My Cowboy and Our Kids

Surprise!

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Tommy replied.

They hugged each other.

"I'm going to make some lunch. Tommy, want to join us?" I asked.

"I'd love to." He smiled at me.

I headed towards the kitchen to make lunch. I pulled out ingredients for spaghetti, but then I realized that Sway was here. I should surprise him by making the same lunch his parents made for us when we first met. It was Shepard's pie.

Just as lunch was ready, I prepared to deliver the meal to the dining room, but then as I neared the door, I overheard them talking about me.

"Why didn't you tell me when you started dating her? Man, you knew that I liked her. I texted you that day before we even left the driveway in Texas before you even met her. You can't marry her. You can't do that to me." Thomas argued.

"You were moving away. What was I supposed to do? Just let her get away? She wouldn't be with either of us if I did that. You know that. I'm sorry, but I love her and I'm going to marry her. There's nothing you can do to change that." Ryder answered.

Are they fighting over me? Ugh, Boys.

When I put the lunch on the dining room table, Tommy was surely surprised.

"No way, Caldwell. You made my favorite." He hugged me and we both smiled and laughed about that day.

"Yeah, I did. Just like your mom made for us back in Texas."

Ryder seemed a bit left out, so I let him know what we were talking about.

"The day Tommy moved out, his mom made us this."

He seemed to be extremely jealous that he wasn't there even though nothing special happened.

We ate lunch in almost complete silence minus the kids whining in their high chairs.

"I heard what you guys said about me," I said finally breaking the silence. "I'm not the last slice of pizza. When I met Tommy, I'm not gonna lie to you, Ryder, I did have a crush on him. I was sad that he was leaving, but I'm with you now. And you need to accept that Thomas. You're best friends. Don't fight over a girl. There's plenty more in this world, and I promise you, Tommy, there's one for you. It's just not me. I'm sorry. Okay?" I asked them.

They still wouldn't look at each other.

I turned both of their heads gently towards each other.

"I'm sorry, man," Tommy said.

"Me too," Ryder answered.

"Now hug it out," I instructed.

They both inched away but then they eventually looked up at my sad face and hugged for me.

"Okay, now that that's over, how about some dessert?" I asked.

The both nodded enthusiastically while I left to get crème brûlée. In case you haven't noticed yet, I've taken several cooking courses because when I first moved out of the city, I couldn't even make canned soup. Once we ate, we watched the football game and then Tommy decided to leave.

He opened our front door and pointed towards the inner "city."

"That house there is mine. Stop by anytime." He stated.

We smiled and said our 'goodbyes' and 'thank you's then Ryder shut the door.

It wasn't even shut before he was picking me up and kissing me.

I pulled my face away, "Slow down." I whispered and pushed my face back towards him.

"I love you." He whispered into my ear.