Leaf looked between worried and delighted. “You have?”
“Yes. And I told the boss lady so, and she said she’s been meaning to ask me about a sabbatical. So I’m going to take one. I have until the end of the month to finish what I’m in the middle of as well as I can, and then it’s all done. I’ll be on a leave until next fall, when classes pick up again.”
“That’s almost a year, Seth,” Dev said, looking dumbfounded.
“Yes, it is. I need it, so badly.” Seth finally let himself deflate, relaxed into the couch, and Leaf gathered him close.
“But you’re Angel’s mentor. He won’t like it,” Dev said thoughtfully.
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” Seth deadpanned.
Leaf and Dev both snorted a laugh, and then they all chuckled and were soon laughing, as they released the afternoon’s stress.
Chapter Fifteen
LEAF HUMMEDto another playlist Dev had made him for the drive to Denver and back. This one had a lot of female singers on it for some reason, and a few of the songs took him back in time, but in a good way.
He was head-bopping to P!nk when his cell rang in the holder attached to the dash. Dev’s name popped up and he muted the music, then swiped to answer the call. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said in greeting.
“You almost home?” Dev asked, his grin audible in his voice.
“Yeah, fifteen minutes or so. Managed to beat the traffic.”
“Good. Hey, my mom called. She’s invited us all to Anaheim next week. It’s their thirtieth anniversary, and they’re throwing this massive party at the house.”
“Must be a big house…,” Leaf teased, smiling as he drove steadily along the highway.
Dev snorted. “It is. But it’s the yard that counts. They’ll have tents and heaters and shit. It’s always awesome. They do this every five years.”
“Did you RSVP us?”
“Not yet. Wanted to know if you would actually come. Seth already said yes, barring we can’t get someone to watch the kids.”
“Well, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be going. I mean, I don’t have work lined up until the week after that, I think. We just need someone for the kiddos.”
“Yeah. Seth asked his former TA, Antoinette, and she’s taking a look at her schedule. It’s only two nights there, so it’s not for long.”
“Oh, Antoinette’s good. The dogs like her and behave for her.”
“Yeah, Seth said she’s watched them before,” Dev said, and then Leaf could hear Seth murmur something in the background.
“I’ll be home soon. We’ll talk then, okay?” Leaf smiled at the thought of going home to his guys.
“Okay, see you in a bit. Drive safely.”
“Will do.”
Leaf turned the music back on and tried to suppress the yawn that did its best to escape him. He hadn’t been sleeping that well, and had mostly managed to hide it from his lovers. The therapy had done a few things, and not all of them positive. Although the doc kept telling him the nightmares would eventually go away, it was like hell having them almost every night.
The worst bit was that he didn’t know which of them were actual memories and which were things his imagination had conjured up. Part of him wanted to know for sure, but a bigger part didn’t want to believe that someone could’ve done such things to a child. He didn’t need the images in his head, knowing that his sister and all the other children on several communes around the world they’d lived in had gone through these things.
To distract himself, Leaf hummed along with Joni Mitchell and felt much better by the time he parked the SUV in the driveway at home.
NOW THATSeth wasn’t working, and Dev was able to make his own hours, Leaf had wondered about his own job.
He hadn’t taken any new jobs outside the state since Dev had become a part of them, and it had been… good. He hadn’t gotten restless like he would’ve in the past. He had something to be at home for, and while he didn’t think it was just Dev being there too, it was… different now.
He had wanted to be home more with just Seth there, of course. But Seth had worked a lot, and eventually Leaf had become bored and the itch to go on the road again had become too hard to ignore. During daytime, before Seth had taken his sabbatical, Leaf had felt better about being at home. The house was big, and it had seemed empty before. Now, it was filled with life, with Dev and Weasley there to make their lives fuller.
