Page 89 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

That more than anything terrified Sofi. He’d never walked away from her like that—like he was truly done.

23

Leo had known that there would eventually be a reckoning, so he was not at all surprised when his family showed up in his apartment in the middle of the day. What astonished him was that they’d waited an entire week before they did. Maybe they pitied him because Leo still couldn’t use his right arm or, more likely, they felt bad about his breakup with Sofi. Needless to say, Leo’s life was in a pathetic state, so he didn’t even care that they’d barged into his space in order to yell at him. They weren’t going to say anything he didn’t already know.

“Look, can we not do this? I already know that I messed up big-time.” He looked at Kamilah. “I know how difficult it was for Liam to trust me with the tasting room. This is his first project with his new partner and, after I pretty much inserted myself into it, and I wasn’t fully invested. He trusted me with his life’s work and I wasn’t honest about my intentions. He deserves way better than that.” Leo shook his head. “Not only that, but I promised you I’d perform for your first dance and now, because of my own stupidity, I can’t.” Leo was about to continue enumerating his many faults, but his dad stopped him.

“Leo, we aren’t here for that.” Papi let out a breath. “Some things came out last week that we needed to process.”

Leo nodded sadly. “I know. I disappointed you all again.”

His dad’s hand landed on his good shoulder. “No, Leo. You didn’t. We need you to know that we’ve never thought you were broken or stupid.”

Leo scoffed. “All you two ever did was push your other kids. You pushed them and set high expectations for them, but you stopped doing that with me. As soon as you were told I had ADHD, you didn’t expect the same things of me as you did the others. Whenever I did anything wrong you’d just sigh in disappointment and move on, as if I’m not even worth the time or effort.”

Mami looked close to tears. “Leo, we never pushed you, because we never had to. When it was important enough to you, you pushed yourself. You always have. From the minute you came into this world too early, you’ve pushed yourself.”

“You’ve always stood firm in who you are and what you want,” Papi said. “We wanted to respect that. If we didn’t always get on you over your grades, especially later, it was because we finally understood that it was the fault of the education system, not you. You were smart and capable, but only when you wanted to be, not when anyone told you to be.”

“Leo, you are not the dumb one,” Saint said. “You’re the brave one.”

Leo snorted in disbelief. Yeah, Saint was a whole war hero with a medal, but Leo was the brave one. Right.

“You are,” he emphasized. “You have always just gone for things. Put yourself out there. It doesn’t matter what anyone says or thinks. You’re going to do it because you’re confident in your ability to handle whatever comes next. That’s brave.”

“I’ve always been jealous of you for that,” Eddie said. “I envy the way you just go for it and believe that everything will work out how you want it to. I always have to think, and plan, and think some more. Most of the time I end up picking the safest option because I’m scared of the risk. Not you. You are willing to take the risk.”

Leo just stared at his brother, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He couldn’t believe that Eddie envied him anything. He was an actual genius, with a high six-figure job, a beautiful and equally successful wife, and two already high-performing kids. He had everything. It was difficult to grasp that he would want to be anything like Leo.

“Leo, you taught yourself to read music and play the guitar by age five,” Papi pointed out. “Then you retaught yourself to play after your injury.”

“You’re a force to be reckoned with, little brother,” Cristian said. He gave Leo’s head a rub like Leo was a Saint Bernard. “You always have been.Youare the onewewant to be more like.” He smirked. “Except for your propensity to stick your foot in your mouth. You can keep that.”

“Please. I have that issue too and it’s not as bad as it seems,” Kamilah joked.

Leo fought his own smile. “I don’t stick my foot in my mouth. I mean what I say and say what I mean. Even when it gets me in trouble.”

Mami stood from her spot and went to crouch next to him. She grabbed his hand in hers and looked into his eyes. “You, mi amor, are my miracle,” she told him in Spanish. “Every day I am proud of you and everything you have accomplished. I’m sorry for ever making you think otherwise. And if you want to become a firefighter again, then I will believe you and support you, because you’ve never failed at anything.”

His father gave his shoulder a solid pat. “You, son, are the strongest of us all and I’m sorry I made you feel like you were a weak link. You’re a survivor and I will choose to believe that you will survive this too.”

“I hope you all know that I’m going to remember all of this and bring it up constantly.”

His family started laughing.

“This from the guy who forgot his own birthday last year?” Papi snorted. “I doubt it.”

“Hey, I was on a lot of painkillers last summer!”

“And what’s your excuse for forgetting you were supposed to pick up Abuelo for a doctor’s appointment three days ago?” Saint asked.

“Uhh... I’m sad?”

“Okay,” Kamilah said, standing up. “I’m glad we all had this talk and now Leo knows exactly how valued he is to us, but I still need to talk to him and you are distracting us, so off you go.” She made a shooing motion with her hands.

Papi grumbled. “I’m still half owner of this building.”

Kamilah crossed her arms. “And the man who’s going to be my husband in a week is the other owner which basically means I am too. What’s your point?”

---