Chapter Twenty-Four

LEO HAD to escape at lunchtime the next day to go see his mom and catch her up on what had happened at Flair. She didn’t keep close tabs on him, though he was pretty sure the news about the laced drugs would hit the local news, and he wanted her information to come from him, not some media source with an agenda.

Leo’s mom had always been good at getting him to talk about things he didn’t particularly want to tell her. It was for that reason she’d known when he lost his virginity. And who his date to prom was. And that he was gay. So he spent the drive over mentally rehearsing how he’d tell her that he was back with Jackson.

“Hello, darling.”

“Hey, Mom.”

Leo leaned in to kiss her cheek, then bundled them both back into the warm house. The heavy clouds overhead were threatening snow, and it was certainly cold enough outside that it felt like a real possibility.

“You’re baking?” Leo asked.

“There’s a fundraiser at the church tonight,” she said as they made their way back to the kitchen. “A potluck supper too, but I said I’d bake. So here we are, with plenty to do. Do you want to help with the bread?”

Leo was good at bread.

“Sure.”

He washed up in the sink while his mom went back to the cake batter on the counter. All his life Leo had helped his mom when she’d made big batches of homemade bread, cakes, and cookies. Baking was how she de-stressed, so he’d gotten good at helping.

For a while, Leo had been a chubby kid.

“I need to tell you about something,” Leo said.

“Oh?”

“But I’m going to spoil the ending by telling you it all worked out okay and everyone’s fine.”

His mom narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not sure I like this.”

Leo grinned at her, then gave a heavily edited version of events from the night before. His mother did not need to know he was wearing leather booty shorts and bondage gear while helping resuscitate drugged partygoers. He wasn’t even into bondage. It just looked nice.

“It sounds like you had an eventful night.”

“Yeah,” Leo agreed. “I’m guessing Flair will be closed while the police investigate.”

“Everyone’s okay?”

“A few people are in the hospital. But yeah. We’re okay.”

“Good.”

They worked in companionable silence, the radio providing a comforting background noise under the rhythmic whirring of the stand mixer. Leo easily got lost in his own thoughts, still processing his experiences the night before.

When he’d woken up that morning, he’d called a friend at the hospital, wanting to check in on the people who’d been seriously hurt. No one had died, thank God, but a few were in critical condition. The next few days would see whether or not they made it through.

In these situations, Leo was glad he’d never pursued a career in medicine. He wasn’t good at “wait and see,” and even now he had trouble separating his emotions from his work.

“Leo. Leo.”

It took one more attempt for Leo’s mom to get his attention.

“Sorry,” he said, looking over at her.

“You’re punching that dough like you’re trying to destroy it,” she said with a fond smile. Then it slipped. “Are you okay, baby?”

“I’m fine,” Leo said, slapping more flour on his hands. He shaped the dough into a ball, then dumped it on a baking sheet. He picked up a knife and slashed a deep cross into the top of the ball, then covered it with a light cloth.

“No, you’re not.” She kept a hard eye on Leo as he went to the sink and washed his hands of the sticky dough. “I’ll make some coffee.”

He didn’t bother arguing.

“Sorry, the cake isn’t ready yet, or I’d cut you a slice.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Leo went to the cupboard where he knew his dad hid the good kind of chocolate chip cookies, and took them back to the kitchen table. He took a seat while his mom made two mugs of coffee and brought them over.

“But it looks like you’ve found the cookies. So how’s Jackson?”

He contemplated evading the question. Leo really wasn’t sure how he was feeling about the whole situation. Before Leo had left to visit his parents, Jackson had said he wanted to go out to Nine Mile Falls and shift and run. Leo was worried Jackson wasn’t shifting as much as he wanted since he’d moved to the city, especially when Leo was at the condo. But he didn’t really know how to approach the topic with Jackson.

His mom had more patience than anyone else Leo knew and simply sat and sipped while she waited him out.

“Jackson bought a new home. In the city. Riverside.”

“Oh.”

“He’s bought the unit on the first floor of the building too. He’s going to rebuild the brewery there rather than out at the old house.”

“Why has he done that?”

“Because of me, I think,” Leo admitted. He split open the packet of cookies and took two. “Or at least partially because of me. We’re trying to work things out.”

“And how’s that going?”

“Okay, actually. It feels like we’re on a more even keel. I think he wants to have a real relationship.”

