Chapter 3 – James
Chapter Three
JAMES
James tried to subtly check his phone under the table as Howard sat down across from him, his plate loaded high with a variety of meats and two whole baked potatoes.
“The buffet is included, as is the bar, so feel free to imbibe to your heart’s content,” Howard said as he fanned out his napkin and placed it in his lap.
Linda and James’ mom had gone through the salad bar before hitting the hot bar, so their plates were only semi-loaded up with meats and potatoes. James’ stomach was in knots, so he’d opted for soup and a roll for now.
“Try not to get used to the open bar,” Linda said. “There will be plenty more buffets in your future, but probably none with free-flowing booze.”
Before James could ask if they were planning to go on more cruises—but the kind that didn’t have open bars?—his mom cleared her throat.
“That’s actually the perfect segue into what I wanted to talk to James about tonight.”
Howard put a large bite of steak into his mouth, and Linda laid down her fork to take up her wine glass. James hadn’t picked up his spoon or glass of soda yet, so he knotted his fingers together in his lap.
“Linda, Howard, and I have been giving a lot of thought to how much time we all spend traveling to and from each other’s places,” his mom said. “And without pulling out the very impressive spreadsheet Linda put together, let’s just say it’s a lot.”
Linda smiled softly before taking a long drink of wine.
“As you know, I haven’t worked in many years, so I’ve never been too concerned about commutes, but both Linda and Howard still do business in the city,” his mom continued.
“That works out alright for Linda, even though she lives a fair way from her office, but it’s more than a little inconvenient for Howard. ”
At this, Howard nodded sagely before taking a large bite of pork tenderloin.
“Before we met, Howard had already been considering moving into a more manageable-sized place in the city, and Linda has been considering a move as well. There is a lovely continuing care community a little ways north of Linda’s office that has an enclosed park, a gym, on-site physical therapy, a buffet dining hall, game nights, outings into the city, pickleball, badmitton—”
Linda placed her hand on his mom’s arm, and she stopped giving her impassioned sales pitch.
“It’s a great place, is what your mom is trying to say,” Howard said, placing his fork down and folding his hands on the edge of the table.
“And…you and Linda are planning on moving there?” James asked, looking between his mom’s two partners.
“Howard, Linda, and I are planning on moving in there,” his mom said, tilting her body ever so slightly towards Linda.
Howard had somehow managed to snag them a table in the middle of the bustling dining hall. James hadn’t noticed the noise before, but as a bubble of silence fell over their table, the sound of clinking cutlery and overlapping voices pressed in around them.
“The timeline is flexible,” Linda said gently. “They have a place available starting in September, but if that feels too soon for us, there may be another spot open in December.”
“Obviously moving in the middle of winter is not ideal, but…” Howard trailed off, looking first to James’ mom, then to James. “All that to say, there’s no rush.”
There was no rush for his mom to move across the city to a continuing care community, with her two partners.
There was no rush for his mom to move out of James’ childhood home, leaving James alone, in the house that had seen him through his transition, his dad walking out on them, and his mom’s brutal fight against cancer.
There was no rush…except that the looks his mom gave Howard and Linda reminded him of his own lock screen photo.
He had been trying to take a selfie with Leon and Yarmen, and Leon had said something funny, as he was apt to do.
James had turned to look at him right as his finger pressed the shutter button, capturing an expression he hadn’t even known he could make: one of love and yearning and, hopefully, forever.
“Do you have any brochures, or pictures or anything?” James forced himself to ask.
His mom’s shoulders relaxed, and her grip on her glass of water loosened. “We have so many pictures! We also have the schedule of events for the rest of the year and floor plans.”
“The floor plans are for the place that becomes available in September. We could dig around the website and find some for the place in December as well,” Linda said, patting his mom’s arm.
“What are you going to do with your current places?” James asked, unable to meet his mom’s gaze.
“Mine will be going up on the market as soon as I can get my rear end in gear and answer my realtor’s emails,” Howard said.
“I’m currently renting, and my lease ends in October,” Linda said, her voice just a little too casual.
That barbed wire ball was back in James’ stomach.
