“I didn’t say that.” His mom looked at Wes, then back at Braden. “You may have always been surprising us, but we were always proud of you, too. You’ve never been one to back down to anything. You’ve always been a strong, honorable man.”

Wes squeezed his shoulder and Braden looked up and winked at him.

“I took him to a basketball game when he was...oh, I don’t know, about eight,” his dad said.

“No, nine,” Mom confirmed.

“Close enough.” He rolled his eyes at her with a smile. “So we’re at this game and the cheerleaders come out. Braden says, ‘Wow dad, they’re pretty.’”

Braden dropped his head back on Wes’s lap, unable to believe they were going there.

His dad continued. “I told him yes and agreed. A minute later the team comes out, and this time Braden looks at me, dead in the eyes at nine years old, and says, ‘Number twenty-one...he’s cute, too.’”

Wes’s hold on his shoulder loosened and Braden held his hand up, latching their fingers together. “Wow. They’re trying to impress you for me. They’re giving you my coming-out story,” he teased, and Wes’s grip tightened again.

“What did you do?” Wes asked his dad.

“Well, I about swallowed my tongue first. I wasn’t sure what to say, but as I looked at him, I saw it, saw that he was testing me in a way. He was being honest, but he wanted to know it was okay, wanted to make sure I was okay. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t confused, but he’s my son, so I wasn’t going to let him down, either. I told him yeah, that I could see how someone could think that. I told him it was okay for him to think that.”

“Then he tells his dad, ‘I know.’ Can you believe that?” his mom added, and everyone in the room laughed.

“Then he grew up and dated every girl in our high school, including all my friends.” Lizzy raised a brow at him.

“Hey... Not all your friends.”

She rolled her eyes but it was Wes who spoke. “All women?”

Braden looked up at him again and nodded. “It wasn’t as if we had a bunch of guys who were out at my high school.”

“It had been so long since that basketball game and he’d never mentioned anything again.” His mom set her hand on his dad’s leg. “It didn’t matter to us either way, but we just assumed the comment had been, I don’t know, confusion, maybe? As I’m sure you know, Braden had more surprises for us, though.”

Wes laughed, still holding his hand. “Why am I not surprised about that? What he do then?”

“He came home one day his senior year in a horrible mood. He’s so easygoing we almost never see him mad, but that day—”

“I was pissed.” He had been.

His mom picked up the story again. “I asked him what happened, and he said there was a boy at his school who they found out was gay—Gavin, great boy. I’d never heard of him at the time, though. He wasn’t someone that Braden spent time with.”

“He was in the band,” Braden told Wes.

“He was a shy kid, but so sweet. Everyone was giving him a hard time when they found out, though, Braden’s friends included, teasing him and such. So I asked Braden what he did, and he looked me in the eye, shrugged and said, ‘Asked him to prom.’ I won’t say I wasn’t worried. His father and I told him that, too. There are a bunch of—excuse my language, but...ignorant assholes out there. I was worried that he didn’t know what he was doing, or that he’d done that just for Gavin. But he told me, sat me down and told me, ‘I like boys, too, Ma.

“That was all we needed to know. Sure we were still worried, but we were proud as hell of him at the same time. The school fought him, but he took that boy to prom. I don’t know how he realized it, but he knew that if he accepted Gavin, others would, too. Gavin never hung out with Braden when he was with his friends—too different—but they accepted him because Braden did. They accepted Braden with a boyfriend, and they never gave Gavin trouble after that. Bless his heart. It wasn’t as if that poor boy didn’t have enough to deal with.”

Braden tugged Wes’s hand and Wes leaned over him. “See? You landed yourself a pretty incredible man.” He winked and Wes smiled. He’d never get enough of that smile.

***

“A conceited man.” Wes shook his head but kissed Braden on the forehead before sitting up again.

“I didn’t know Braden had a boyfriend in high school.” He looked at Braden’s family, fully knowing where Braden got his traits from. They were good people, good people who loved their family unconditionally. He was honored to be there with them.