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Cass grimaced inwardly as he thanked the Lyft driver and hopped out of the car, shouldering his duffle bag. He gripped his phone in one hand and, frowning, glanced down at the time. His stomach immediately sank.

He was late. Like late, late. Like a good forty-five minutes late. And he wasn’t entirely sure where he was going.

Spinning around, he quickly scanned the area where the driver had dropped him off. At the top of a short stairway to his right, there was a pop-up sign with balloons tied to it and an arrow pointing toward a large brick building. With another frown, he broke into a jog and took the steps two at a time, hoping the arrow was pointing him in the right direction. He sighed with relief when he got to the top step and saw the Alaska Airlines Arena sign over a set of red brick arches leading into the building. Several university staff members stood at the double doors, ushering in a few other latecomers.

He jogged the rest of the way over, shoved his phone into his pocket, and followed another person in through the doors. As soon as he stepped inside, he could hear a speaker talking about something related to the importance of education and shaping future generations, the sound carrying from the main arena. He didn’t stop to try to listen, and instead, he followed the signs to the section where Henry, Joanna, and Bri were supposed to be sitting. By the time he entered through the hallway into the arena, located the rest of the group, and slipped into his seat next to Joanna and Bri, the speaker, apparently a graduating student in the university’s PhD program, had just finished and sat back down.

“Cass! Cass!” Bri whisper-squealed, crawling out of Joanna’s arms and into Cass’s lap. He quickly pushed his duffle bag onto the floor under his feet as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Then she leaned back a bit and planted one of her adorable kisses right on his nose with a loud “mwah!”

He couldn’t help but smile, because Bri always made him smile. But his heart still raced and his stomach churned. He’d almost missed it. The delay at the airport in Redding, the additional delay once the plane had landed here in Seattle, and heavy traffic from the airport to campus had eaten into the entire several-hour buffer he should have had. And that had been making all of his other insecurities rear their ugly heads, too.

“Cass, it’s so great to finally meet you,” Joanna greeted as the announcer continued speaking on the stage.

Pushing away any negativity still wanting to surface—because now was definitely not the time for it—Cass looped one arm around Bri to hold her and twisted slightly, reaching out to offer his hand to Joanna and then to Henry, who leaned over from his seat on the other side of Joanna. “Mrs. Waller, Mr. Waller, it’s great to finally meet you, too.” He shook both of their hands and then settled back in his seat, shifting Bri so she was maybe more comfortable. “So sorry I was late,” he added. “Our plane was stuck on the runway and there was traffic.”

“You didn’t miss much,” Joanna said quietly, giving him a kind, knowing smile. “Bri has been talking about you nonstop, though.”

“Cass! Cass here see Un-ca Ash!” Bri piped in, as though she’d heard her name. She bounced up and down in his lap, and that made him grin again.

“I’m finally here, huh?” he said with a light laugh.

“Yes! Yes! Un-ca Ash down there!” She pointed enthusiastically down toward where all the graduating students sat.

Joanna leaned in closer as the announcer began calling up students, starting with those receiving doctoral degrees. “Ash is in about the sixth row from the back, you see his cap?”

“Awwie! Awwie!” Bri bounced up and down, clapping again, and Cass had to suppress a laugh as he found his boyfriend. On the top of Ash’s cap, he’d glued a paper painted with a blue octopus, just like Bri’s stuffed toy.

As though Ash had heard his niece, he turned around in his seat and looked in their direction. Ash’s smile grew wide and bright when his eyes met Cass’s, and Cass’s heart skipped a beat. Ash waved, and Bri squealed again, still bouncing and clapping.

Cass pursed his lips as his own smile grew, and he lifted a hand to wave back. Ash held his gaze for several more seconds before giving him a soft nod. Then he waved to Bri again, making her giggle hysterically, before turning back to the front to watch as the other graduates were called up.

The ceremony continued. After the PhD students, those graduating with master’s degrees were called up. Finally, after another short speech, this time by an undergrad, Ash and the other bachelor’s degree recipients stood and made their way to either side of the stage to get their pictures taken and await their turn for their names to be called.

Cass’s chest swelled with pride as he watched his boyfriend follow the other students up and around to the right side of the stage. It felt like so much bigger of a moment than what it was given, knowing everything Ash had been through to get here. He swallowed back a bunch of overwhelming emotions, most of them good this time, as Ash made his way up the steps and handed a small paper to the announcer.

“Asher Thomas Finnley,” came the voice through the loudspeaker.

Joanna and Henry cheered, as did some others in the crowd, and Cass blinked away tears and joined in, holding Bri tight as she squirmed around and clapped along with everyone else. Ash glanced toward them as he walked across the stage.

“Un-ca! Un-ca! Yay yay yay!”

Ash must have heard Bri, because his grin became even bigger. He lifted both hands and formed a heart, and Bri squealed again. Ash laughed and shook his head, his eyes so bright and happy. It was a beautiful moment.

He paused right in the middle of the stage, where a ramp led back down to the student seating, turned, and grinned again, lifting up his hand to wave at them. From next to Cass, Joanna had pulled out her phone, and she said something like, “Oh, I wish Rose and Tom were here to see this.”

“Un-ca Ash, Cass! See! See!” Bri pointed again.

There was a tug in Cass’s chest as he nodded, tightening his arm around Bri. “I see him, sweet girl. He did it, huh?”

“He did it!” she repeated, clapping. “He did it, he did!”

The ceremony continued only for another twenty minutes or so and concluded with short closing remarks by the dean of the College of Education. Then, it was over.

Cass stood along with Joanna and Henry and shifted Bri to his hip as he picked up his duffle bag. They made their way outside, along with the rest of the crowd, exiting through a different set of doors than Cass had come in. They ended up in a small courtyard, and Joanna led them over to a circular garden filled with colorful rose bushes in full bloom, where they’d planned to meet up with Ash after the ceremony.

Not more than a couple of minutes later, Bri started squirming.

“Un-ca Ash! Un-ca Ash!”