Then I heard them. I heard Camden snarl at something, and August said, “Easy, boy. I’ll grab your bags before you tear off the handle.”

“That’s the smallest elevator in the galaxy,” Camden huffed.

I grinned and felt my eyes sting with tears, so I sniffled and blinked back my emotions before I opened the door and saw them. My God, they were in New York. And they’d seemingly brought all of Nashville with them. I counted two rollaboard bags, two smaller pieces of luggage, and two backpacks.

“What on earth are you two doing here?” I asked.

Camden turned to me and beamed, and then he was running straight into my arms. “Hi! We’ve come to visit! Are you surprised?”

I couldn’t begin to describe just how surprised I was.

I hugged him tightly and couldn’t stop smiling against the beanie on his head.

“I hope it’s not a bad time, darlin’, but we couldn’t wait.” August’s voice—how I’d fucking missed it.

As soon as he was within reach, I pulled him to me too. “In my opinion, it’s been long enough.”

He cupped my cheek and kissed me, and the sheer happiness that bubbled up within me was goddamn surreal. Suddenly, I was alive again. Then it was as if someone lit a fire under me, and I wanted them to make themselves comfortable in my home.

“Let’s get youse settled.” I bent down and grabbed two bags, and Camden stayed plastered to me as I tried to get everything into the entryway. “I’ll take your jacket, ciccio.”

Camden felt that was the best time to start rambling. “I bet you’re wondering why we’re here, and it’s because Daddy finally understood that I know what’s best for us, and it’s to be together,” he said. “I know you have lots of work, and so do we, but we can work from anywhere right now. So, I was like, we should go to Anthony in New York and live with him and continue to fall in love and so I can call him Daddy too, cuz I really want to. And Daddy hesitated at first—he said we should give you space and not crowd you, but I told him he was wrong and that this was what we needed. This is what I’ve been dreaming about for so long, and, I mean, yeah, my original plan was to just see where things went and hope for playtime with a third partner, so Daddy could get used to the idea, but you turned out so perfect for us, you know, and—”

“Jesus Christ, breathe, my sweet goofball.” I cupped his face in my hands and grinned down at him.