Chapter 15 #2
“That’s the other problem,” Mum went on, picking up steam. “All this public attention you could get from being with someone famous. It can’t all be good. In some of those pictures Margery showed me, you looked like the two of you were being hunted.”
“Everything will be fine, Mum,” Lee reassured her. “If anything, being with Drew has increased my book sales. I’m pretty sure that’s what got me a big agent.”
“Precisely,” Mum said. “And what happens if the two of you should have a falling out? What happens to all these gains you’ve made?”
Lee hated the swooping feeling in his gut those words brought with them.
He hadn’t stopped to think about it, but she had a point.
There were no guarantees between him and Drew, even if he felt the potential between the two of them in every fiber of his being.
He and Drew just clicked, like they were designed for each other.
But was that reality talking or the infatuation of a new love affair?
There was no way to answer the question, and before he could try, there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it,” he said, pushing back from the kitchen table and heading down the hall to answer the front door.
The sight of Drew on his mum’s front step, looking tired but gorgeous, and just a bit anxious, had Lee’s heart turning cartwheels.
“Hi,” Drew said, breaking into a broad smile. “I found the place. It’s really beautiful.”
“Hey” Lee greeted him with a hug that drew him into the house. He wanted to kiss Drew more than anything, but his mum stepped out of the kitchen to give Drew a once-over. “This is my mum, Sharon,” he introduced her. “Mum, this is Drew.”
“Oh, my,” Mum said, her eyes going wide as she took him in. “You’re taller than you look in your pictures.”
Drew let out a breath as he broke into a smile. “I get that all the time,” he said, stepping toward her and holding out a hand. Instead of a handshake, he asked, “Is it alright if I hug you? I’m a hugger, but if you aren’t, that’s okay.”
“I…I wouldn’t say no to a hug,” Mum said a little breathlessly, then opened her arms.
Lee couldn’t wipe the smile from his face after that. Nothing had prepared him for the sight of his mum and his fake-but-real boyfriend embracing.
“Ooh! You’re strong, aren’t you,” Mum said, giving Drew’s arms a squeeze as she stepped back. “I can see why my Lee likes you so much.”
“Mum,” Lee said, rolling his eyes, but secretly eating the interaction up.
“Come into the kitchen,” Mum said, gesturing for Drew to follow her. “I’ll make you a cup of tea and you can help me and Lee finish making this supper for Dan.”
Drew sent Lee an excited look as they headed down the hall, like he was thrilled to be right where he was. Lee was so relieved the initial meeting went well that he followed along like a puppy, happy to watch his mum and Drew get to know each other.
It was its own kind of perfect. Mum and Drew got on well together. Drew was charming and helpful in the kitchen, helping to finish the birthday cake, all while asking questions about Dan.
“He was such a good lad,” Mum sighed after telling a particularly long story about Dan being rolled by the waves on a particular summer holiday as they headed out back so she could show Drew Dan’s garden.
“Never a cross word from him in all his days. And he was Lee’s biggest supporter as well.
He read everything Lee wrote and encouraged him to make a career of it.
That’s what he wanted for our Lee, you see. ”
“He sounds wonderful,” Drew said, sending his beautiful smile Lee’s way. “This whole family is wonderful.”
Lee blushed under the subtle compliment. He was a total goner, there was no getting around it. He’d never been that way with boyfriends in the past. He’d liked them and had the hots for them, sure. But only Drew made him feel like he could climb mountains and ford rivers just to be with him.
“I wish I had met Dan,” Drew said, turning his smile on Mum.
“I wish you had, too.” Mum sniffled, and suddenly her tears wouldn’t stop. “Forgive me for a moment,” she said, excusing herself to head back into the house.
Her exit gave Lee the time alone with Drew that he’d been craving all day. “Thanks for coming,” he said, gesturing for Drew to walk with him around the garden for a bit, mostly so they could be out of earshot of the house.
“I’m glad I came,” Drew said, glancing back to the house as well, then looking at Lee again like he understood Lee had things he wanted to say.
Lee didn’t know where to start. “I had a great time last night.” He didn’t feel like that needed to be said, but the words had been on the tip of his tongue all day.
“So did I.” Drew grinned and blushed, lowering his head in a coquettish gesture that didn’t fit at all with his loud public persona. It fit with the Drew Lee was coming to know underneath the man’s public side, though.
“I really want to kiss you right now,” Lee said, peeking back at the house.
His mum was standing in the kitchen window, dabbing her eyes while watching them.
Drew glanced back over his shoulder, then laughed. “Too soon for her to see you making out with a guy in your brother’s garden?” he asked with just the right amount of humor.
“She’s my mum. Sometimes I think she still sees me as about ten years old.”
“Got it,” Drew said, his grin even wider, like he was trying to imagine a ten-year-old Lee.
Lee took in a breath and turned more serious. “So, Jessica,” he said.
“Jessica.” Drew sighed and pushed a hand through his dark, silky hair. “Yeah.”
“She didn’t take the break-up well.”
“No,” Drew said with a hollow look. “Part of me wants to say it doesn’t make sense and she should have seen it coming, but…yeah.”
A big part of Lee wanted to come right out and ask why Drew had stayed with the woman for so long when she was so immature. But yet again, he considered that there was a whole other side to the woman he didn’t know while Drew did.
He didn’t want to talk about Jessica anyhow.
“What does your shooting schedule look like for tomorrow?” he asked, sidling closer to Drew and brushing his fingers down the side of Drew’s hand.