Page 14 of The Men of Summer
LOVE IS LOVE
Zayn
2 years later
The front door creaks open and clicks closed. The familiar sound of Jeremy’s small feet padding across the hardwood floor follows, and a resonating thump informs me that he dropped his backpack near the staircase. No doubt he’s tossed his sneakers beside it. The corner of my mouth quirks up.
Sitting on one of the living room sofas, I inhale the comforting aroma of Dante’ssofrito-based sauce wafting in from the kitchen. It’s a flavorful part of a famous Dominican dish he mostly reserves for special occasions since he claims it requires a lot of prep… but then again, he’s more than happy when I spend time prepping him!
Anyway, my hot boyfriend insisted on cooking dinner and granting me a reprieve. I do enjoy cooking, but this is his specialty, so I snapped a few pictures of the sexy chef instead. He’s missing out less and less, but I still enjoy documenting our lives in the form of photos.
Feeling somewhat useless, though, I couldn’t help myself and prepared the appetizers and set the table when I needed a break earlier, although we aren’t expecting our guests until around six.
We’re celebrating the first week of second grade. Actually, we were looking for an excuse to invite our friends over and surprise Jeremy. We’ve managed to build solid friendships with a tight group of people over the past couple of years, and most of them are tagging along tonight. It’s been a while since we’ve all been in the same room, and Jeremy doesn’t know that his two best friends—Emily and Liam—will be here too. Tricia, who was in charge of picking them up after school, texted Dante that she had a hard time keeping her mouth shut when Jeremy’s face fell as he exited her car. Those three are inseparable! The cherry on the cake is that young Susie’s going to be here as well.
To say that Jeremy feels overprotective of Sully’s daughter is the understatement of the year. Jeremy adopted her as his baby sister who lives in another house, basically ignoring her parents and insisting we babysit her as often as possible. Oddly, Sully and Sonia love the attention Susie gets from him and aren’t offended by the way he ignores them. No amount of berating from us made a difference.
“Hey, Jeremy,” I call out, looking up from my laptop. “How was school?”
He mumbles a quick “Good.” With his socks on, he makes his way into the living room, scratching his head.
“Hey, champ.” Dante pokes his head out of the open-plan kitchen adjacent to the living room. He sets down the wooden spoon and greets our son, who deposits a bin of toys next to the flat screen. “You okay over there?”
My man’s question has me flick my gaze to Jeremy. Visibly pensive, Jeremy doesn’t answer and saunters to hug him first. A rare occurrence.
Ready to give our son my full attention, I clickSave.
Our son… A sound between a sigh and a growl slips from my lips. I suddenly feel possessive, although it took some time to allow myself to own it. For years, life caught up with us, and I procrastinated taking the necessary steps to officially become Jeremy’s father until two years ago. So much has changed since then.
Following his latest duet album with Brea, Dante started to slowly but surely transition from being a performer to a songwriter and producer, which is what he prefers. He doesn’t discriminate between award-winning artists and indies he notices at various festivals, although his priority remains Twist of Fate, the band formed by Brea, Gael, and a few other musicians they previously played with, such as Jesus, Dante’s Plot Twist’s former guitarist.
Since hitting it off at The Seaside Music Festival two summers ago, the couple’s drawn the media’s attention with their rock ballads, unwavering energy, and intense love story. Redirecting the attention to them left room for Dante and me to peacefully live our own love story. Fewer nosy journalists. Less unwanted exposure. Fewer secrets. Truth be told, I hadn’t expected such a drastic change in course since he adored being on stage. Coachella and Seaside are still in the cards for now. Call me old-fashioned, but my insides went all fuzzy when he eventually admitted to missing his family too much.
His decision inspired me to make some adjustments of my own. A year ago, I became a freelance consultant in my area of expertise and made time to plot my first thriller novel in my spare time, such as this afternoon.
Spying on them, my heart melts. Dante lowers the stove to put his preparations on hold.
“Thanks for makingsancocho, Father.” Jeremy’s voice is flat. “I love it.”When he releases Dante and turns around, I frown at his uncharacteristic lack of animation and curiosity. Knowingthe tradition we have with this dish, he’d usually inquire about the special occasion. Instead, he sits next to me as I close my laptop and lean towards the large glass coffee table to set it aside.I make a mental note to set my alarm so that I can wake up early to work on my story. He kisses my cheek; such a French habit!
Feeling the weight of Dante’s eyes on us, I peck Jeremy in return. “What’s on your mind, buddy? You’ve got that look on your face that says you’ve been thinking really hard.”
Toying with the fabric of his T-shirt, he looks at his feet and lets out a loud, almost distressed, sigh. Without a word, he plops down on the floor between the sofa and the coffee table and picks up a toy car. Reining in my impatience, I bite my lip to give Jeremy time to speak his mind and quizzically glance at Dante. We wait for a moment, watching Jeremy, whose attention suddenly drifted to a miniature dinosaur and another car, then he halts, staring at us alternatively. “How do you know if you like girls or boys?” His little voice is full of wonder.
Ohhh, I knew something was up.
It’s a loaded question, but we’ve always promised to be open and honest with him.
Gathering my wits, I move to sit next to him on the floor. From the corner of my eye, I see Dante wiping his hands on a towel. He joins us, sitting cross-legged on the plush rug with the sides of his bare feet tapping at regular intervals.
Again, we exchange a quick, understanding glance, torn between worry and amusement; I can’t decipher what truly lies behind his question.
Despite the new normal we established, some things haven’t changed. Dante and I still get sideways looks, and audible whispers behind our backs are a common occurrence. What hurts me the most is when Jeremy witnesses people calling us perverts or something similar to our faces. It hasn’t happened ina while, but it leads to questions. My gut tells me to proceed with caution.
I cage his eyes. “Well, that’s a good question, Jay.” My tone is calm and collected. “Did something happen at school today? Does it have to do with Em’ or Liam?”
I don’t want to misinterpret his question. Maybe he isn’t asking about attraction, but friendship. What if one of them stated a claim on Jeremy and asked him to choose?
“Yeah,” he replies. “Well, not really… It’s just…” I rub the back of my neck, my mind reeling while his attention briefly returns to his toys. “Tim and his friends were talking about who you should like… well, love… and it made me think.”
