Page 86 of Jump-Start
I shouldn’t be surprised. Leonard has the biggest heart of anyone I know. He invests in the people he believes in. Lilah, Pepa, me, and who knows how many other people wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have without him. The best part of it all? He doesn’t do it to get credit or attention afterward. He will stand at the back, cheering for the person succeeding.
“Yeah, sweetheart. I’d love for us to have one of those events at your gallery one day,” he says and wraps his hand around mine.
“I would like that very much,” I reply, and Leonard manages to give me a brief kiss before Pepa grabs our attention again.
“This is Leonard,” she says, pointing at a beautiful lion with three legs and a mane so big, it has me mesmerized. “We named him after the man who saved him,” she explains and tells me about how Leonard found him the day after his race.
Leonard, the lion, was bleeding out at the side of the road when my boyfriend found him and immediately brought him to an emergency hospital for animals. Leonard thinks he might have been thrown into the street by someone who was illegally breeding lions here but didn’t want one with only three legs. He says the little creature had only been a few weeks old when he found him.
“Leonard brought him to me a few days later,” Pepa finishes, and I turn to the man I love.
“Why have you never told anyone?” I ask, and he gives me a simple shrug, dragging my hair behind my shoulder. It’s gotten longer again since I cut it a few months ago, but Leonard seems to like my long locks.
“I didn’t do it to gloat,” he replies, and before I can respond, something lands on my head.
“Ricky!” Pepa calls out, but I’m frozen in place. Leonard attempts to reach out for me, but I let out a strangled laugh and step away. “Ay, don’t worry, Chiara. Ricky is harmless, just clingy,” she goes on, and I reach for the creature on my head. He wraps himself around my hand and arm, and I realize it’s a little monkey.
“Oh,” is all I say while he jumps onto my shoulder and grabs my hair for stability. He lets out a few excited sounds and then places his face against my cheek, making me laugh.
“Okay now, Ricky, watch yourself. Chiara is mine,” Leonard says with a small smile directed at me, and the little animal on my shoulder jumps onto my boyfriend’s now outstretched arm. “I named him,” Leonard says as Ricky hugs him around the neck, holding on tight.
“Did you find him on the side of the road too?” I ask, dreading the answer.
“No, we just bonded after I brought Leonard in.” I give him a small smile.
I realize three important things right here and now.
1. Leonard is undoubtedly the love of my life.
2. He’s a pain in the ass at times, but his big heart is everything to me.
3. I’m going to marry him one day.
There is no one else I have ever or will ever be able to imagine a future with, and I’m surprisingly fine with that thought. Not just fine. Happy. I’m happily picturing us old and gray with a life full of memories. I’m happily picturing us with a big family, and him coming home to me every single day, just like I will come home to him. I’m happy about it all.
“Come, sweetheart. I want to take a photo,” Leonard says, holding up my polaroid, which he’s been taking everywhere. I have about fifty polaroids of us doing the most random things by now—even a naughty one of each of us—which I have put into a separate album. He takes a selfie of us, along with Ricky still holding onto his neck, and I grab the photo as it gets printed out of the camera.
“I’ll never get enough of the places you take me to,” I whisper as I wait for the picture to appear.
“I’ll never get enough of taking you everywhere.”
CHAPTERFORTY-ONE
leonard
“Uncle Lenny!” Liz calls out when I step through the door of Jack and Stu’s home. She runs toward me until her arms can wrap around my waist.
“Hi, angel,” I reply before hugging her back and nodding at my brother and his partner. They’re both waiting for me near the kitchen with their arms crossed in front of their chests and impatient looks on their faces. I roll my eyes teasingly but follow them toward the table where coffee and biscuits are waiting for me.
Chiara and I came back from Mexico a few days ago. We haven’t told anyone we’re dating, and I know I can trust Mum not to say anything before we’re ready. Part of me, the coward in me, wishes she’d told everyone so I don’t have to, but Chiara and I decided it was time. Most of my team already knows. Her family knows. My family should too. I even sent Graham a ticket to get his arse back to London. We should inform him of our relationship in person, not over the phone. It wouldn’t feel right to do that.
Jack and Stu sit opposite me at the table, their arms still crossed. I merely stare back at them while a happy Lizzie takes a bite of the biscuit. She scrunches her nose at the taste and turns to her dads to ask why they taste so funny. Stu tells her it’s one of Uncle Lenny’s special cookies, so I take the other half she won’t eat and place it in my mouth, winking at her. I push the plate with the non-vegan biscuits in front of her, and she smiles brightly.
“Can I help you both?” I finally ask when they say nothing.
“Please tell us you’re officially dating Chiara,” Jack says, and my heart inevitably skips a beat at the mention of my girlfriend’s name.
“I am.”
