“Hello? Did you forget about me? You know, the son you gave birth to,” Trevor teased. He walked over and took the rest of the bags from her.

“Of course not, you big baby. Always wanting the attention.” She smiled and gave Trevor a hug. “Now go, go. We have a lot to do before everyone arrives!”

“Always the slave-driver.” Trevor playfully rolled his eyes before he, Simon, and his mom went into the kitchen he shared with Simon. Two months after he’d gotten out of rehab, he moved in officially.

“Where’s your brother? He told me he was coming over early to help.” Trevor’s mom began emptying bags as Simon put the cake in the fridge.

“Oh, he came over early alright. He’s out back on Trevor’s bike. We can hardly keep him off the thing when he’s here.”

Trevor thought a lot while in rehab for the second time, about his life, what he had and what he wanted. He needed positive things in his world that he cared about. Yes, he had his family, Rock Solid, and Simon, but he needed some things that were just for him as well.

He’d gotten back into riding motocross and realized it was a good way to release stress. He tore up half of the back of their property riding, but it was one of the things he enjoyed most. As much as he loved Simon, Simon couldn’t be everything to him, just like Trevor couldn’t be everything to Simon. They loved each other—God, he loved the man so fucking much—but it was important for Trevor to live every aspect of his life, just as it was for Simon.

“I still don’t think we need to have this party. I feel ridiculous.” Simon looked over at Trevor, and Trevor smiled.

“Yes, we do. You not only wrote a book, but you sold it to a major publishing house. We need to have this party.” Trevor pulled Simon over and kissed him.

“Okay, enough with that. Can you two help me? Everyone will be here soon.” His mom tapped her foot, pretending to be annoyed.

“Are you sure you want our help? You’ve seen what we do in the kitchen,” Simon told her.

She thought a minute. “You know what? You’re right. Go make yourselves useful somewhere else. Send Jason in to help me when he gets here.”

A few hours later, the lower floor of their house was full of people—some of Trevor’s friends from his meetings, Alan and Heather, who were four months pregnant. The crew from Rock Solid were all there, Dr. Pham, and some more of Simon’s colleagues from San Francisco, along with the staff from the small clinic that Simon had just opened in Rockford Falls. They’d only been in business a couple weeks. The process was longer than they’d realized, but Simon was an attending physician again.

Rock Solid picked up business in the past year as well. They still had a ways to go, but they had enough work to keep them all steady, which was what mattered.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Blake nudged Trevor from behind as he watched Simon speaking with Heather.

“Good.” He still couldn’t believe this was his life sometimes. That he’d made it. It would be a battle forever. He knew that. But he’d made it.

“Things are going well with Simon’s practice?” Blake asked.

“Yeah, it’s good.” He’d wondered in the beginning if Simon would miss San Francisco, if he would wish he’d gone back, but Trevor didn’t think he did. Simon was happy. They both were.

“It’s so strange to see you like this. Good, but weird. You did real good, big brother—your sobriety, your career, Simon. You did real good,” he said again. “I’m proud of you.”

Trevor would never get tired of hearing that. “Thanks, little brother. I couldn’t do it without you.” His brother, his best friend.

“Yeah, you could. But thanks. Have you seen Jason?”

“He’s around here somewhere,” Trevor replied. “He was on the front porch on his phone a little while ago.”

Blake nodded and walked away to find Jason just as Simon headed toward Trevor. “I’m horny. Think we can sneak out of here without anyone noticing?” Trevor asked him, resulting in Simon grinning.

“I wish.”

Trevor wrapped his arms around Simon. “I think you’re enjoying this party more than you’d like to admit, Dr. Malone.”

“Maybe I am.” Simon fingered the coin on a chain around Trevor’s neck. It was his coin for being two years sober. Simon wore Trevor’s one year coin around his neck. “I’m a lucky man...I can’t believe this is my life sometimes.”

It didn’t escape Trevor’s attention that Simon used the same words Trevor had thought earlier. Neither could believe this was their life.