Page 63 of Loving You

Monty couldn’t help a grin. “Do they?”

“Mm. Though sometimes they grab my cane and drag me around like they’re a human guide dog. It’s super weird. Anyway, am I interrupting?”

“I’m having lunch.” Monty rose and walked around the desk. The humor of the situation had faded, and now he was feeling slightly panicked because there was no reason at all for Lucas to be visiting him. So something had to be wrong. “Is everything okay?”

“I was hoping we could talk,” Lucas said, now looking nervous. “Is there anyone else with you? My dad’s not hiding in here, trying not to breathe too loud, is he?”

Monty snorted a laugh. “Ah, no. Let me get the door. There’s a chair a few feet in front of you. Can I help you find it?”

“Nah, I think I got it.” Monty sidestepped the sweeping cane to get the door as Lucas found his way to one of the client chairs. He felt around the back, then the seat before lowering down and folding his cane, resting it over his thighs. “Feel free to eat. Another blind bonus—I can’t see it if you talk with food in your mouth.”

Monty grinned. “But you can hear it, I’m sure.”

“From the way sighted people react, I’m a thousand percent sure seeing is worse than hearing the chomping. I’m lucky. I didn’t get the flavor of Autism that makes you want to stab your eardrums at the sound of people chewing.”

“Flavor of Autism?” Monty repeated as he sat back down and pulled his little container of soup close. He’dstopped by a deli on his way in. He’d been too caught up in his own feelings after dinner with his dad and Bronx.

His lover had helped…at first. But then the week had begun, and he’d gone quiet, and Monty was too much of a coward to check in with him. He responded to Bronx’s texts, but he didn’t initiate. He could feel the distance growing between them, and he had no idea how to fix it.

“It’s not important,” Lucas said, waving his hand. “I’m here to talk about my dad.”

Monty froze with the spoon halfway to his mouth. “Is this where you tell me if I hurt him, no one will ever find me?”

Lucas’s grin lit up his whole face. “No. But if I did, would you be scared?”

“Petrified,” Monty told him.

Lucas sat back, satisfied written in his expression. “Good. But…actually, this is kind of the opposite. My dad will literally kill me when he finds out I came here today, but he’s miserable and lonely now that you cut him off, andthatmeans he’s trying to spend all this time with me and be, like, relatable. And I can’t live like that, Monty. I need you to forgive him for whatever dipshit thing he did.”

Monty dropped his spoon and sat back. “What he did? I’m very confused.”

Lucas’s brows furrowed. “Well. You stopped talking to him, didn’t you? He’s been moping since Monday, and it’s only getting worse. This weekend, he says he wants to teach mefishing. I know how to fish, and I hate it. It’s slimy and disgusting. He knows this, but he’s unrelenting. I know he’s not on his A game right now. But whatever he did, he can fix it. He needs his boyfriend back.”

Monty let out a long, bone-deep sigh. “I wasn’t hisboyfriend. I don’t know if he explained properly to you, but…”

Lucas held up a hand. “He told me enough. It was gross. I’m sufficiently traumatized by my dad’s weird romantic life.” He hesitated for a beat. “But I kind of figured he was just…you know…trying to soften the blow about him dating now that he and Ju—uh, my dad are done.”

“Oh, Lucas. You’re a very sweet kid, and?—”

“Not you too,” Lucas groaned, flopping backward in the chair. “I thought we were cool, bruh.”

Monty blinked. “Wearecool.”

“Then why are you patronizing me? I’m not akid. And just because I can’t see doesn’t mean I don’t get what’s going on around me.”

Monty held up both hands. “That’s not what I was going to say.Putain,” he murmured, shaking his head. “I very much like your dad. More than I was expecting to. More than I was planning to. But we’re friends. Special friends?—”

“Nope. Never say special friends to me ever again,” Lucas warned.

Monty laughed softly. “Fine. What do you kids call it? Friends with benefits?”

“No, we don’t. That’s what old people say, and I also don’t need to hear that.” Lucas sat forward again, rocking his head gently from side to side. “I just came here to let you know what whatever happened, he’s probably really sorry. He’s miserable. For the first time in years, he was happy, and I know it was because he met you.”

“I’m fairly sure it has something to do with the fact that he’s finally around people who care about him,” Monty countered. “And, forgive me if I’m overstepping, but also because you’re not so angry at him anymore.”

Lucas’s body went completely still, and then his fingers began to tap patterns on his thighs. “I wasn’t angry at him.” Monty’s silence must have spoken volumes because after a beat, Lucas sighed. “Okay, fine, Iwasangry. It feels like he’s finally listening to me now, so yeah, things are better. But that doesn’t change the fact that he started smiling again after he met you, and now he’s just…quiet. And sad. And I need to know how he can fix it because I don’t want my dad to go back to the person he was before he knew you.”

Monty swallowed heavily. “He didn’t do anything. I did.”

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