“Mhmmmm,” she said, really elongating the second “m.” “Now, remind me how long you and Leon have been together?”
Wow. He’d walked right into that one.
“Okay, but that’s just the average.”
“Yes,” she said, using the tone she’d perfected after three decades of parenting him. “So that means it could be even sooner than that.”
James bit his lip as he reached the bottom of his box and pulled out a tissue box he’d decorated as a Valentine's mailbox in elementary school. He’d stuck candy heart boxes all around the sides and used cardboard to make the flap. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad looking.
“I didn’t mean to offend you or Howard—” he tried to say.
His mom picked up a candy heart pillow and placed it down, with a little more force than necessary, on the corner of the couch. “Don’t try to change the subject.”
“I wasn’t changing?—”
“James,” she said, brandishing a pink and white wreath at him. “All your fears, self-imposed deadlines, and expectations aside, how do you feel about Leon?” He bit his lip, but she shook her head. “No, don’t think about it. Just say it right now.”
“I… I…” he stuttered, and he placed the tissue box down on the coffee table.
“Right now, James.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I care about him a lot,” he said, because that was true.
“How much?”
“More than I’ve ever cared about anyone except you.”
They stared at each other for a long, tense moment. They didn’t usually have tense moments, and it was somehow made more profound by the fact that his mom was holding a pink and white feather boa.
“Do you think that care has the potential to turn into love?” she asked, deadly serious.
“Yes,” he said, his hands tightening to match the ball in his stomach that had grown steadily over the past four months. “I know it could.”
After answering his phone at work the previous afternoon, James had spent the rest of the evening searching for cat bandanas until he found the perfect set online. It had seven bandanas, in all the colors of the rainbow, with black and white skulls on them. He sent it to Leon and received approximately 20 heart emojis in response. He wasn’t usually one to read into emojis, and any other day, he probably wouldn’t have, but something had shifted when they’d both admitted they were in each other’s top four. Yesterday had only heightened his suspicion that something was growing and changing between them.
All week, all he could think about was getting to see Leon. It felt like his entire life revolved around that moment every Friday evening, when he got to throw his arms around his boyfriend and know that for the next 48 hours, he would be surrounded by warmth and care and…
Love.
Leon’s apartment was, to use his mother’s horrid metaphor, dripping with love. He felt it in the way Leon cared for Yarmen, Hailey, and her mom. He felt it in the way Leon had his pantry stocked with food James and, as of recently, Aspen and Noah preferred.
This man–James’ man–cared so deeply for everyone around him. It felt sort of inevitable that everyone around him would come to care deeply for him in return.
James was pretty sure he’d fallen headlong into not just caring about Leon but being hopelessly in love with him.
“There it is,” his mom said, apparently quite proud of herself as she hung the boa around James’ neck.
“There what is?” James gruffed, yanking the boa roughly off his neck.
“The same look you had when he was here. The look you get when you come home from a pride event or talk about getting a cat when you eventually move out. Something like determination and purpose mixed with pure happiness.”
His mom took the boa out of his hands and tossed it onto the couch. She cupped his face with both her hands, forcing him to meet her familiar, crystal blue eyes. “My sweet boy. Life hasn’t been easy on us, but we made it to the other side. We can finally slow down and enjoy living with people who bring love and joy into our lives.”
James’ eyes filled with unexpected tears, and he pushed forward until he could wrap her up in his arms. The vision of Leon hugging his mom appeared behind his stinging eyes, and he hugged her even tighter.
It had been a long time since there were more than two people in their little family. Within four months, they’d more than doubled the size, with Howard, Linda, and Leon bringing so much light and energy into their lives.
“I love you,” James said, and his chest shook with his mom’s laughter.
