sees Everything Change
- FUTURE
- 14. The Long and Winding Road
- Epilogue: Or, Otter’s Perspective, As It Were
- Coda
- No. Absolutely not. No way.
- More from TJ Klune
- Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
- About the Author
- By TJ Klune
- Visit Dreamspinner Press
- Copyright
“That’s right,” Jerry says, arm around his wife’s waist. “It’s been all boys for this family. Except for Izzie here.”
“Please don’t lump me in with them,” Izzie begs.
“This is going to get interesting,” Ian says. “Wait until she gets older.”
“Her milkshake will probably bring all the boys to the yard,” Tyson says solemnly.
“What is wrong with all of you?” I growl at them. “She is a baby. And why can’t my son’s milkshake bring boys to the yard? God, don’t be sexist.”
They all gape at me.
I frown. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that—”
“Holy shit!” Dom says, and we all turn slowly to look at him, because he never cusses. Ever.
“What is it?” Ty asks.
“You never even told us their names,” Dom says to Otter and me. “None of us even thought to ask.”
Everyone focuses on us eagerly.
It’s funny, this. Here. Now. Out of everything that’s happened, it feels like this moment is both an ending and a beginning.
“You ready for this?” Otter asks, putting his arms around my shoulders.
“More than you know,” I tell him, kissing his jaw. “Want to do the honors?”
“Okay,” Otter says, looking out at our family. “Everyone, we’d like you to meet—”
FUTURE
The youth is the hope of our future.
—José Rizal
14. The Long and Winding Road
“WHY ARE you freaking out?” Otter asks me, looking amused as he leans against our bedroom doorway. “If anything, I would think it’d be Ty that would—”
“I’m not freaking out,” I snap at him, trying to fix this stupid fucking tie that is obviously broken because it’s not working.
“You look like you’re about to choke yourself.”
“I’m about to choke you.”
“That… wasn’t as threatening as you think it was. It definitely didn’t help that I think you’re adorable when you get angry.”
“Otter, I swear to god that I’m going to—”
He laughs, pushing himself up off the doorway, walking toward me. And since Otter Thompson is in a tailored gray suit, I might stare at his reflection in the mirror just a little, doing my best to keep from drooling. Or, even worse, tearing off both our suits and bending him over the bed and fucking him senseless.
He must see it somehow in my eyes, because he smiles that crooked little smile as he comes to stand behind me, his front pressed firmly against my back. His lips scrape against my ear in a move that has to be nothing but intentional as he reaches around me, knocking my hands away as he starts to fiddle with the tie that I apparently don’t know how to work.
“It’s going to be okay,” he says.
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
He shrugs. “Just doesn’t sound like you know, is all.”