He was silent for a moment, which almost scared me, honestly. “Okay. Hit me with it.”
“Elio is back.”
This time, he was silent for even longer. I’d been chewing a bite of my sandwich, slowing almost to a complete stop as Moon contemplated what I’d said.
He cleared his throat. “LikeElioElio? Elio, who lived with us and was your best friend forever, Elio? Elio, like Mom and Dad’s long-lost son Elio?”
The piece of bread was far more difficult to swallow than it should’ve been. It was drier than it had been before, getting stuck to the walls of my throat. “Yeah. Long story short, we’re living together. Remember his boyfriend back from high school?”
“Uh, Jude, right?”
“Yeah. He was an abusive motherfucking asshole. Almost a fucking decade, Moon. Almost an entire decade of absolute fucking hell. I helped him escape, and we’ve been living together ever since.”
“Holy fuck, Cres.”
“Yeah. I can’t really say what I want to do to that man over the phone, but just know it isn’t pretty.”
Moon blew out a breath, loud and obnoxious, in my ear. “I can imagine. I wish I could say I knew something was off about the guy, but honestly, I had no idea. I can’t believe he’s just been dealing with that this whole time.”
I looked over to the patch of daisies. They reminded me of Elio, each petal I could spot bringing memories of ourtime here before he moved in with me. “I have one more thing to tell you, too. You can’t freak out, okay?”
“More shocking than this? I can’t promise anything.”
“I’m taking him on a date.”
It sounded like the phone got thrown or dropped, or maybe he just sat up in bed really fast. I wasn’t sure. “Excuse me?”
I shoved the last bite of my sandwich into my mouth to try to buy myself time. Unfortunately, I’d underestimated just how nosy Moon was. He kept repeating those two words until I finally forced a swallow. “We’ve been… you know. Getting closer. I mean, are you really surprised?”
“My baby brother. The baby brother who has sworn off dating for most of his life. Have you been pining for Elio this whole time?”
“I think so.”
“You think so? Cres. Bro.”
Shaking my head, I backed us up. “That isn’t the point. He’s been seeing a therapist, he seems to be doing okay, and he said he wants to go on a date with me. Okay? So, I’m doing it. It kind of feels like we’ve done everything backwards. We’ve already kissed and stuff.”
He took a second to process. I could hear the wheels turning in his head. “And stuff, he says.”
“Moon.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He sighed, long and loud. “Take him on a date, then. I’m sure you guys have been busy, so I get why you’ve been quiet. But I’m serious, you need to call Mom, Dad, and Star. They’re just as worried as I am.”
“I will. Thanks, Moon. But, uh, how do dates work?”
“Oh my god. How much longer do you have on your lunch break? This might take a while.”
I stood in the doorway,leaning against it, watching as Elio’s wrist dipped with the stroke of his paintbrush. He looked so happy and peaceful, with earbuds of his own in his ears, that I didn’t want to disturb him. Especially with how beautiful the painting looked.
He’d finished the one of us yesterday, putting it to the side for now. I needed to figure out a way to hang them around the house. This one was a field—a gorgeous, open field with tall grass and what looked to be daisies in the corner. Couldn’t forget the daisies. There were outlines marked in pencil on the canvas, but I couldn’t quite make them out just yet. Not from this view, anyway.
Paint was splattered across his apron, which I’d borrowed from the bakery for him. He was beautiful, right in his element. The element he was always meant to be in but was taken away from.
“Hey, baby.”
He jumped, turning toward me, his eyes wide. “Oh, you scared me. I didn’t see you.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to disturb you too much.” I walked past the doorway, coming up to rub his arm where there wasn’t any paint.
