Rhone kissed the top of my head. “You, my love, are beautiful — inside and out.” I need to find out what I did to deserve Rhone so I could continue to do it for the rest of my life.
“I’ll finally have someone with a fashion sense to shop with,” Zoey added.
“Says she who wears nothing but cartoon pajama pants,” Damian told her, she flipped him off and Aunt Adrianna smacked the back of both their heads. How quickly the room went from a heated discussion to filled with sounds of laughter.
After the hugs and gifts were exchanged, Katy and I went to the kitchen to start serving the pie. “You’re good for him you know,” she said to me.
“Good for him how?” I asked.
“Rhone was lost for a while. Yes, I know he’s only twenty-one, but I know my boy and he was wandering. Now he’s found his footing and the one who fills his heart with joy.”
Her words brought on the waterworks as I did my best to not let the tears fall. “Hush,” I teased her. “You’re gonna ruin an hour’s worth of make-up application.”
She kissed my cheek as she sat the last plate on the serving tray. “I couldn’t be prouder to call you son.”
Ely and I spent a nice, quiet New Year’s Eve at home. He only had a couple days left of holiday break before it was back to school for finals. Chef had given each of them a list of extremely challenging meals to prepare and Ely was a nervous wreck and as expected, he kicked ass and impressed the hell out of Chef. He’d decided to move in with me after graduation and finally, after much begging on my part, agreed to let me throw him a graduation party at our house. Jordan offered to cater it and Mom was helping with decorations. I’d custom ordered his gift which was due to arrive any day now, so I kept a watchful eye on the Ring app on my phone for any deliveries being dropped off out front.
Ely was only allotted four tickets for the ceremony itself, so Mom, Leo, Jordan and I attended but when we got back to the house everyone else was waiting.
“Surprise!” they yelled as soon as Ely walked in the house.
“Oh my God, you gave me a heart attack,” Ely said, clutching his chest.
“Sorry, but we couldn’t leave anyone out.” Mom, Jordan, Uncle Tony, Aunt Adrianna, Damian, Zoey, Grandma Jean were there. My band brothers, David, Seltzer and Chase were in attendance along with Easton, Diamond, Joey and Stoli, Mickey, Benny and River. Ely would never be alone again.
After we’d eaten, Easton said to Ely, “May I steal you away from your party for a moment? I’d like to discuss that business proposition with you.”
Leo was busy fanboying out over not only the guys from Social, but my bandmates too. I hope he had enough self-control not to hit on the Social guys considering they were all spoken for. At Ely’s request, I followed him and Easton out to the back patio. Much to my surprise, Jordan joined us a few minutes later.
“Ely, I was serious that day in the hospital when I said I wanted you to be the Masterson chef,” Easton said. Ely’s eyes damn near bulged out of his head.
“What would that consist of exactly?” Ely asked.
“Well for starters, when Embrace goes out on the road, you’d go with them. You can cook when you want and when there is a kitchen for you to do so in, otherwise you would oversee the caterers we hire in the different cities. You’d create the menus with hopefully healthier options than what they’ve been receiving.”
I groaned.
“Rhone,” Ely said. “There’s a way to eat healthy without compromising taste. Trust me.”
“I do. But I like my sugar,” I admitted, Ely rolled his eyes at me. The little minx’s sassy side was coming out more and more over the passing weeks. I for one adored the shit out of it.
“What happens when they’re not on the road? I don’t want to be out of work for months at a time,” Ely said.
“That’s where Jordan comes in,” Easton said, pointing to Jordan. “For us, you’ll be creating the menus for all the bands whether you’re on the road with them or not.”
“And when you are back in Vegas, you’ll be working with me. As my business partner,” Jordan said, shocking the shit out of both Ely and me.
“What?” Ely questioned.
“Ely, I’d like for you to go into business with me. We’ve already got our first two high profile clients,” Jordan said, beaming while Easton smiled. “We’ve been asked to cater not only Ryder and Max’s wedding, but now Derek and Logan’s as well,” Jordan explained.
“Oh, holy shit!” I said.
“You’d really want me to be your partner? You’ve worked so hard to build your business,” Ely told Jordan.
“Which is exactly why I need a partner I can trust. What do you say, Ely?” Jordan asked.
Ely glanced over at me. “It’s your call, babe. Sounds like a win-win from my side. We’d get to tour together so we’d never be apart. When we’re home, you’d get to work with your bestie.”
Ely and Jordan were up and out of their chairs at the same time, embracing each other.
“So, is that a yes?” Easton asked.
Ely wiped the tears away with the back of his hand, nodding profusely. “That’s a definite yes,” Ely replied.
“Excellent, I’ll email the contract to you,” Easton said. “Now to rescue the cake from the bottomless pit I married.”
How could I be so lucky? To have all these amazing people in my life. People who put family first and tried to keep families together. None of them out for themselves, only to make sure they not only succeeded but those they loved did as well. Where some saw a bunch of young radicals, they saw potential and nurtured it. No one batted an eye at the fast forward motion Ely and my relationship took. They saw two people in love, and they cradled that love, guiding it and giving it hope.
When the four of us went back inside, Jordan passed around champagne flutes. Tapping the side of my glass a couple of times, I finally got the rowdy group’s attention. “I’d like to propose a toast. Ely, when you stepped into my life I said all the wrong things, making a fool of myself. Somehow, this fool found a way to get you to look past that and give him a chance. I’m so ridiculously proud of you. You worked hard to achieve your goal and finish school. This my love…” I gestured around the room, seeing the faces of our friends and family smiling back at us. “This is for you. Congratulations Ely, I love you. To Ely!”
“To Ely,” our guests repeated, holding their flutes in the air.
While the cake was passed around, Ely opened his presents. I’d never seen so many gift cards to Williams Sonoma in my life, nor had I ever stepped foot in one. Without a doubt I knew I soon would be. When Ely opened my gift, an official chef’s coat with Executive Chef, Ely Pearcy embroidered over the left breast, I leaned over, whispering in his ear, “I want you to wear that to bed tonight, with nothing under it.” His cheeks darkened so much they were damn near purple. But it was worth it.
As the guests filtered out, Ely and I started cleaning up. “Hey, I’m gonna toss these rags in the basket on top of the washer,” I hollered over my shoulder to him.
“Here, take these too,” Ely said, handing them to me.