| March 31st | Sunday Afternoon |

~ Sam's POV ~

As I rummaged through my shirt drawer, I found an old gray t-shirt with grease stains and a cigarette burn. I pulled it on, along with an old pair of jeans I used to wear when I worked at Buddy's auto shop back in Missouri. I threw my hair up in a pony-tail before making my way out of our bedroom.

Megan sat at the dining room table and looked at me above the readers on her nose.

"Where are you going?" She took notice to my attire. "Are you going work on your car?"

"No, I'm heading to Dane's," I reminded.

The look of confusion told me she didn't remember.

"The new bartender that asked me to take a look at his car?" I continued.

"Oh yeah! Okay, sorry," she apologized sheepishly. "My heads just everywhere, right now."

I gave her a smile and leaned casually on the table. She shifted in her seat and looked up at me.

"You look really hot," I confessed.

"And you still have a thing for glasses, I see," she teased.

"I guess I do."

I brought my face down to kiss her before telling her bye.

"When do you think you'll be home?"

"I don't know." I grabbed my keys. "I think in a few hours. I'll let you know if I plan on staying longer than that."

"Okay. I love you!"

"You better," I teased from the front door. "And I love you too."

Then I was out the door and heading over to Dane's. I couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about hanging out with him outside of work, but not because I feared anything bad coming of it. I just hadn't hung out with anyone other than my work crew and my family. It didn't take me long to make it to his house at all.

He was already outside in the garage in a muscle-shirt and stained jeans. Looks like we had the same idea about attire.

"Hey Sam," he greeted as I walked up.

"Hey." I approached him to see what he was checking out under the hood. "Any luck?"

"Nope." He straightened up. "Do you want anything to drink? I'm gonna grab a water."

I figured he was inviting me inside, so I followed him out of the Florida heat and into the cool comfort of his home. At first glance, it was clear he had recently moved here, given all the boxes and crates strewn about. It wasn't until we made it to the kitchen that things seemed a bit more organized.

"I don't have any alcohol, but we've got sodas and juice and tea..." He grabbed himself a water.

"That's okay." I grabbed a coke from the fridge. "I don't drink anymore."

"Yeah, me neither. Almost three years sober."

I decide not to say anything to his confession. Has he also experienced addiction issues like me? Suddenly, we heard a clamoring in the living room that sounded urgent at first, but when we made it to the noise, we were only met with a dark-haired man who was holding a little boy.

"Sorry." The unfamiliar man apologized. "Me and Andre were just playing Godzilla destroys the city."

I looked past him and noticed toy cars and lego blocks thrown all over the room. Dane said something to him while Andre's honey-brown eyes locked on me. They were the same as Dane's. I quickly wondered if this was his son.

"This is my spouse, and my son Andre," Dane introduced.

The unnamed man extended his free hand and I took it excitedly. The ring on his hand proved he and Dane were, in fact, married.

"I go by J.C., or J, and use they/them pronouns." His – their – smile was contagious. "And you must be Sam? Dane's boss?"

"Just manager, but yeah, that's me."

"Wow. Well, you're gorgeous." J.C. adjusted Andre, who was now squirming in their arms. "I really hope you two can figure out what's wrong with the car because not having transportation has been a real pain in the ass."

"Bad word!" Andre shouted from J.C.'s arms.

"You are absolutely correct, Andre." J.C. cringed and mouthed I'm sorry to Dane who gave a stern frown. "We'll be hanging out in the living room."

"Let's see if we can figure out what's going on," Dane said.

We went back to the garage and I stayed silent with thought. There was just so much information that I was overwhelmed. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was an adjustment. Dane must've taken notice to my silence because he felt the need to address it.

"Are you freaked out?" he wondered.

"About what?"

"Me revealing I'm a recovered alcoholic, my non-binary spouse, my son..."

"I'm not freaked out, Dane," I admitted. "I am overwhelmed with how much I just learned about you, though."

He just laughed.

"I find it's easier to just kinda, lay it all out there and hope it sticks."

"No, yeah, I mean..." I joined his side. "I think it's really fucking cool that you felt comfortable enough to introduce your family to me."

Dane didn't say anything to that, he just smiled and then explained to me what he thought was wrong with his car. We ran through the process of elimination and didn't talk much about his family after that, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was nice to meet more people in the community.

We finally identified the problem and started working on it.

"So, when did you stop drinking?" he asked. "If you feel comfortable enough to tell me, that is."

