Page 58 of Jonathon, After All

Riley laughed, shaking his head. “Neither do the people in charge these days. It would be really weird if you were a genius at everything. You’d be like a robot or something,” he teased.

“I agree,” Max said. “Elio’s studying astrophysics, isn’t he, Leo?”

Leo realized that Max wanted him to make a good impression. Giles and Milo were part of his family now, too, and Leo scolded himself for being so dismissive of them. “Yes, he is,” he said, paying closer attention to Milo. He was already so much like his father, but still boyishly lean. He had yet to fill in and put on muscle and he slouched cautiously next to his father. Leo offered him a polite nod. “Eli’s at Cambridge but he’s…doing his best to get kicked out.”

“He’s probably just bored,” Max said with a shrug. “A semester or two here, at Columbia, might be a nice change of pace. I told Elio he’s welcome to stay with us.”

“Milo knows some of the professors at Columbia,” Riley said excitedly. “He took some classes, but he’s also worked with a few of his ‘old’ professors as an intern with NASA,” he boasted.

“That’s remarkable,” Leo said, this time sincerely impressed. “I should have Eli call you. You might be able to shake him out of this rut he’s in. I’m an ecologist, so it often seems like we’re speaking different languages.”

“Maybe…” Milo scrubbed his hair, grimacing. “I’m more of a texter than a talker.”

“Ahem!” Jonathon called from the kitchen.

Leo couldn’t blame him, he was ready to jump out of his skin, he was so wound up. “We can worry about that another time,” he suggested to Milo and Riley.

“Actually,” Giles checked his watch. “This is probably a good time for us to grab a pizza. It should be pretty easy to get in and out if we go before the lunch rush hits.”

“Yes!” Luna hopped and clapped. “Pizza! Pizza!”

Riley cheered and pumped his fist. “Just what I was thinking. Bring me one.”

“We always bring an extra pizza for you,” Milo said wearily, tossing a hand at Riley as he went to get his coat but Leo noticed he was smiling. And Leo found he liked the Ashbys and was sad that Giles and the children were leaving before they could get better acquainted.

They left and Riley sighed happily at the door. “Giles goes out so infrequently now, but I’m glad he can still have fun making a pizza run with the kids. It’s one of the few ‘outside’ tasks he can handle these days,” he explained, making Markus frown and Theo winced as he looked at the door.

“I’m so sorry. That has to be hard for him,” he guessed, but Riley shook his head.

“It’s not that bad. Giles is really happy with his inside life and doesn’t feel like he’s missing much most days.”

Markus snorted and nodded. “I could do with a lot less outside myself lately.”

“I agree,” Leo said, turning back to the kitchen and leaning to the side as he tried to see around the wall. “Jonathon?” He waited for a moment, then smiled when he heard an imperious sniff.

His heart rejoiced and he was crying tears of joy, knowing that Jonathon was just around the wall. Leo finally had a chance to explain and he knew that he could make it right and that he would be able to hold Jonathon again soon. All he had to do was tell the truth. Tell Jonathon everything.

“I never stopped loving you. I have missed you—ached for you—every moment of every day and I swear, I would have come if I had known.”

There was a long silence and Leo’s tears made soft tapping sounds as they dropped onto the polished marble floor.

“I know you had the wrong number, but why didn’t you try harder to get through, if you missed me so much?” Jonathon asked, his voice thin and wavering.

“I tried!” Leo insisted and took a few cautious steps closer to the kitchen. “I wanted to go to London and find out why you wouldn’t speak to me, but I believed Sabine when she said it would scare you and make me look like a stalker.”

“I never got any calls! Who were you calling and what happened to all the emails I sent you?” Jonathon asked angrily.

Leo shook his head, feeling like the biggest fool. “I have no idea. She told me you had moved on and I thought you had changed your mind.”

“How could you believe that?”

“I…” Leo frowned down at the roses, at a loss for words. “I don’t know… Sabine used my incompetence with the internet and technology to build a wall around me and I have no excuse for that. I should have seen it and I shouldn’t have allowed it and I regret that so deeply.”

He held the roses out to Riley, hoping he would act as mediator. Riley accepted them, swiping a tear from his cheek as he headed around the counter and disappeared around the wall.

“Are you kidding me?” Jonathon howled and raced around the counter. “You monster!” He whipped the bouquet at Leo like a frisbee, snarling furiously as it sailed over the white leather sectional. Leo ducked and blocked his face just in time, creating a burst of petals and leaves as the bouquet came apart and fell to the floor.

“Oh, yes,” Matteo said, pointing at Jonathon as Theo clapped. “I like him. He’ll do very well.”

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