“I know,” Jared assured him. “But I don’t need to be mollycoddled. Now that I’ve accepted my limitations, I’m doing fine.” He leant forward onto his knees so he was a fraction closer to his father. “I like it in Leeds. I love my job, and I’m really happy with Kyrone. Please, can’t you both just be happy for me?”
“You’re still so thin,” his father said. “It doesn’t look like youaretaking care of yourself. Have you put any weight on at all?”
“Yes,” Jared said. “I’m slowly putting muscle mass back on too. Kyrone’s been helping me with my physical rehabilitation.” He didn’t tell her how motivating Kyrone had been. It probably wouldn’t have gone down well.
His last three rehab sessions with Kyrone had been a little less exhausting, which he’d put down to being able to rest during the afternoon after he’d left work. It meant he’d had a little more energy afterwards. Not quite enough to enjoy Kyrone as much as he would have liked, but enough to fool around a little as a reward for working hard.
“That’s good,” his father said. “And your memories?”
Jared shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
His mother turned around, her eyes bright with tears. “If you were here, you would be more likely to start remembering things,” she said. “We could help you.”
“I’m not going to remember,” Jared said. It almost hurt him to say the words so bluntly, but they both needed to hear it. “I’ve accepted that. You need to as well.”
She shook her head fiercely and denial burned in her eyes. Jared’s chest squeezed painfully. This was what it all came down to—his parents’ desperate need for him to remember and instantly become their son again.
“Leeds isn’t so far away,” Kyrone pointed out in a placating tone. “We’d love you to come and visit.”
Jared nodded in agreement. “Kyrone’s flat is really nice.” He wanted to say ‘you’d like it’, but he didn’t know that for sure.
“What about your degree?” his mother asked, seemingly out of the blue. “You still have a place open to you.”
Jared blinked at her. “St Andrews is a lot further away than Leeds. Besides, haven’t I already made it clear that I don’t want to go back? That Ican’tgo back?”
“They would help,” his father said. “We’d already discussed it with the dean. You can get extra time for essays and exams.”
Of course they had. It was something they hadn’t mentioned before.
“Why did Jared want to study law?” Kyrone asked.
Jared whipped his head round to stare at his boyfriend, unsure where he was going with the question.
“To help those who couldn’t help themselves,” his father replied.
Jared breathed out slowly. They’d never told him that before. Not that it changed his mind.
Kyrone squeezed his hand. “That’s a lovely reason,” he said. “But he’s so good at art. I’m surprised he didn’t want to do something in that field.”
Jared’s brow crumpled as his parents both stiffened.
“Well, at one point he wanted to be an architect,” his father said despite a wild-eyed stare from his mother.
“An architect?” Kyrone sounded surprised but not surprised enough.
Jared stared at the floor to avoid giving anything away. His mind was catching up, and he understood what Kyrone was trying to do.
“What changed his mind?” Kyrone asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Jared’s mother said a little too casually. “Children do change their minds, don’t they? Do you have a degree, Kyrone?”
“I’m at university now.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “You seem a little old.”
Kyrone laughed. “I’m a mature student. I was in the Navy for a few years. Now I’m an exotic dancer to pay my way through university.”
“An exotic—” her mouth flapped open and closed.
