“I’m scared that I’ll mess things up with Lucy, but I’m also excited. She’s so great, Joel. You’ll love her.”
The tears were running in streams, and I struggled to speak between my ragged breaths.
“All these years, when I thought you were going home. When I thought you were safe. You were just surviving.”
Joel pulled me into a tight hug and sobbed. All the pent-up tension slowly left my body as we stayed locked together for the longest time.
“I’m so sorry, Max. I’m sorry for everything that happened to you in the past. I’m not going to beat you for not coming to me because I’m sure you’ve already done enough of that to yourself to last a lifetime. But I will tell you now, I swear to god, Max James, you pull another one of these again, and I will have your ass on a plate.”
I let out a half chuckle half sob.
“It was so hard going through all that without you,” I said. “I wanted to tell you more than I did, but I wasn’t ready. I love you so much, Joel. I have a new sister, but you’ve been my brother since day one.”
We talked for longer than we had in the last few years about anything and everything. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed Joel until then.
“Now tell me what’s going on with Isaac.”
“I messed up, Joebug. He made us come here so I could talk to you. He’s been telling me for ages that I needed to come clean, but I was so afraid, and I let all my anger out on him. Now he’s gone to Alex’s and I don’t know if he’ll come back home with me.”
“Do you want to know what I think?”
“Go on.”
“I don’t know Isaac very well, but I know enough to know he’s a great person. He’s been there for David in the same way you’ve been around for me. I think he may be hurting a little but that he wanted to leave you to do this on your own so you can start again with a clean slate. The question is, how are you going to start?”
I could have asked for forgiveness, but even if everything was okay between us, there was still the unanswered question of what he was going to do after Dorian and Jean-Paul got back home. Could I persuade him to stay? Hadn’t he already said he wanted to stay? After the way we’d separated at the airport, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
The idea came to me like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle fitting in to complete the picture.
“Joel, I’m going to need some help.”
“Anything.”
“First I’m going to need to catch some sleep, and then I’m going to need to find a glassmaker.”
* * *
I was so tuned in to Isaac’s presence, I saw him as soon as he walked through the revolving doors into the departures area of Lisbon airport.
Alex saw us before Isaac did and acknowledged us with a nod that went unnoticed by Isaac, which gave me a few extra seconds to compose myself.
Isaac knew me better than I knew myself, so I was afraid he’d see everything that was in my heart before I was ready to reveal it.
His blue-green eyes were bright and shiny as he stared into mine full of uncertainty. I couldn’t reveal my plan, but hell if I was going to stop myself from taking him into my arms.
He let out a sigh when I planted a kiss on his forehead and pushed his curls back to look at his beautiful face.
“I missed you,” I confessed.
“I missed you, too.”
“Ready to go home?”
He nodded and closed his eyes, leaning into my touch.
We said our goodbyes and went through security. I turned back for a final wave and caught Joel giving me a big thumbs up while David and Alex high-fived each other. I chuckled.
“What’s funny?” Isaac asked.
