13. Leo

Chapter thirteen

Leo

W ith a container of tamales in hand, I led my sister and nephew into Isaac’s building. No matter how hard I tried to talk Cam out of attending this dinner, she refused to change her mind.

“I’m looking forward to chatting with Isaac,” Cam told me, and it did nothing to quell my nerves. “Nacho, are you excited to have dinner with Tío Leo’s friends?”

“Yes,” Nacho cheered as we stepped off the elevator. The tray of empanadas he was holding almost upended. “Oops, I got it.”

“Here goes nothing,” I mumbled, raising my hand to knock on the door. It swung open before I made contact, revealing a tall, well-dressed Asian man with two corgi dogs on leashes. “Uh, hello.”

Another person, short with brown hair, came up behind him and offered a smile, “Hi, are you looking for Isaac’s place?”

“Yes, I’m Leo,” I replied, holding my tray higher since the corgis were circling my legs.

“Hi, Leo! I’m Christian,” the tall man replied with more enthusiasm than I would expect, almost as if he recognized my name. “This is my partner Z, our dogs are Spock and Captain.”

“We were just taking them out for a potty break,” Z explained.

Stepping aside to let them pass, the two of them waved and hurried down the hall. Oddly, I felt like their hushed whispers were about me, but had to assume I was being paranoid.

“Leo,” Isaac’s deep voice had my head whipping to find him in the doorway. He looked damn fine in a red sweater over a collared shirt and dark jeans. “You’re here.”

We stared at each other for far too long, but I didn’t know what to say. “Hi, I wish we were alone so you could make me come on your couch again,” was not appropriate in front of my family and his friends.

“Great to see you again,” Cam interjected, breaking our awkward spell. She took the tamales from me and squeezed past Isaac to get inside, “I’ll take that.”

“Hi, Mr. Quintel,” Nacho chirped, following his mother.

When I went to go with them, Isaac stilled me with a hand on my upper arm. I thought he was going to kiss me when he leaned down, but I was only half right when he pecked my cheek. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” I admitted. I felt my cheeks heat and was glad for the excuse to walk past him into the condo.

Isaac’s touch was almost too much. I wanted more, but I could see and hear a lot of people. Cam was cooing over two babies and Nacho was on the floor by the dining table with Dezi and a couple bulldogs. There were some more people I couldn’t see past the group assembled around the babies.

“Are we the last ones here?”

“Last ones I expected before dinner, I think,” Isaac told me, turning into the kitchen to open the stove. “The turkey will be ready soon, and then we’ll eat.”

“Leo?” A familiar voice called my name and I turned to find an acquaintance with blue hair I couldn’t miss.

“Cielo?” I greeted them, opening my arms for a hug. I hadn’t seen them in a year, though that was when I tried out the kink club their partners owned. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

“I didn’t know you were the Leo that Isaac mentioned,” Cielo’s eyes widened. “Because he said there was a Leo from Dezi’s pre-school coming.”

Despite feeling like Cielo was covering for something, a thrill ran through me at the idea of Isaac telling his friends about me. Plus, it was nice to know another person in the group of strangers besides Isaac.

“I do have Dezi in my class a couple days a week,” I smiled, noting how sweet Nacho was with her. He was making sure the bulldogs didn’t knock her over while they snorted and licked at the children. “My nephew goes to the same school, but he’s in kindergarten.”

“The one you nannied for. Nacho, right?” Cielo asked, and I was surprised they remembered.

“Yes, and that’s my sister, Camila,” I pointed to where she was standing by a willowy blond and a giant of a man holding the newborns. Cam loved babies. “Who is everyone else?”

“You have to meet Q and A!” Cielo introduced me to their partners, a married couple much older than us. Both men were fit, though Q was bigger and bearded where A had a narrow waist and clean-shaven face. Cielo whispered to them when they were closer, “Daddies, this is Leo.”

“Leo, so nice to meet you.” Both men held out their hands for me to shake, and I saw a significant look pass between them.

“Leo and I went to college together,” Cielo added pointedly. Now I was certain Isaac had mentioned me as more than Dezi’s teacher. “And he’s a member of X Club, but I haven’t seen you there in a while.”

