Chapter 65
Jon had underestimated the time it would take to get to town. He hadn’t realized they were so far out in the country and watched as they sped past miles and miles of farmland in silence. He had hoped forcing Levi into the passenger seat would have forced him to talk to his aunt, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sue broke the silence first. Jon stared at her as she glared at him through the rearview mirror.
“So, Jon… Since Levi hasn’t told me the first thing about you, what do you do?”
Levi coughed. Jon leaned forward. “Work from home. I studied programming in college and got a good gig at a small tech company in Galveston. I maintain their internal and external websites, and I’m training to be their database administrator. The guy who does that now is retiring and no one else wants to do it.”
She looked over at Levi. “Did you understand any of that? I just get that he works on a computer and doesn’t leave the house.”
Levi laughed. “Yeah, but I have the benefit of being there while he’s at work.”
Jon leaned back and shook his head.
“Do you enjoy it? Working from home?”
“Yeah. I do. It’s gave me a chance to spend a lot of time with Levi that I wouldn’t have gotten if I were working in Houston where I was looking originally.”
“And you enjoy spending time with this grumpy bastard?”
Levi’s head jerked toward her. “Hey!”
Jon crossed his arms and flashed a sly grin. “He’s not grumpy. If he was grumpy before, it’s probably because it’s exhausting always having to hide your true self.”
Levi turned to him and raised an eyebrow, a smile on his face.
Sue released a heavy sigh. “Levi? Is that true?”
“I guess. Besides, I was a teenager. Aren’t all teenagers grumpy with their elders?”
“I suppose so.” Sue opened her mouth to speak again, but no words came. She gripped the steering wheel.
Silence filled the car again. After a few minutes, the fields gave way to houses. Levi turned around. “We’ll be there in just a minute. We’ll park at the town square, and everything will be right there. Do you want to just hang out with Sue and get us a table? I’ll probably be just a minute. You could go ahead and get something ordered. I’m starving so I don’t care what. Just pick whatever you think sounds good. You know what I like.”
Jon looked past Levi’s smile and into his eyes. He could see the words Levi avoided. He was worried Jon might see him lose control, whether to anger or to grief.
“I can do that.”
“Perfect. I can get to know Jon a little better without a chaperone.”
Levi groaned and rolled his eyes. “You’ve figured me out. That was my plan all along.”
“There’s the Levi I remember. You go on and take care of your business. We’ll be at the bakery over there.”
“Is that new?”
“Been here a few years now. Best food in town this time of day.”
Jon watched as Levi climbed out of the car and started down the sidewalk in the opposite direction from the bakery.
Sue looked at him in the rearview. “You ready? I promise I won’t bite.”
“Yeah.” Jon climbed out of the car on the passenger side. He let the door close behind him and lit a cigarette. He joined Sue as she climbed out of the car.
“I don’t know what Levi has told you, but I promise I don’t mean no harm.”
“I know. He wasn’t lying, though. I am a little shy. It takes me a little while to open up to people. I don’t mean anything by it.”
She laughed. “You’ll just have to get over that if you’re going to spend any time here. Let’s head in.”
Jon looked down the sidewalk. He wasn’t sure which door Levi had disappeared into and hoped everything was fine. “Sure.”
The bakery was quiet. There were a few patrons sitting at tables spread throughout the small space. A woman that looked to be close to Levi’s age stood in front of a glass display case with an impressive assortment of baked goods. An older man wearing an apron stood behind the counter and gave Jon a sad smile. Everyone stopped talking when they saw Sue, shifting the quiet to an eerie silence. Jon felt a knot in his stomach. Sue exchanged nods with a few of the people and took a seat at a vacant table near the door. Jon sat across from her, thankful he could sit with his back to everyone. He wanted to see Levi the moment he walked in the door.
The man from behind the counter appeared at their table. “Hi Susan. I’m sorry to hear about Joan.”
Sue chuckled. “Thank you, Tony. I’ve told you a thousand times to call me Sue.”
He ignored her and turned to Jon. “Is this the Levi I’ve heard so much about?”
The knot in Jon’s stomach tightened, but he was thankful that everyone else had returned to their conversations.
“No Tony. This isn’t Levi. This is his boyfriend, Jon.”
There was no malice in her tone, but Jon steeled himself for the outrage that was sure to follow. He did the only thing he could. He looked Tony in the eye and smiled.
Tony smiled back. “Is that so? Well, from what I’ve heard of Levi, you are a lucky young man.”
Jon felt a wave of relief. “He’ll be here in a few minutes. He had to go see the lawyer.”
“Good. I’ve been waiting to meet him for a long time.”
Sue flashed a sly grin. “The boys haven’t had breakfast yet. I’ll take a coffee, though.”
“So y’all aren’t waiting for him to get here? Okay. Coffee for Susan. What’ll you have, young man?”
“Ummm, I’ve not seen a menu. I know we’ll have black coffee to drink, but what kind of food do you have?”
Tony winked at him. “For you and your man? Anything y’all want. Trust me, even if I don’t have it in the back this second, I have my ways and it won’t take too long.”
Jon’s heart raced, and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “How about a big stack of pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs?”
“You got it.” Smiling, he turned and went behind the counter and into the kitchen.
Sue was smiling at him. “How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“When he was sad or upset, Levi would always ask for pancakes. It was like his comfort food and would always make him feel better.”
Jon thought back to the morning after they met. He had bared his soul, and Levi had responded by cooking the food that had always comforted him. “I… I didn’t, but that was the first thing he ever cooked for me.”
Sue raised an eyebrow. “Was he sad?”
Jon dropped his eyes and inhaled. “No. I was.”
“I see. Do you want to tell me about it?”
Jon stared at the table. The murmur of conversation behind him quieted. He looked up, and Levi was standing at the table.