I spent the morning of my flight restlessly roaming my parents’ house. A few people dropped by to visit earlier on, and my sister came through for a late brunch.

No Lew.

I hadn’t called him—he’d said he needed thinking time. I was trying to take him at his word. And praying that not calling him wasn’t the mistake that would end it all.

“You’ll have to leave soon,” Mom said quietly. Dad didn’t say anything, just glanced up from the newspaper he was pretending to read. We were all on edge, waiting to find out what Lew would do. I’d told them last night what I’d said to Lew. Mom had gone quiet, and I knew she was hoping that things would turn out all right for both of us. Dad…

Well, Dad had gotten angry with me and we’d had our first ever real high-volume fight, right there in the living room. He’d thought I was selfish and a bully and asked me why I couldn’t just leave Lew alone for a while, why I couldn’t just back off and let him come to me, and then wondered out loud where I found the balls to even look him in the face. I’d yelled back that he didn’t know a damn thing about it, that Lew and I were working things out and it was none of his damn business and he could fuck the hell off.

Now we were walking on eggshells around each other and I thought, if Lew didn’t come back to me, the damage that fight had done might never completely heal.

The clock kept ticking and I ignored the reminders on my phone that my time here was soon going to be over. He’ll call. He has to call.

Five minutes after I was supposed to have left for the airport, we heard a motor outside in the driveway. Mom sat straight up in her chair and I heard Dad’s sudden intake of air as he dropped the newspaper.

I bolted for the door, my heart about half a foot ahead of me, leaping out of my chest in the hope that Lew would be there to catch it.

The first thing I saw was his parents’ dark blue sedan and my head spun with relief. Then he got out of the car and started walking toward the house with a strange, fixed expression on his face and my heart plummeted off a cliff. I’d read all the descriptions of this moment in books and stage directions and acting analysis—I’d never before realized that a broken heart really could hurt, like a physical pain right there. “Lew?” I whispered and fear whispered back to me that I’d broken him too badly five years ago and I was going to pay for it now. I stumbled down the steps, unable to take my eyes off his strange expression, and froze at the top of the walkway, afraid even to take a single step toward him. Like that would somehow change whatever was coming.

He came to a stop in front of me. His face was white, his eyes wide and the hand he raised to lay against my jaw shook like he had some sort of palsy. “Mike?” he whispered.

I nodded.

He swallowed hard and made a sharp, jerking motion with his head, like he was agreeing with something inside his head. “Still time to get that ticket to L.A.?”

My world went dark for a second, then I pulled him into my arms and hugged him so hard it was a miracle he didn’t come out the other side of me. “Oh, fuck, damn, Lew, thank you, thank you, thank you, I swear, you won’t regret this.”

He was crying and laughing and wouldn’t let go of me. “I better not, or I’m gonna make damn sure you pay for it.”

“I know. I’m counting on it,” I said through my laughter. “Shit, we have to go! We’re going to be late!”

“They won’t hold the plane for the great Micah West?” he joked.

“Hardly,” I said, but I didn’t care. There’d be other planes, but right now I had Lew in front of me. “Did you bring a suitcase?”

“I didn’t know what to pack,” he confessed. “I brought some stuff.”

“That’s fine. There’s shops around my place. And I don’t work all day, every day.” Then I grabbed my chance and kissed him, there in the front yard for all the world to see and know that I was back and Lew was mine, just like I was his for as long as he’d have me. He made a small contented sound and kissed me back the way only Lew knew how and I forgot about the plane and checking in and the drive there until an annoying tapping began on my shoulder.

“Mike, you’re going to miss your flight,” Mom said in my ear.

“Right, yeah, okay.” I kissed Lew again. “Let’s get your stuff.”

He nodded and buried his face against my neck for a moment and I realized he was still shaking. “Thought you might be mad at me,” he whispered.

“What? No, never!” I turned his face up to mine and saw the faint shadow of his fear in his eyes. “I know I don’t deserve you giving me this chance. You won’t regret it.” He smiled at that and shook his head, and I knew then that he still didn’t quite believe me, but he was going to give me the opportunity to prove him wrong. And I will prove it to you, stubborn omega.

Lew parents already had his suitcase out of their car and were waiting by the back of my rental. “Mr. King. Mrs. King,” I said, shaking hands and being ultra-respectful. “I promise, I won’t let anything happen to him.”

“I’ll get you a picture from the Walk of Fame,” Lew promised as he leaned in to hug them. And then, almost too low for me to hear it, I heard him murmur, “Thank you again for letting me do this.”

“You’re a grown man, honey,” his mother said, and his father gathered him in for a hug and added, “You know all you need to do is call.”

“I will, I promise,” Lew told them, more loudly.

I popped the trunk and fitted his suitcase in beside my two, then closed it again. “I don’t mean to rush you, but it’s going to be touch and go making the plane as it is.”

Lew nodded and let go of his Dad. “Just one more thing.” He ran his hand down my arm then headed in my parents’ direction.

“Mike,” Lew’s mom said, distracting me. “Please look out for him.”

She means please don’t hurt him.

I glanced back and forth between her and her husband. “I’ve been meaning to say thank you to both of you. For cleaning up the mess I left behind and for giving us some space here to figure ourselves out.”

His mother watched me with a solemn look in her eyes, but it was his dad that spoke. “Lew’s always had a mind of his own, but he’s generally level-headed, except where you’re concerned. You should know he has a ticket home, open ended, and enough money to get him to the airport from wherever. Neither of us are huge fans of this, but he says he wants you, and we’re trusting you not to make him worry.”

I thought there was a hint of a threat somewhere in there, though I couldn’t figure out if it was in the words or the tone. And then I decided that if they wanted to threaten me a little to make me behave, I’d certainly earned it and I’d have to take my lumps. “I know. I don’t plan to and I appreciate you not making this harder for him than it already is. I know he’s got one foot out the door already and that I’m still on probation. All I can promise is my best, but I know that isn’t really enough. I have to show you. All of you, but most especially Lew.”

They nodded and I tried not to be hurt that they didn’t at least reach out to me for a handshake. It really brought home the idea that I’d burned more than just my bridges with Lew when I’d made that stupid phone call. Better get busy with that hammer then, Maddie would have said, reminding me that building bridges took work and rebuilding them even more. She’d been talking about a film career at the time, but it struck with a clarity I’d never before experienced that it also applied to everyday relationships too.

I turned to see Lew slipping out of one of my mother’s hugs, then he reached out to Dad and they said something to each other, too low to be over heard. Dad folded him into a tight hug, like he already considered Lew to be his son. Lew patted his back and laughed softly, and then Dad let go of him and walked him over to my car.

Lew smiled at me and went to hug his parents again. I hugged my Mom, then turned to my dad. “I’ll call you to let you know we made it,” I said.

He nodded and, after a moment’s hesitation, he pulled me into a hug as fierce as the one he’d given Lew. “You two be careful with each other, okay? I don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

“We will,” I promised. “I’ll keep you posted on how things are going. You can yell at me if you think I’m being stupid again, maybe stop me in time.”

He snorted lightly, but I thought I saw a glitter of tears in his eyes when he stepped back. “You two better get on the road if you’re going to make the plane,” he said gruffly. “I want pictures.”

“Me too,” Lew’s mother said.

“I’ll make sure to send them,” Lew said.

After that, it was only a moment’s scramble to get us into the car, and then we were barreling down the road, heading for what I hoped would be our future together.

Lew looked out the passenger window, watching the streets of our home whizz by with a smile on his face, and when we’d made it out onto the highway, he reached for my hand and squeezed it with a smile.