“Finishing my degree and starting my career has kept me from going out much,” I hedged. Not wanting to admit it was hard to see happy Daddies and their boys when I was forever single. “Plus Nacho kept me busy.”

“Good thing Nacho is in kindergarten now,” Cam interjected, looping her arm with mine. I had no clue how much she overheard, but enough to know it had to do with my personal life. “Hermano, come see the babies.”

“They are adorable,” Cielo nodded and followed us, leaving their Daddies to watch over the dogs and children. “I don’t know if you’ve ever met Ash, but they’re married to Jefferson.”

We stopped in front of the couch, where two people I had to assume were Ash and Jefferson held a newborn each. “Hello, are you vaccinated?” The blonde said by way of greeting.

“Preschool teacher, so yes,” I told them. “Who are these adorable bundles of joy?”

“This is Mimi, and I’m Ash,” the blond added as an afterthought. “My husband is holding Carter, But I don’t know if they’re full of joy or poop.”

“Both?” Ash’s husband, Jefferson, asked with a small grin for his spouse. I detected an accent, and wondered if he was Mexican American, like Cam and I. “Who knew they could piss and shit like projectile weapons?”

“Been there,” I laughed and Cam joined in beside me. “My nephew was a crash course in the range of body fluids.”

“And you still wanted to complete a degree in early childhood education,” Cielo pointed out. “Brave man.”

“We’re back,” the couple I met at the door came back in, unleashing their dogs.

“Dinner’s ready,” Isaac called out, setting the carved turkey on the loaded table. He scooped Dezi off the floor right as the four dogs started to wrestle. “Everyone find a seat and dig in!”

The table looked bigger than the last time I was there, and was covered in a pretty red tablecloth. I noticed Dezi was fighting her dad on going into her high chair, and I was by his side before I realized what I was doing.

“Wee-O!” Dezi squealed and made grabby hands at me. She was adorable in a velvet dress, and I hoped it was easy to wash.

“Here, let me,” I offered, holding my arms out for Dezi. “You have hosting duties.”

“Thanks,” Isaac handed her over without hesitation. “I really appreciate you.”

Our eyes met and time stood still. Did he appreciate me because he wanted me there or just because I helped with Dezi? His expression was soft, but I didn’t know if I was reading too much into his smiles.

“Isaac, do you have a corkscrew?” Ash interrupted, and I moved to get Dezi in her chair. I didn’t need to be staring longingly at the man while everyone else was around.

After taking a seat beside Dezi’s chair, I ended up right next to Isaac at the table. I would move, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to be next to him, even if we were acting like awkward teens.

When everyone had waded through the chaos of dogs underfoot and settled into a seat wherever they fit, Isaac raised his glass. “Thank you all for coming, your friendship is what I’m grateful for.”

“Aww,” everyone cooed and teased Isaac for his sappiness, but the man only chuckled.

“Instead of us all saying what we’re thankful for, I’d like us to all say what we want for Christmas or going into the new year.” Isaac waited until we all quieted down to continue, “I only want for Dezi to be happy and healthy as we approach one year since she came into my life.”

We all “ahed” again, but more sincerely. Who could tease a man for caring about his kid?

“I want the twins to sleep through the night,” Ash commented from the couch where they were eating between giving the babies their bottles.

Jefferson nodded, “Same.”

“I want to take a cruise with my–” Cielo started, then darted a look to my sister and nephew at the breakfast bar. “Partners. A cruise to somewhere tropical.”

“Then I want the same thing, Blue,” Q said with an affectionate smile for his boy. A nodded and said he wanted to make Q and Cielo happy.

My sister said she wanted her new startup to take off, and my nephew stole the show, asking for, “World peace! And also, maybe some new games for my tablet.”

We all laughed at his precociousness, but then all eyes turned to me. We’d done a circle around the room, and I was at the end of it beside Isaac and Dezi.

Looking around at all the happy couples, and one throuple, I wanted what they had. More specifically, I wanted what I knew Cielo had but only suspected the rest did with their partners. A Daddy to love them. To let them be the little in the relationship.

Instead, I only admitted, “I want a partner.”