His dad was sitting up in bed, flipping through the sports pages when they entered. A grin broke across his face as he looked up at them. He didn’t look as bad as Jackson had expected, though he still struggled with seeing his larger-than-life da laid up like this.
The chatter was washing over him a bit until he caught his own name falling from Anna’s lips. “Jacksy’s boyfriend is watching him for us. He was being a right little terror this morning.”
“Who? The boyfriend?”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Da,” Jackson snarked back.
His dad grinned at him, and for a second it felt like the old days, the two of them shooting the shit down at the pub or driving across the country for one of Jackson’s races. His dad had been his rock for his whole damn life, and he didn’t know what he would do if he couldn’t just pick up the phone to ring him anymore. Jackson found himself wishing he’d spent more time at home over the past few years. Wishing he hadn’t moved to London. All the independence he’d thought he needed, the promises of better training opportunities, paled in comparison to the reality of what he’d missed. His eyes burned and he ducked his head so his dad wouldn't see.
Their group was apparently far too loud, and after being shushed twice by nurses, they had to make the call to split up. Anna was already starting to fret about leaving Noah with Elliot for too long, so Jackson agreed to drop her and Bethy at home, then come back to get his mum and Katie, who wanted a little extra time.
“Mind you bring your boyfriend back with you, Jackson,” his dad called out as he was leaving. Then he stage-whispered to his mum, “Got to see if he’s good enough for my boy.”
A strange protective flare lit up in Jackson, but his mum already had it under control. “Oh, Keith, don’t you scare that sweet boy.”
Jackson laughed to himself as he led his sisters out to the car. He didn’t think Elliot Owens had been called asweet boyin his entire life.
The house had not burned down, and Noah was not running wild when they returned. It was so quiet, though, that even Jackson had a moment of panic. Beth rolled her eyes at both him and Anna, retreating directly to her room. When they walked into the kitchen, they found Elliot and Noah sitting on the floor, Noah quietly drawing as Elliot passed him the crayon colours he requested. Jackson looked on fondly, struck again by how far they had come.
Anna snuck her phone out to grab a quick photo before the two of them noticed their arrival. It was Elliot who spotted them first. “You’re back early.”
“Jackson’s loud mouth got us kicked out.”
“That is not what happened,” Jackson protested.
Anna waved off his complaint as Noah ran into her arms, chattering about all the fun things he’d done with Uncle Elly and dragging her off to show her his latest creations.
“Have fun?” Jackson asked.
“Yeah, actually. He’s a good kid.”
“He is, isn’t he, Uncle Elly?”
Elliot swatted him playfully on the head.
“You up for coming back to the hospital with me? Da wants to meet you.”
The look on Elliot’s face was akin to what Jackson imagined someone sentenced to the guillotine would have looked like in eighteenth-century France.
“He just wants to meet the man I’m so completely gone for,” Jackson said, trying to encourage him.
Elliot smiled tightly, tension not leaving his body, but he did allow Jackson to lead him over to the door, where he shrugged on his jacket.
The drive back to the hospital was quiet, and Jackson wasn’t quite sure what to do to alleviate the stress radiating from his boyfriend. Once he’d parked up and paid the exorbitant hospital parking fees, he wrapped his arms around Elliot in a tight hug.
“Tell me what you need.”
“I don’t know. I…I want your family to like me, and I’m…I’m not a very likeable person, Jackson.”
“I like you well enough.”
That finally drew out a small smile. “Yes, but you’re a bit touched in the head, love.”
“See, Da thinks that too. You’ll get along great. Besides, Mum loves you.”
“Your mother loves everyone. She’s the kindest human being on the planet.”
Jackson didn’t disagree. “She’s great, isn’t she?” He beamed. “And Dad’s like that too. I swear, Elliot, he’ll love you.”
