Page 88 of The Long Way Found

Luke looked at him for a moment. This was different from Sunday. Jack might have been uncomfortable, but he was in it and present.

"Okay," Luke said.

"Okay, meaning …"

"Meaning I hear you." Luke set down his cup.

Jack seemed to settle at that, not exactly relieved, more like he'd been bracing for something that hadn't come.

They talked for a while after that more easily. Jack described the dinner with his parents—how they seemed more relaxed than he’d remembered. His father was still stiff, his mother still attentive. But they weren’t looking at Jack as if he needed their help, maybe for the first time.

“What’s that about?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

Luke found himself watching Jack the way he had in the earliest days, cataloging the differences between the boy he'd known and the man across the table. The way Jack paid attention now, the way he'd learned to leave space in a conversation instead of talking about plans for the next thing, the next day, or the next whatever.

He was trying. Luke could see it. And maybe that was enough for now. We seek progress, not perfection.

"There's one more thing," Jack said. "And you can absolutely say no."

"Go ahead."

"I'd like you to have dinner with us on Saturday, my parents and me. If you're willing." He held Luke's gaze. "It would mean something to me. Not as a gesture. I want to share them with you and you with them. I want them to see how special and wonderful you are."

“Dinner with the Garrisons,” Luke said, considering it. “I don’t have a lot of memories about your father. Just that he didn’t like me much.”

“He was wrong about a lot of things, and I’m sorry he made you feel that way.”

“He didn’t like the idea of his son being queer.”

“That’s not exactly it,” Jack said. “He didn’t want me to be vulnerable, I think. He was dead set that I would attend West Point, and he had his plans for me. And Luke? He’s changed. I know he’d love to see you. They both would.”

“Your mother was so composed and warm. Elegant.”

“Still is.”

Luke smiled and said, “Yes, dinner Saturday sounds great. Thank you.”

The tension around Jack’s eyes eased, and his smile widened. It might’ve been the first time Luke realized, out of bed, that he had the ability to make Jack happy.

Outside in the parking lot, they moved slowly toward their cars, neither in a rush.

Jack reached out and touched Luke's hair, the same tentative curl-stroking from the porch all those months ago, the first signal, the one that had started everything. Luke pressed his head gently into Jack's hand.

"Mmm," Luke said. "That's nice."

Luke pressed his palm flat against Jack's chest and felt the steadiness of him. They stood like that for a moment.

"Saturday," Jack said.

"Saturday," Luke said, and stepped back like it was now or never.

He walked to his car, feeling lighter than he had all week. It wasn’t fixed yet, and there were still no guarantees. But they were taking the next right steps.

CHAPTER 33

LUKE

Tonight couldn’t come fast enough. Jack was so excited, in every way, at the thought of seeing Luke again.