His mom was silent, studying him as she traced her thumb down the side of her glass. “The place we’re looking at—Arbor Manor—is very reasonably priced for everything they offer, but Linda and I have looked at the numbers every which way, and I will need to sell the house to afford it.”
James wasn’t sure if it was the boat that dipped or his stomach or maybe even his heart.
“Oh,” was all he could say.
Somewhere across the room, a child shrieked with laughter, and a man at a nearby table, with an impressively baritone voice, called for a toast.
“That being said, we both have funds to cover your mother’s portion of rent and fees for a while, if need be,” Howard said.
“That’s right,” Linda said firmly. “The most important thing to take away is that we don’t want you to feel rushed. We have a lot of options to explore.”
“Like, if you thought that you wanted to buy the house…” his mom started to say, but James was already shaking his head.
“You’ve always said you would sell the house as-is,” James said, and his mom grimaced sympathetically. “There’s a lot of work that would need to be done on it and…”
James found himself cracking his knuckles, bending the fingers on his hand backward, the way Leon always made fun of him for.
Leon, with his cozy two-bedroom apartment in the heart of the city, within walking distance of all their favorite places, and next door to Hailey’s mom.
“I don’t think that’s what I…or Leon...”
His mom gave him a knowing look, and something about the way Howard and Linda both reached for their drinks felt almost strategic.
James bent the fingers on his other hand backward as he watched a man pick up a young girl and place her on his shoulders.
The girl clapped her hands in excitement before knotting her tiny fingers in the man’s shaggy brown hair.
They had matching brown eyes that crinkled in laughter as the man added a bounce to his step on his way out of the dining room.
“We haven’t really talked about next steps in our relationship,” James murmured, his eyes fixed on the door long after the man’s Hawaiian-print shirt had disappeared from sight. “Things have been a little…We haven't really talked about anything like that.”
Not since the morning after Valentine’s Day, in the sleepy predawn hours when all the horror of the night before had felt muted and far away.
“And there’s no rush, James,” his mom said.
He had told her everything that happened that night, and the next morning, and she’d advised him not to push Leon to talk until he was ready. She probably hadn’t meant for him to wait six months, though.
“I’m not going to sell the house out from under you, I promise,” she said firmly. “We’re just ready to take our own next steps.”
That was the question then, wasn’t it? His mom was ready to move on, but was he?
“Is it…a decently sized place?” James asked, and his mom nearly knocked over her water glass as she hurried to pull out her phone.
Really, it was a wonder she’d been able to keep this to herself for so long. She spent the rest of dinner and the walk back to their suite showing James nearly half her camera roll, filled with screenshots, photos she had taken herself, and a few schematics.
“As soon as we get back, I can take you on a tour,” his mom said, patting his arm for probably the twentieth time that evening.
At the end of dinner, she had scooted her chair right up next to James, and they’d shared a small slice of chocolate cake, even though Howard insisted there was more than enough cake at the buffet for them to have their own.
James couldn’t help but wonder just how many more desserts they’d get to share before she moved out.
He knew he was being ridiculous. Parents moved all the time.
Hell, his dad had moved out and on without him years ago.
His mom wasn’t abandoning him. In fact, the continuing care community was closer to Leon’s apartment than James’ current house was.
The problem was, that wouldn’t matter if Leon wasn’t ready to house James.
God, that made him sound like he was a stray animal that had wandered in off the street.
“I’d love to see the place, Mom. I’m sure I’ll be visiting—”
“Oh yes, honey, all the time!” his mom said, squeezing his arm before finally releasing him.
“Many of the events are open to family and friends. You could come on your own or bring Leon,” Linda said, depositing her purse on the counter and pulling out her phone.
“I’m looking forward to spending more time with you boys,” Howard said, toeing off his loafers and stepping into a pair of flip-flops he’d laid out by the door.
James’ mom looked between her two lovers and James. “We wanted to give you some time to sit with the news and call Leon if you’d like. We’re going to the pool deck—unless there was more you wanted to talk about right now?”
Honestly, James just wanted to go back to bed. He was pretty “talked” out at this point, but she was right. He should probably call Leon, at the very least to see how his day had been with Aspen. There was a two-hour time difference, which meant he should be home by now.