The Last We Fell

23. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔏𝔞𝔰𝔱 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔰

"Morning." I called down the stairs and into the kitchen. Leo was plating breakfast for the two of us. I haven't gone back to the house in a couple of days now and it's been the quietest and most peaceful I have been in a long time. 

"Awake at last?" His chest rumbled with laughter. Always the merry morning guy. "Come sit. Let's have breakfast together."

He talks as though he hadn't been making five star breakfasts that we've been having together for the last two mornings. I sat at the table, my mouth watering at the delicious looking full plate. I wasn't even going to pretend that I was anything but ravenous.

"You've been spoiling me and I don't know how I'm supposed to go back to toast and coffee after this." I moaned as I took a bite of the heavenly fondue baked mushrooms and eggs.

"You need to start taking your morning meals more seriously. You're not a half bad chef Lilianne."

"It's just not the same when somebody else does it for you." I spoke with stuffed cheeks, barely intelligible, sending him a grateful smile. "Thank you for putting up with me."

"How many times have I told you to never say that?" He gave me a stern look. "You're family."

I blinked down at my plate of food to avoid his eyes. Leo has been as close to family as I could get, and it would be so easy to make believe. The thought makes some heavy feelings stir deep in my gut that I don't even want to begin to explore.

"Did Thomas tell you he was going to be catching a flight here earlier than their scheduled visit?" He probed.

Tom is so dead. 

"How did you- I bit my lip, cursing my stupid mouth. Of course he must've asked Tom's assistant or the guy must've blurted it out.

Leo gave me a knowing look, then sighed. "He's off doing some reckless shit isn't he?"

"Leo," I started placatingly. "Tom knows what he's doing. You can't keep worrying about him all the time."

That was a lie. One glimpse at Tom's recklessness was enough to spur a lifetime of concern. When it comes to anything but work and his dad, the guy could be a trainwreck.

"Don't defend him." He grumbled. "I once was just as reckless and look at us now."

Yeah, Leo never brought up his past, and I wasn't going to ask. "What? Kind, rich, makes heavenly food and aged like fine wine?"

"Don't sweet talk me." He mumbled but he couldn't help but smile anyway. "He is going to regret this terribly some day."

I sighed. Well, it's not exactly news that it wouldn't end well for him. Tom's player ways and reputation precedes him- and that's just the handful of times the press caught whiffs of his escapades. If I were to psychoanalyse him, my best guess would be that he was coping with whatever drove him away all those years ago, whatever turned the soft, affectionate, smiling golden retriever guy to become a hard-edged, uncompromising and sometimes downright dangerous man. It wasn't healthy or sustainable, but unless he realizes it himself nothing is going to get him to quit. "I'll talk to him?"

"I think it's my turn to knock some sense into him."

"Leo." I interrupted him firmly. "Please don't. The two of you are so alike and you know he'll react negatively to your authoritarian approach. When has that ever worked in the last ten years?"

He frowned. "He's a smart guy. He knows what he's doing is not right."

"Well he doesn't recognize that it's wrong either." I pointed out. "Tom thinks that just because whatever he does in his free time does not concern nor affect anyone but himself, that no one should care. He doesn't see things the way we do."