“Let me guess, he hit you with the infamous ‘If your hand was a kitchen utensil, which would it be?’ question,” John said.
“Ding. Ding. Ding. And we have a winner,” I said.
“He’s been trotting that gem out since elementary school,” John said. “Teachers, classmates, his pediatrician ...”
“It’s a fantastic ice-breaker,” Luke defended. “And it reveals a lot about a person. This one’s answer was poetry.”
Susan leaned forward with rapt attention. “Well, now you have to tell us. Don’t leave us hanging on adjectives, dear.”
“Go on, Ollie, tell them, it’s better when you explain it.”
“I chose a melon baller.”
John raised his brows. “A melon baller? That’s a new one.”
“Because they take something standard and shape it into something playful. Fun. Spherical little orbs of joy. Not everything has to be sharp or pointy to be useful. Sometimes softness serves a purpose too,” I explained.
Susan let out a soft, delighted sigh, her hand pressing to her chest as though trying to still the flutter there. “That’s lovely. What a tender way of seeing the world.”
Luke’s fingers brushed mine where they rested on the couch cushion. “Told you he’d charm your socks off.”
“You didn’t say he was this charming. You’ve been underselling him.”
“I didn’t undersell him,” Luke replied. “I merely prefer to let people witness it firsthand. Live performances always hit harder.”
John chuckled. “Well, you’d know a thing or two about charm, son.”
Luke opened his mouth to respond, but Susan, ever quick with the parental preemption, cut him off. “Don’t try to deny it, you know you have your father’s silver tongue.”
“Silver? Susan, Luke’s tongue is platinum-plated, diamond-studded, and likely insured by a consortium of poets and diplomats. You could bottle his words and sell them wholesale as a luxury aphrodisiac, backordered forever.”
She threw her head back with a laugh. John looked delighted. Luke, meanwhile, had taken an ill-timed swig of his Coke and immediately sputtered, coughing into his sleeve.
“Sorry,” he rasped between coughs. “Went down the wrong pipe. I wasn’t ready to be evaluated as an intoxicant.”
“Well, anyone who can get this one to nearly eject his drink has my immediate and enduring approval,” John said.
“In all seriousness, dear, we knew you were one of a kind without ever meeting you. We’ve never heard Luke talk about someone the way he talks about you.”
“The feeling is mutual,” I said, my gaze drifting to Luke. “He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. Knowing Luke, I’m sure he hasn’t shared the specifics of how we met, but let’s just say I was in a bad relationship, like the kind of bad Luke deals with at work, and he helped to get me out.”
Susan and John’s features sobered with understanding.
“It’s because of him I’m safe and I can trust again,” I continued. “You raised a wonderful man. And I’m lucky to have him in my life.”
“Oh, Oliver,” Susan said. “I’m so deeply sorry you had to live through something so cruel. No one should ever be made to feel unsafe, unwanted, or unloved. But I am grateful you found your way to each other.”
“And it um... you weren’t shocked when Luke shared he’d be bringing home a man to meet you?”
“Son, the only thing that would’ve shocked us would have been if he’d told us he was bringing home a conspiracy theorist, or even more scandalous, someone who doesn’t like dogs,” John said.
Susan chuckled beside him. “Who our children fall in love with has never been about gender for us. It’s always been about character and the quality of a person’s heart. We raised our kids to love without apology, to live truthfully and to never shrink themselves to fit anyone else’s comfort. We know the world makes that difficult sometimes, so we did everything in our power to make sure our home never did.”
John nodded. “Love is love. If you do it right, you fall for the soul, not the packaging. From everything we’ve seen, from the way you look at our son and from the way he lights up around you, it’s plain to see what you two have is something good. That’s all we ever wanted for our children. A love that saw them fully and treated them gently. So Luke having finally found someone means the world to us.”
“Sure, Dad, let’s pretend your approval has nothing to do with the homemade cinnamon rolls Oliver brought,” Luke teased.
“There is that too,” John said with a chuckle. “Though I’m pretending not to think about those until after dinner.”