Leo’s mom nodded and set her mug on the table. She remained expressionless as she reached up and tugged her hair out of the tie that had been holding it in a ponytail. Her soft brown hair, a few shades lighter than Leo’s, fell just to her shoulders. When she was baking she usually tied it back.

“He didn’t say the house was for me, but he did mention that he wants me to stay over sometimes.”

That felt like a big admission.

“And what do you think about that?”

He ate another damned cookie. “Jackson is never going to be someone who’s open with his emotions; it takes a while to dig into what he’s feeling. You have to interpret stuff. But I’ve never doubted that he cares about me.”

“He might never be that, Leo.”

“I know.”

“So, what if that’s the case? What if Jackson continues to struggle with his sexuality over the next few years? Is that going to affect any possible relationship you have?”

“He told people about me, so it’s not such a secret.” Leo scrunched up his nose and studied his coffee carefully. “I asked him to be more open about our relationship, and he has been, even though it’s still hard for him, adjusting to the idea of having a soul mate who’s a guy.”

“Oh, Leo.”

“I want him to be happy with me. I want to be the person who makes him happy.”

His mom gave him a fond look. “If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll recognize that. Sometimes you need to let someone come to that conclusion on their own, though. There’s a trick many a woman has learned: how to make a man think that her idea is his own.”

Leo laughed. “I’m familiar with the concept.”

“For what it’s worth, I think Jackson is making progress under his own steam. The more you can be a constant, positive influence in his life, the better.” She reached over and squeezed Leo’s hand. “You’ll get there, sweetheart.”

Leo smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

The alarm in the kitchen started to beep, letting them know the dough was done proving and was ready for the oven.

“Come on,” his mom said, patting Leo on the arm as she pushed to her feet. “We have cakes to make.”

BY EARLY afternoon there was a steady rain falling over Spokane, Leo’s mom was satisfied with his version of events, and the trunk of the Prius was full of enough groceries to last them a week. Leo wanted to make up some meals for Jackson that he just had to microwave when Leo wasn’t around. Otherwise he was definitely going to live on takeout until the bar opened. And maybe even after.

He managed to juggle the bags into the elevator—because he was not taking the stairs when he was so close to dropping something—and into the condo. To his surprise, the door was open. Apparently Jackson was back from his run already.

“Honey, I’m home,” he called, just for fun.

“In here.”

Jackson had moved his laptop from the office to the breakfast bar. He was still hunched over spreadsheets, but now there was a bottle of beer at his elbow and an empty packet of Doritos pushed out of the way. And a huge vase of yellow roses in the middle of the coffee table.

Leo dumped the bags on the counter and went to give Jackson a smacking kiss on the cheek.

Jackson snorted with laughter. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. How was your run?”

“Good.”

That was probably all Leo was going to get out of him, and he decided not to push.

“Who are the flowers from?”

“Me,” Jackson said. He still didn’t meet Leo’s eyes. “For you.”

“You are too adorable.”

There was one bottle of the beer Leo preferred in the fridge, so he helped himself and went to sit at the table. Jackson would always make him some more when they ran out.

“Are you nearly done?”

“Almost,” Jackson said. “For tonight.”

“Okay. Because I stopped by the apartment to talk to Mitch.”

“About anything in particular?”

“Living arrangements,” Leo admitted, playing with the label on his bottle. “He’s always asked me to be honest about my plans, so I thought he should know what I’m thinking.”

“You know you’re welcome to bring your stuff over whenever you’re ready,” Jackson said. He took a swig of his beer and didn’t look over at Leo, not properly. Leo knew now that he did this when he was feeling shy or overwhelmed. “I have a room put aside for you, so you’ll have your own space if you want it.”

“The spare room?”

“It’s not really a spare room, it’s your office. Or whatever you want to do with it.” He muttered the last few words as he hunched over the laptop again.

Leo butt-shuffled over on his chair to kiss Jackson on the cheek again. “I like being here.”

“Good.”

“I want to be your soul mate.”

“Double good.”

“I’m going to keep some of my stuff at Mitch’s apartment until he’s got someone else ready to move in,” Leo said. “I’ll keep paying him rent too.”

“You don’t need to pay me rent here, Leo.” Jackson looked annoyed.

“No, but I want to contribute.”

“Okay. We’ll work something out.”

Leo couldn’t help but be quietly amused. Jackson definitely had a thing for “providing” for his soul mate. Leo wasn’t sure if this was some kind of instinct, or whether it was something cultural that had been drummed into him.

Leo kissed him again and went to put the groceries away.