Page 6 of Healing Daddy

JJ eyed the house as he strode toward the front door. Perfectly manicured lawn. He couldn’t see Leary doing that. Two-story stone. Privacy fence and pool. One of those long porches withrocking chairs and flower boxes. He was in love. Not once in all his years had JJ’s life been normal. As wild as it would likely seem to anyone else, normal was what he dreamed of most. Peace. Stability.

When he rang the doorbell, he heard the musical chime inside. Leary pulled open the door as if he had run to answer. “Hey.” He sounded breathless. His deep green eyes shone bright with happiness.

“Hey.”

Leary took a step back. “Come in. I just need to put my shoes on.”

JJ was curious as hell. He stepped inside. The place was beautiful. He couldn’t stop looking around. On an oval coffee table in front of a cushy couch sat a gorgeous flower arrangement. They looked like real flowers. JJ couldn’t stop himself. He stroked a petal. It was real. “Wow. Your home is really nice.”

Leary glanced up from putting on his shoes. “My mom is a home decorator. I let her go crazy.”

With one statement, JJ realized something. “That’s the first time you’ve said anything about your family. I should’ve asked, but I didn’t think about it. When you don’t have a family, you kind of forget other people do.”

“You don’t have a family?”

JJ shook his head as he inspected the books on Leary’s bookcase. “My mom lost custody of me at birth because they found drugs in both our systems. After being passed around from foster home to foster home, I ended up in a boy’s home and then on the streets. Beau took me in and gave me a job.” He shrugged. The confession left him feeling uncomfortable. He got the feeling Leary’s childhood had been the polar opposite of his.

Leary looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ve never thought to ask your age.”

“I’m twenty-two.”

For a moment, it looked like everything inside Leary went on lockdown.

He suddenly felt the need to fill the awkward silence. “How old are you?”

Leary cleared his throat. “Thirty-three.”

That was about what JJ figured. “That seems young for a surgeon.”

“It is. I graduated high school at fifteen and college by eighteen. Medical school and residency took the longest, but it was still at an accelerated pace.”

JJ was fascinated. “So you really are like a genius, genius, huh?”

A blush touched Leary’s cheeks. “That’s what they say.”

That blush got him every time. JJ had never been around anyone as pure. “You’re adorable.”

Once again, Leary went on lockdown for a moment. JJ almost took it back. It seemed as though he had stepped over an invisible line. Maybe he had misread the entire situation.

“You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever set eyes on.” Leary immediately turned bright red, ears and all. But if there was one thing Leary always was, it was brave. He had plopped down in JJ’s lap the first time they met. Leary hadn’t backtracked since.

JJ crossed the room to where Leary sat on the couch. He held his hand out, palm up. “Let me take you to dinner.” Even JJ heard the promise in his voice. After dinner, they would circle back to this discussion. JJ finally had Leary headed in the direction he wanted to go. He wouldn’t let up now.

JJ half expected the drive to the restaurant to be uncomfortable after he had held Leary’s hand all the way to the car. It wasn’t. For whatever reason, being together felt like the most natural thing. At least for him, anyhow. He didn’t know how Leary felt.

“So, we’ve established your mom is a decorator. What does your dad do?”

“Is this a date?”

The question sideswiped him, especially the way it burst from Leary as if he had been barely holding the inquiry in. “Yes. Why? Do you not want it to be?”

JJ swore he felt the tension leave the air. “Of course I want it to be. He’s a congressman.”

“Jesus. You’re like way out of my league, aren’t you?”

Leary huffed. “I am not. If anything, you’re out of my league.”

JJ snorted. “A street rat and a congressman’s doctor son. Who do you think people will say is reaching too high?”