Page 59 of Leo
“I hit Taylor for being a prick,” she said, grabbing her now warm pizza rolls.“Now, I’m gonna go to my room and watch a movie on my laptop.”She brandished a roll at us, adding, “I want the two of you to leave space for the Holy Ghost, do you hear me?Twelve inches apart at all times!”
Leo made a face.“Holy Ghost?I’m Jewish.”
Bethany popped the roll into her mouth and shrugged.“Sorry, Am.I tried to protect your virtue.You’re on your own now.”
Leo smirked as she moved past him, giving him an obvious and comical side eye as she passed.When her bedroom door shut, he moved to stand in front of me and pull me against him, his hands splaying on my back as we started to sway to some soundless music playing between us.“Seriously, she okay?Are you okay?”
I nodded.“High school bully drama.”I gave him a quick rundown of the situation and added, “I mean, not gonna lie, I’d have hit him, too, if I’d been in her shoes, but now I have to act like a parent and not her brother when it comes to things like this.”
“It’s not fair, is it?”he murmured.
“No.But it’s necessary.”We swayed a bit longer, I got a bit dizzy from it and Leo led me to the sofa, stretching out for me to lay against his chest.The t.v.was still on, the screensaver bouncing around some colorful rainbow image Bethany had set a few days before.The house was quiet and I was, reasonably, happy.
“I have to pick Edward up in an hour and a half,” Leo sighed after a bit.“I hate to leave.”
I was drowsy, warm and comfortable against his chest.His steady heartbeat had almost lulled me into a nice nap.“I don’t guess he can sleep over at Naomi’s?”I sighed.
“Not this time.”He hesitated, his fingers pausing in the carding of my hair.“But if I let her know ahead of time next time…”
I nodded.“Fair enough.You better get going otherwise I’m going to fall asleep on you and then you’re stuck here.”
A soft laugh rumbled in his chest beneath my ear.“There are worse fates.”
“Maybe.But I snore.”
“I know.”
We rested in quiet for another few minutes, neither of us wanting to move until we had to.When Leo spoke again, it was barely above a whisper.“Until recently, I thought that letting myself have a life outside of being a dad would do Edward a disservice.I thought it’d be selfish of me to expect someone to accept the fact my son is going to have first place in my life.A few guys… When they found out I was starting a family thanks to Naomi’s offer to carry Edward and the anonymous egg donor’s wonderful gift, they freaked out on me, or thought I was trying to rope them in to helping support us financially or something.And I started to feel like dating, romance… Love… Like they were for later on, after Edward was older.After I was older,” he added with a mirthless chuckle.
I shifted, tilting my face up to look at him.“Love, huh?”The word made my belly tremble and the butterflies in my chest beat a hard tattoo.“This is new?”
He ducked his chin, worrying his lower lip between his teeth for a moment before speaking again.“Maybe it’s love?I know that, since we started seeing each other, there’s not a day gone by that I don’t miss you when we’re apart.That I don’t want to ask your opinion about something, or just talk and see how you’re doing.I want to hear about your day, and I want to spend all the time with you.And…” He hesitated, then, in a rush, said, “And you’re the only other person I can imagine bringing into Edward’s life.I thought at first it’d be a terrible idea if we got together because when—and it was when—things fell apart because I was too stiff or too busy or too much of a dad, Edward would be devastated and it’d be another thing in his life he’d have to navigate while dealing with people like Ms.Webb and those kids and—”
“And,” I reached up to press my fingertips against his lips.“You found out you were wrong, huh?”
He nodded slowly.
“I was wrong, too,” I said, moving my fingers to stroke along his jaw.“I thought you’d be a fun fling.Maybe a friend with benefits.I knew I was wrong when I watched you tell Willis Dempsey to eat a bag of hair at that chamber of commerce meeting.”I paused, leaning up to kiss him quick.“Also, the blowjob in the car after kind of sold me on the whole thing.”
Our quick kisses would’ve turned into a replay of the blowjob, I’m sure, but the sound of Bethany pointedly slamming her door then stomping down the hall while sayingI hope everyone has their pants on, gee it’d be super traumatic to see my brother’s bare assset us into motion in opposite directions.“Call me later?”
He nodded.“Might not be a long call, but I will.”
Bethany made gagging sounds when we kissed, and Leo laughed, leaving with a bounce in his step that, honestly, was a pretty great ego boost for me to see.
* * *
We didn’t getto see one another for three more days, until Tuesday afternoon when Leo popped by Nice Buns with Edward after the last service of the day at the home.Edward made a beeline for the new shelves Bethany, Ira, and I had put up the day before to hold the t-shirts and mugs Bethany had designed with the shop’s logo.She’d used her babysitting money to order a small run of store merchandise from the print on demand site; she was so proud of herself I thought she might burst into sparkles and rainbows.“Whoa!Dad, can I get one?”He grabbed for one of the bright pink ones with the logo in red.“It looks like a butt!”
Bethany ducked into the kitchen, but her cackle carried.
Leo grabbed the shirt, hesitated, then shrugged.“Why not.You can’t wear it to school though!”
I took it to ring up, adding in one of the stickers Bethany had designed as an extra.
“So?”he asked, raising his brows.“How’s the whole merch thing going?”
“Well, we’ve made two sales today so…” I grinned, though.“You and Cynthia Borden from the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce.”
