Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
You flashed that intoxicating grin of yours and kissed me hard.
CHAPTER 2
Seventeen years ago
Boston
Ash Riley
“I’m still torn,” Mr. Mills was saying. “I do want grandchildren one day, but the fact that you’re moving to Boston the same month we move to Virginia is just a cosmic slap in the face.”
I chuckled breathlessly and carried the next two boxes into the apartment.
“Focus on the grandchildren, Dad,” Nathan said. “It’s not forever.”
Definitely not. Philly was home. I mean, Nathan could even pronounce Schuylkill correctly these days.
“Besides, Mr. Mills, we’ll come visit you in Arlington,” I added.
“How many times do I need to tell you to call me Keith, son?”
I smiled. “I’m working on it.”
I was getting there. In my defense, Nate’s folks were still a new feature in our lives. I’d first met them shortly after he and I had celebrated our one-year anniversary. Then right before our third, they’d started visiting more frequently because they wanted to travel the coast and see which city they’d like to relocate to. Nate’s stepmom wanted to be closer to family, and his dad wanted to be closer to Nate.
Eventually, they’d found DC. Or Arlington, rather. And yeah, it was close to Philly, but Boston wasn’t a world away.
I reckoned we’d like it here. I had a decent job lined up, and Nathan had a nice résumé and several interviews scheduled. Our apartment was nice too, with big windows overlooking the river six flights up. A small one-bedroom just for us.
I returned downstairs, where my brother was wrestling our couch out of the moving truck.
“Theo, you gotta lift it in the back. It’s stuck in—”
“I see it, I see it,” he grunted. “Do you think it’ll fit in the elevator?”
I fucking hoped so.
With help from our dads and my brother, we emptied the two moving trucks and got all our shit into our new place in a few hours. After that, Theo was drained and wanted to catch the game back at his hotel, and our dads were on a bonding quest, so they ditched us to find a sports bar or steakhouse, whichever.
I was fine with that.
More than fine with it.
While I ordered pizza, Nathan found a chair for our stereo, and he put on some music and lit a few candles. We currently had our two nightstand lamps providing most of the light.
The living room and combined kitchen were a maze of moving boxes and furniture.
“Come here, baby. You gotta see this.”
I zigzagged between boxes and climbed over his reading chair before I reached him and what could be the best feature of the condo. Those big, arched windows.
He pointed east and grabbed my hand. “Look at the river.”
It’d gotten dark. The city center glittered along the river edges, and I took a deep breath. This was it. This was our next step. I’d once thought this was going to be primarily my own fight, but Nathan had gotten involved in local politics more and more this past year. He’d told me about six months ago that it was time. Our votes could do more good in Massachusetts now.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he murmured.
I glanced at him and draped an arm around his shoulder instead, and I pressed my lips to his temple.
“Very.”
He smiled and turned in my arms, sticking his hands down the pockets of my jeans. “Are you ready to fight?”
I drew a deep breath and rested my forehead to his. “I’m ready to tell motherfuckers who claim reproduction is the central purpose of marriage to jump off a cliff.”
“That makes two of us,” he said quietly. “But we might wanna fine-tune the approach.”
I chuckled through my nose and closed my eyes.
We had both been fortunate to grow up in environments where acceptance had been genuine and immediate, but even to us, fighting for basic rights could wear us down. We weren’t asking for special treatment. We just wanted to be recognized as equals who could raise children as well as a straight couple. And everything was tangled up in policy about marriage, whether it was adoption laws or health care through work that was supposed to extend to partners.
We could take the risk and adopt as single parents. Some had done it. Some had tried, and then they’d gotten caught in the midst of home visits and interviews. But we didn’t want to hide who we were. We didn’t even want to get married just because we had to in order to build our family.
They were talking semantics in this state. Marriage, civil marriage, civil union. Fucking bullshit.
Whatever. We were going to fight. It was easier in Massachusetts at the moment, so this was where we were going to be. We’d attend protests. We’d ask elected officials how many gay couples had abandoned their kids compared to how many straight couples. We’d ask local residents who they’d rather leave their kids alone with, a gay couple or a Catholic priest. I didn’t give a flying fuck who I offended in the process.