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“Thanks again for having us over, Sarah.” Julio hands her his empty mug as she sloshes the water in the sink. The bubbles are growing at an almost alarming rate and when she submerges the mug and the baking tray into the water it overflows and drips down the kitchen cabinets. It’s a delightfully haphazard approach to the washing up, and Julio watches as his wife’s face freezes from her seat at the kitchen table and then softens as she remembers that it’s not their house.
“You’re all very welcome,” Sarah trills from her place at the sink. “It’s been years since the boys have been interested in making a gingerbread house with me. And I think Nicky has needed this.”
“Charlie too,” Julio says softly, craning his neck to watch the two boys through the crack in the living room door. Sarah had left the glass doors ajar when she went in to take them both a cup of tea earlier but, honestly, he’s not sure either of them have noticed anyone else since the moment his family knocked on the door. They’re too wrapped up in one another, in the way of young people in love, and Julio can’t help but feel warmed by the sight. It’s a very different one from the family’s last ill-fated visit to this kitchen. The dinner where they had all been so proud of Nick for standing up for himself – and their relationship – despite the indifference of Stéphane and the hostility of his brother. David, shockingly, has not joined them for round two as they gather around the kitchen table and attempt to assemble and decorate the gingerbread house that Sarah has carefully baked. Probably for the best, Julio muses.
“Mum, look!” his youngest gasps suddenly. “Gummy bears! Can I eat one please?”
Olly is sitting at the kitchen table with Jane, pressed in close to his mum in the way only an eight year old can manage, and pointing to the little bowls of confectionery that Sarah has lined up on the table. The Christmas lights are bouncing off of the glass – twinkling and winking in a way that makes the surface of the glass seem to dance. Olly is transfixed and Julio wonders when he last saw his youngest this happy.
Before Charlie went away, certainly.
Charlie and Nick are stretched out on their bellies on the floor of the living room; their long legs bent up so that their feet point to the sky. Every so often there’s movement that catches Julio’s eye as they knock their feet together and laugh inaudibly. They’re looking at the scrapbook that Nick carted to the facility that first time he came with them to visit Charlie. He had held it tucked up under his arm in a big, glittery box for the entire journey – as if someone might take it off of him if he let go even the tiniest bit – and when they travelled back later Julio noticed the glitter that had caught itself on Nick’s hoody. Jarring, for a big rugby lad, especially when he popped by the next day with a card he had forgotten to give to Charlie and it was still there, sparkling under their porch lights.
Julio watches as Nick drapes his arm across Charlie’s back and leans in to press a kiss to his temple. It strikes him as incredibly soft, for someone as big as Nick. The kid towers over him every time he’s over their house – although he tries to hide it with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped, as if that will make any difference – and sometimes Julio wishes he had a bit more heft to him so he could be the least bit intimidating to his son’s boyfriend.
This is not one of those times.
Olly excitedly shouts something about the different icing colours that Sarah has provided, while Jane hushes him and tells him to be polite. But Nick and Charlie carry on as if there’s no one else around. Nick is still draped half over Charlie as they flick through the scrapbook and point to this and that on the page. Charlie giggles, again, and Nick presses another kiss to his temple. Julio knows that they avoid most public displays of affection around their families – mainly for the benefit of his wife’s sensibilities about these things – and to be honest he isn’t sure how he feels about the idea of his kid snogging his boyfriend the way he has seen some teens carry on at the park when he’s walking Olly home from school. But this certainly isn’t that .
They had three days to regroup as a family before it became apparent that tensions would reach an all-time high if they didn’t loosen the reins a little. Jane had resisted, Charlie had ranted down the phone to Nick and Tori and Julio had hidden in the kitchen and came up with a plan. Julio had Sarah’s number from when Nick was taking the trek to the clinic with them, and so it became fairly easy to manufacture an excuse to get the boys together for more than just a quick reunion.
Bonus: poor Olly gets to make a mess that his wife can’t get stressed about. She can’t get overly stressed, in any case. Jane Spring has the unique ability to get flustered at pretty much anything, a fact that they are determined to remedy together in the hopes of not interfering with their son’s recovery too much.
Their son, who has apparently chosen this moment to cup his boyfriend’s face and plant a kiss right on his lips, as if none of them were there. Julio clears his throat. It feels like he should say something, but none of the others seem to have noticed and, besides, Nick looks a combination of embarrassed and delighted that implies that things aren’t heating up anytime soon. Not the time for the hanky panky rant yet, it seems.