"Last November," I admitted while adjusting a wench. "I kinda had a drunken, mental breakdown at my brother's wedding and almost ruined my engagement."

I finished tightening the wench and leaned back. This Florida heat was relentless.

"It's hard sometimes..." I looked at him. "How do you still work in bars, being three years sober and all?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders that were now perspiring from the heat.

"It's challenging but..." He leaned forward on his hands. "In a way it helps. I think it just reminds me of my darkest days, and how much I no longer want to return to them."

I just nodded in understanding. In a way, that kind of made a lot of sense.

"So, you said engagement..." he presses.

"Her name is Megan," I bragged. "We haven't set a date yet. There's been a lot of... issues I've had to address with myself."

"It's good you're addressing them sooner than later," he said. "I kinda got shoved into reality and had to fix a lot of things all at once when Andre was born."

I was trying to figure out how Andre had even happened. My confusion must've been obvious, because Dane laughed.

"I'm bisexual, Sam," he admitted. "I was living in Atlanta at the time, sleeping with a handful of people, but there was this girl..." He threw the wrench back into the toolbox. "She told me she was pregnant and that she wanted to terminate the pregnancy."

"Abortion is tough for me, since I was raised in a church, but I didn't want to change her decision, I just wanted her to know how I felt. We talked and it came out that she wasn't completely against giving him up for adoption when the time came. So, we came to an agreement that she would carry him to term if I sobered up and helped her, and that's what I did." He sighed. "Andre was born, and I couldn't let him go, so me and the mom agreed that I would get sole custody."

"That's..."

"Crazy. I know." He shook his head. "I met J.C. not long after that. Andre loved J, almost immediately. We got married last year."

"Well, congrats," I included.

Dane sat behind the wheel and I was intrigued at the fact that Dane just admitted all of that to me. Not only that, but how he just dropped everything to basically take care of his son. A lot of people didn't do that, especially people with addiction issues.

The car cranked and the engine purred.

"Sounds good as new," I said.

"Thank you." He shut the hood. "I would've never figured this out on my own."

"No problem."

Dane shut off the radio in the corner of the garage and threw me a towel to wipe the oil and grease from my hands. Then he drank from his water bottle.

"Maybe you can bring Megan over next time," he suggested.

"Maybe so," I confirmed. "She'll love Andre, that's for sure."

"Thanks again, Sam."

"See you at work!"

Then I left and drove home slowly with a smile on my face. It felt nice, connecting with someone who seemed to share a lot of similar experiences. I mulled over the past few hours and hoped Dane and J.C. could be future friends for Megan and me.

* * *

Another week passed and I allowed Megan to drag me to the foster certification class I promised to attend with her. I arrived with an open mind and left overwhelmed with information and anxiety. I decided to call Blair on my way to work after parting from Megan for the day.

"'Bout time you called," she says when she picked up.

"I'm sorry, I just..." I tried to compose myself. "I'm trying not to freak out right now."

"What's wrong?"

"I just got out of a foster certification class."

"Okay? So, why are you freaking out?"

"I just have a lot of information swarming my brain right now."

"You're panicking because you don't think you're ready for this," Blair accused.

"I mean, am I ready to foster?" I panic over the phone. "I don't know!"

"You're literally just getting certified," Blair calmed. "There is no reason to panic this early on."

"Well, then when is it acceptable to panic?"

"When you and Megan actually settle on fostering a child."

I inhaled and exhaled at the level-headed advice from my best friend and found enough strength to calm down. She was right. There was nothing to panic about right now. We still had to get certified and get placed with a child. That could be months away.

"So, how's your semester going?" I wonder.

"It's fine. I mean, it's school and it's hard, but..." She sighed heavily through the phone. "I really wish my best friend was here sometimes."

"I wish that too," I admit. "All the time."

I went on to tell her about meeting Dane and the rest of his family. She seemed excited to hear I was making friends but remained cautious.

"I'm not possibly being replaced, am I?" she asked.

"I could never replace you, Blair. You know that."

"I guess I'm irreplaceable!" she sings through the phone.

"Duh." I say as I pull up into Crossroads parking lot. "Hey, I just got to work, so I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Don't wait so long to call next time," she says. "I might just show up at your door."

"Yeah right," I tease.

"Don't try me."

"Fine, I'll call more often," I promise. "Talk to you later."

"Love you, fool."

"Love you too, Blair."

***A/N***

Hope everyone is doing well! Here's another gay update! Love you guys!

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Lauryn