Page 7 of Conflict Conclusion

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.