He dropped his hands to his lap. Waiting. Hoping.
"This must have taken you hours to put together," Ken said quietly.
Luc shrugged. "I'd already started it before..." he glanced away. "Anyway, I said I'd help you. I—we—don't want you to lose the dance school. We know how much it means to you." He pushed his chair back and stood.
"You don't have to go," his mum said, standing with him. Her voice was soft, but quiet.
Luc hesitated. His plan had been to turn up, drop off the marketing plan and a brief explanation and leave. But his feet were betraying him. They didn't want to carry him out of the house and away from his parents forever. He only hoped Adam wouldn’t be angry when he found out that Luc had not only visited their parents without him, but without his knowledge, too.
"Are you both okay?" his mum asked.
"Yes."
"Really?"
He hunched his shoulders. "We're both upset," he told her. "Adam feels betrayed." He glared first at her and then at Ken. "After everything he's done for you over the past few years..." He shook his head. "I didn't come here to fight. I came here to give that to you." He nodded towards the folder. "That's all."
"When's your train back?" Ken asked.
Luc fought to stop his mouth from curling into an angry sneer. Trust Ken to get straight to the point. "In a couple of hours." It was even harder to keep his voice civil.
"Would you stay for some food?" Ken asked. "I can give you a lift to the station afterwards, so you don't miss your train."
Luc stared at Ken, guilt tugging at his gut for immediately thinking the worst. But what else should he have thought? Neither of them had offered him any form of apology. Neither of them had picked up the phone to speak to him or Adam in almost two weeks.
"Stay?" his mum asked.
He sat down, too shocked to walk out.
"How's work?" his mum asked as she began to make them all sandwiches.
"Good. Adrianna, my boss, let me have the day off to come and see you."
"She's been very good to you," Ken observed.
Luc forced himself to smile. "So she likes to keep reminding me when she wants me to work overtime." He'd make all the hours back up to her, sooner or later.
The truth was, he'd always been happy to work as much overtime as had been necessary, but that was before he'd had Adam to go home to. He hoped he'd continue to have Adam to come home to for a long time to come.
"How long have you worked for her?" Ken asked.
"Four years now. It was pretty much my first job after uni." He drummed his fingers against his thigh. "Are we just going to engage in small talk for the next hour or so?" he asked. "Or are we actually going to talk about something that matters?"
"Luc..." his mum said in a plaintive whisper.
"I love you both, but I can't pretend everything's okay. I can't pretend there isn't a huge fucking elephant in the room."
"Language," Ken growled.
Luc coughed and shook his head. "Thanks for the offer of food, but I think I've lost my appetite." He stood again, but froze when his mum turned to face him, her chin wobbling and her eyes sparkling with tears.
"Do you think this isn't hard for us, too?" she demanded.
"I'm sure it is. But I think the person that's hurting the most is Adam. He thinks you've thrown him out of your lives for good."
His parents exchanged a glance.
"I've spent the last couple of weeks telling him you'll come around and that everything will work out okay. But I'm pretty sure the two of you are going to make a liar out of me."
