Page 151 of Not Safe For Work

Epilogue

A couple of years later.

From the passenger seat, Rick smiled at me. “So how does it feel to be the dad of a college graduate?”

“Pretty amazing.” I grinned as I pulled the car into a parking space. As I put the car in Park, I added, “Kind of old, but amazing.”

He laughed, patting my leg. “Just wait and see how old you feel when you’re walking her down the aisle.”

“I am so not ready for that.”

“You have plenty of time to get ready for it.” He leaned across the console and kissed my cheek. “I mean, three months is enough time, right?”

I tried to glare at him, but we both laughed. I slid my arm around his shoulders and kissed him.

We exchanged glances. Oh, he knew he was in for it tonight. That little smartass comment had earned him a cock cage tomorrow unless he redeemed himself after we got home. Knowing him, he’d try his damnedest. I couldn’t wait.

But that would come later. Assuming either of us had any energy left after Kelsey’s graduation this afternoon, and the celebratory dinner we were about to have with the whole clan.

I shut off the engine, and we headed into the restaurant.

This place didn’t take reservations, and we had a large group since Karen, the kids, and all of their respective partners would be here, so Rick and I had come in early to make sure we got a table. The employees rearranged some tables in the back to make one big one, and the hostess seated us. The whole process hadn’t taken long at all, so we had the table to ourselves for the next twenty minutes or so.

I sat down and set Kelsey’s gifts on the chair beside me.

Rick stayed on his feet. “Budweiser, or see what’s on tap?”

“Budweiser’s fine.” I smiled. “Thanks.”

He smiled back and then headed up to the mostly deserted bar to get us a couple of drinks.

Alone with my thoughts, I sat back and released a long breath. What a day. What a year. And it wasn’t over yet. I wasn’t just the father of a college graduate. In a few months, I’d have a son-in-law. Brooke and her girlfriend were making noise about getting married too, and Karen was already insisting on paying for her wedding just like she was paying for Kelsey’s.

Tyler and his girlfriend hadn’t said a word about weddings—I was pretty sure neither was interested in the whole institution—but they were saving to buy a house together after they graduated. I was thrilled for all of them, but I’d warned them all that I was not to be a grandfather before I turned fifty. With the way Kelsey and her fiancé kept swooning over every baby within a ten-mile radius, I probably wasn’t going to win this one. And even if I wouldn’t admit it out loud, I was pretty okay with that.

It was just hard to believe how much everything was changing. My family was growing up and expanding. My boyfriend and I were, as my daughters were wont to say, stupidly in love. We were living together now. His job ebbed and flowed, and sometimes he worked long days that rivaled the grueling periods at Mitchell & Forsythe, so he’d be home at ten and back to the office at six. But those precious few hours at home were spent in the same bed, even when we were both too exhausted to even think about sex, and when he went to work every day, he wore a slim leather collar beneath his shirt and tie.

My career had, of course, been through its share of upheaval, especially after I’d decided to leave my job. I just couldn’t keep working for those people, even after Rick had put them in their place, so I’d started looking for another job. I’d been right about one thing—no one in town would hire me. It was never blatantly clear why. Maybe they were looking to switch to more modern modeling techniques. Maybe they didn’t want a forty-something modeler when there were twenty-somethings who’d do it for half the price. Maybe they’d heard the truth about why I wanted to leave the firm, and didn’t particularly want someone on the payroll who might jeopardize a valuable contract with his dick. It could have been anything. All I knew was, six months down the line, I’d still been working for the firm and hunting for something better.

It was Marie who’d ultimately helped me find something. She knew someone at the architectural college downtown, and their course program was in dire need of experienced modelers and drafters who did know the old-school ways. Three interviews later, I was hired. Though it had taken a while for the dust to settle, I was content with where things were now.

The NSFW crew didn’t last much longer than I did. Teagan had wisely been taking 3D modeling classes for the past year or two, and a rival firm snatched her up after one interview. Bianca and Cal both moved to one of the aerospace companies. Scott and Silent Dave both went part-time and went back to school. In fact, Silent Dave was my TA this semester, and I was working with Scott to get him a job teaching computer-aided drafting.

I missed working with them, but we all made a point to get together at Arturo’s at least twice a month, and Teagan and I still had sushi on a regular basis. In fact, now that Rick and I were living together—I’d moved in a little under a year ago—he frequently had me invite the crew over. He loved cooking for the whole group, and it was good to see everybody. Between them and my kids visiting whenever they were off school, his enormous house didn’t feel so empty anymore, and he’d decided not to downsize after all. Which was great as far as I was concerned. After all that work we’d both put into converting one of the empty rooms into a dungeon, it’d be a shame to have to tear it all out and sanitize it so the house could go on the market. That had been enough of a pain in the ass when I’d put my place up for sale.

Life was good. Hell, life was fantastic. Things were crazy, things were changing faster than I could keep up with them, but I was happy. I liked the way things were, chaos and all.

Footsteps shook me out of my thoughts, and I looked up as Rick came back with a couple of beer bottles in hand. He set one in front of me, then sat across from me with his own. “Doing okay?”

I nodded. “Just…thinking.”

He sipped his beer. “A little overwhelmed?”

“You could say that. Man, I thought it was weird having kids in college. Now they’re starting to finish college.” I blew out a breath as I brought my beer up to my lips. “I can’t believe one of my kids is on her way to graduate school. That’s just…” I shook my head. “Hard to fit in my head, I guess.”

“I can imagine.”

We drank in silence for a moment, and as I watched him, nervous excitement swelled in my chest. I glanced at my watch—no one would be here for another fifteen minutes or so. There was time.