“Uh-huh. Who’s your cute friend?”
“Zac,” Zac helpfully supplied from his position on the rug, poking the fire and scratching Jazz’s ears.
“Hello, Zac.” Rosa raised a curious eyebrow. “I’m going to drag my brother into the kitchen now and ask him all kinds of inappropriate questions. Will you be okay out here by yourself?”
“I reckon so.”
Zac seemed a little bemused. Liam absorbed it, throwing him what he hoped was a reassuring smile, then gave in to Rosa’s insistent tugging on his arm.
In the kitchen, Rosa lit the stove, then rounded on Liam with a smirk of her own. “Zac, eh? He’s pretty. What’s the story?”
As if he could ever tell her. As if he had any other option but to play the childish sibling card. “None of your bloody business.”
Rosa’s grin widened. “I’ll bet. Guess there’s no explaining why you were half-naked with a friend in our darling father’s hour of need.”
“That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair, Liam. That’s why I’m taking the piss out of you instead of dealing with the fact that our dad is about to spend the last days in his own home. Work with me, will you?”
Liam relented, trying to ignore the sad wave of defeat that washed over him. The precious hours he’d spent with Zac felt like a lifetime ago, the tentative joy they’d nurtured obliterated by reality, despite the fact that Zac was but a few feet away. He’s still here. Liam held on to the warmth that notion brought and fixed Rosa with a watery smile. “He really is a friend, and he’s awesome. That’s all you need to know.”
“It’s all I want to know. Now take him home. Dad and I are going to have our dinner and watch Last of the Summer Wine.”
Liam had learned long ago that there was little point arguing with Rosa when she had a plan. “Do you want me to leave the dogs? Keep you warm on that couch?”
“Yeah, leave me Dave. Her snoring reminds me of Mike, so I won’t have to miss him.”
“I’ll be back first thing.”
“If not before, no doubt. Now piss off.”
Fair enough. Liam rounded up Zac and Jazz, and bid Len good-bye for the evening. It wasn’t lost on him that Len seemed more affected by Zac’s departure than his, but that didn’t hurt as much as it might’ve done a year or so ago, back in that hazy time when happiness had been too normal to appreciate.
Outside, he shivered, and Zac’s slim arm around his waist felt all the warmer.
“Come on,” Zac said. “Let’s get you home.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Good, then stop feeling bad about leaving your dad.”
When had he fallen into a world where the people he loved read him so easily? Liam considered the crazy idea that he did indeed love Zac, a man he still hardly knew. It didn’t seem possible, but he didn’t have the energy to ponder it much, not tonight. Tonight he wanted to go home and shut the world away, lose himself in Zac, and then sleep until it was time to adult again.
He let Zac lead him home, noting that Zac had possessed the presence of mind to snatch his keys from the dish by the door and lock the house behind him. Inside, it felt natural to go straight upstairs, strip, and crawl into bed, Zac on his back, cradling Liam’s head on his chest in a gesture so intimate Liam would’ve cried if his brain slowed down enough to allow it. “You were so calm. I wanted to deck him.”
Zac’s sigh was barely audible. “It’s difficult to handle someone when they’re not really there. I don’t know how many times I’ve wished there was someone around to do it for me.”
“Your dad?”
“No.”
“Your mum?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“No, but if it’s any consolation, you wouldn’t have decked him. You never will. You’ll just get on with it, like you always have.”
