24. Leo （Now）
Leo (Now)
Leo kissed Lynne goodbye at her front door and made his way down the alley toward his apartment.
The sun was fully out, air crisp, and a smile was plastered to his face.
He balanced a cardboard box on his hip, the keys to his apartment warming in his palm, as he unlocked the back door of his apartment building.
This hallway had felt like home for so many years.
Today, it felt like a place he’d already halfway left.
Mike knew he was coming to pick up some of his stuff, knew what had unfolded between him and Lynne the past couple weeks—because they’d talked.
But when Leo arrived, Mike was mid-brood in the living room, TV on mute, half-unpacked boxes all around him.
He lifted his gaze from a stack of mail piled on the coffee table that he’d been flipping through and sorting.
“Hey, Mike.”
“Hey, man. Come on in. Sorry. I didn’t mean to still be in the middle of this mess when you got here. But I ended up dozing off in the middle of things. I’m a terrible roommate.”
Leo chuckled. “Not nearly as bad as Fred. At least the front door’s still on its hinge.”
“That’s a low bar,” Mike quipped. “But I’ll take it. I’m glad you can see the bright side of all this. How’s Fred doing, by the way?”
“Pretty sure he thinks he owns 51 percent of Lynne’s couch and 55 percent of the bed.
But he’s had no desire to escape, which is saying something.
He seems content there, near Mama and the kittens.
Something about all this has settled him.
” Leo sighed and glanced around the apartment, glad he wasn’t moving back into the mess with Mike.
But he was also a little worried Mike was literally trying to bury himself.
He fidgeted. “Is that one mine?” Leo asked, pointing at the medium-sized stack of mail in the middle of the piles.
“Yeah, at least that’s figured out. Here.”
Mike handed the stack of envelopes to Leo, and Leo dropped it into the box and set the box on the ground beside his leg. “Can we talk a minute?” he asked Mike.
Mike’s brow furrowed with worry, but he also stood to clear the chair beside the couch and gestured for Leo to sit. He wrung his hands together, bracing for whatever bad news he thought Leo would share with him next.
They hadn’t exactly become friends since Mike moved back.
The litter and work had kept Leo distracted and left Mike mostly on his own.
But Leo’s heart leapt into his throat, seeing his brother was still depressed and stressed even after weeks in Autumn Ridge.
For some reason, he’d expected Mike to transform the place into some stereotypical military-pristine apartment in his absence.
Bed sheet corners in perfect folds. Floors so clean you could lick off them.
But Mike looked like he was barely living.
He knew Mike had been making rounds, re-introducing himself to some folks.
But nothing seemed to come from it just yet.
No plans with friends. No job offers. Mike had returned hoping to fit back into Autumn Ridge like a missing puzzle piece.
But today he looked more out of place than Leo had ever remembered seeing him.
“Look, about you staying here…” Leo started.
Mike took a sharp intake of air. “I know we said it would be temporary, and here I am, starting to move my stuff. But I don’t want you rushing out of here like this place is about to go up in flames.
” Mike blinked twice, his brain trying to catch up to what his ears were hearing, still waiting for the bad news to drop.
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Leo continued.
“I talked to the landlord. You can sublet from me until the lease is up. That’s another six months for you to relax, figure things out.
And when it’s up, he promised to give you first shot at taking over the lease.
If you want to. No pressure, of course. Take the time you actually need. ”
Mike’s jaw dropped a little. “You sure? You’re really okay giving this up?”
Leo quietly nodded down the street toward Lynne’s place. “I’m not giving something up. I’m moving in with someone. It’s … different.”
“So you and Lynne are really…?”
“Yeah.”
Mike nodded, too. “Well, it’s about time.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “About time? You’ve only been here a few weeks, Mike!”
“Hey, I watched those livestreams, too, you know. You’d have to be an idiot to not see something’s going on there.
Those cute kittens are all anyone is talking about around here anyway.
” He took a beat. “And I know Lynne,” he said, his eyes lowering back to the piles on the table.
“Thought I knew you, too. It makes sense. I’m glad you two decided to give it a shot. ”
Leo humbled himself. “Thanks.”
Mike glanced back up. “Anytime … Cat Daddy.”
Leo rolled his eyes while Mike tried to stifle a chuckle. “You just wait. When we have that adoption event, mark my words, you’ll become one of us.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Mike insisted. “They’re cute. But I’m still a dog guy.”
Leo shifted in the chair, considering the thing he’d really wanted to share with Mike but hadn’t yet.
“There’s just one more thing before I go grab some of my stuff from the bedroom.
” Mike’s face flattened again. “I went to see Chief Bob about why the fire alarms were so messed up in these downtown buildings.” He felt his throat tighten.
“It wasn’t Dad’s fault. It wasn’t that the firefighters didn’t come fast enough either.
The system was tied together and failing, even back then.
Dad probably thought it was another false alarm.
The station didn’t even get the signal. That spelled disaster.
” He paused, realizing that was about all he could say without getting emotional.
For a long time, Mike didn’t say a word either. They just stared at each other, reading the room, trying to breathe.
Mike’s hand lifted to his dog tags and squeezed. “Why are you telling me this now?” he finally asked.
“I’ve been carrying around this picture of you leaving, everyone upset, and Dad dying like they were part of the same story.
Like if you hadn’t left, or if I’d been older, something would’ve been different.
” Leo sighed. “I thought I could fix it somehow by becoming a firefighter. And I guess, in a sense, I have. But knowing the truth … it sucks that it doesn’t change anything.
But it also means you don’t have to feel guilty about it either—if you do.
I think I know you, too, Mike. I’m sure you do.
But it wasn’t on you. Even if you didn’t go to bootcamp that month, it still would’ve happened. ”
Mike’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and Leo could see the corners of his eyes getting wet.
But he swallowed it back. “I guess you do know me then,” he admitted.
“Or maybe I’m still the same guy. And maybe, as hard as it feels coming back to Autumn Ridge, I needed to come back just to hear that.
” He grew quiet. “I’ve had that fucking reel playing in my head for over a decade. ”
Leo reached out and grabbed Mike’s hand and pulled him in for a standing hug.
Neither of them seemed to want to be the first to pull back.
But Mike finally relaxed his grip and dabbed at his eyes.
“Well, now that I know I’ll be here a while, I really better start getting my shit together. Thanks again for the sublet.”
“Of course. And Lynne and I will be right down the block if you need anything. Anytime.”
Mike nodded, and Leo grabbed the cardboard box to start filling it.
Mike stood at the back door and waved as Leo stepped back out into the chill.
He pivoted toward Main Street, suddenly wanting to take the more scenic way back.
Thanksgiving was just days away, the downtown trees mostly bare and brown except for an occasional oak clinging to its pockets of dull yellow.
But where nature had lost its color, Autumn Ridge had filled it in.
String lights glinted in every window. Wreaths with pumpkins and gourds hung from every door.
Distant chatter from the café found his ears as passing cars pushed along damp pavement.
Someone honked as they drove by, and Leo waved.
The bar sign glowed at the end of the block, warm against the early dark.
That’s where he was headed. Home. With her.
Those words curled in his brain like a purring cat on a lap, making his whole body vibrate.
For the first time in years, he didn’t feel split between past and future.
He just felt pulled in one direction. For good this time.
And he knew exactly who was waiting there for him.