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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
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There was a beat of silence, and then Creed burst out laughing. “Dude! Holy shit, I love you. Fuuuuck, you are the coolest kid in the world. And don’t tell your mom I said fuck or shit. And don’t tell her about the peanut butter.”

“What’ll you give me if I don’t?”

“A dollar.”

“Two dollars.”

“Deal. Now go into the bathroom. I’ll be there in a minute. And if you touch anything on your way there, I am going to tell that monster in your closet that it’s open season on little boys tonight, you hear me?”

JJ screamed.

“Kids are so stupid,” Creed said fondly. “He looks like he just crawled out of someone’s asshole. God, I love him so much.”

“I don’t know if you’re the best parent, or the worst.”

“Eh. As long as he doesn’t grow up to be evil, I’m cool. Don’t tell Anna I said that.”

“What’ll you give me if I don’t?”

“A dollar.”

I snorted. “I’m not cheap like your son—and wow, I wish that hadn’t come out like that.”

“Gross, dude,” Creed said. “Stop calling my child a cheap trick. That’s fucked-up.”

“Shut up.”

“You’re going to get through this, you know?”

I sighed. “You think?”

“Yeah. If there’s anyone that can do it, it’s you, Bear. You—man, I know I don’t say this often enough, but you’re the strongest person I know, okay? Like, I don’t know that anyone could have done what you did. You’re aces in my book, dude. I love you. And if you tell anyone I got all gay with you on the phone… well. That’s fine. I’m secure in my masculinity. In fact, you can tell anyone you want. Because I’m sensitive.”

“I love you too.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’ve got this, okay? You and Otter. Hell, consider it practice for when you finally stop being a little bitch and get my brother pregnant.”

I sputtered a long time after that.

IT TOOK him a long time—well over a year—before he came to us and apologized, eyes pointed toward his feet, hand twisting in his pocket. “I just—I’m going to get better. I’m going to be better.”

I cried a little.

He made fun of me, telling me I was getting soft in my old age, and if I worried any more, I’d lose more hair than I already had, and man, didn’t it look like my hairline was receding even more?

I threw a magazine at his head in outrage.

Otter rolled his eyes and said he didn’t know why he put up with either of us.

The Kid and I both said bullshit at the same time.

We both looked a little startled.

Then we laughed.

It was a start.

3. Where Bear Makes a Decision

FINALLY ONE April he came to us again, looking more nervous than he’d been in a long time.

“I had a thought,” he said as we sat around the kitchen table, the windows open, the spring air clean and warm.