“Well, to be honest, that’s partly why I love living in New York. I can be completely anonymous here. I’m just another guy on the subway.And Idohave people who help me. I have a cleaning service, a property management company, and there’s someone who comes and cooks for me a few times a week. I have a driver on weekdays, and a couple of assistants, too,” I said lifting a shoulder. “They’re just not in my space all the time. I like my privacy. And when Libe was smaller, I had a live-in nanny. I still have someone who watches her regularly, she justdoesn’t live here. No one’s here on the weekends for the most part, unless I’m hosting a dinner party or something.”
I exhaled, trying to get to what I thought he was really asking: why I wanted things this way. “After the divorce, I promised myself I wouldn’t let money or business steal me away from my life. I think that was part of the reason the three of us decided to sell Nuntius. As much as we loved it, it was running our lives. I guess I’m still recovering from that. I’m enjoying the freedom not having to worry about money gives me, and all the time I get with Libe. I try to be mindful of it, and most of the time I succeed. Although it can be tempting to just throw money at things that come up.”
He stayed silent for a while, digesting what I’d said, then turned around with a look of genuine annoyance on his face.
“Someday soon,” he said, pressing a finger to my chest. “You’re going to have to do something completely asinine and enraging. Because it’s not fucking possible for anyone to be this well-adjusted and thoughtful all the time. It’s annoying, Thomas!”
I barked out a laugh. “You probably won’t be waiting too long. Believe me.”
He huffed in answer but gave me a kiss before settling against me again.
After a minute, I decided to ask something I’d been waiting on for a while. After the day we had, it felt like the right time. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
He shrugged in my arms. “Nothing, I’m on call.”
I knew he had weekends when he had to be available to respond to emergencies in the shelter, but it hadn’t really come up since we started seeing each other. “Do you have to be at home? What about your mom?”
He shook his head and shifted a bit so his back was flush against my chest. “No it’s not so strict. I just need to be availableon the phone in case one of the advocates has a question or something happens. My mom is going to the Poconos with Patrice’s mom. She’s actually there this weekend. We were finally able to convince her to go out of town for a bit.” At the mention of his mom, his brow furrowed and I wondered if there was something going on. He hadn’t said much about her lately, but I knew her well-being was a major priority in his life. “Anyways, Ayako will be on call, too, so we’re planning to hang out at my place. Get some take-out and binge-watch cooking competitions. The parents will be back on Saturday, so I’ll see my mom Sunday.”
I nodded at his answer, figuring out how to ask my real question.
“Why don’t you come here? Ayako’s welcome, too. I promise you’ll finally get a glimpse of my obnoxious rich-guy side then.”
He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at me. “Will there be turkey? Because my people don’t do turkey.” I couldn’t resist that mouth. I kissed him again, smiling against his face.
“There will literally be everythingbutturkey.”
“Go on,” he said, sounding intrigued.
“It’s sort of a tradition at this point. We started in grad school. Heni, Sanjay, and I were roommates and stayed in Boston for Thanksgiving since none of us had family close by. Priya was in medical school at Yale and came up, too. We invited all the international students who stayed in town and asked whoever wanted to bring a traditional special occasion dish from their country.” By this point I had his complete attention. “We ended up with this amazing meal and decided we’d do it again the next year, and we’ve been doing it together ever since. We used to take turns hosting, but in the last few years, it’s been here. The group has grown, too, now that people are married and have kids. A lot of our friends are in the area, so we get a crowd. I think there are about thirty coming this year. I have some ofit catered, but people still bring some dishes from home. It’s always a nice evening.”
Camilo had turned around while I talked and was now looking at me slack-jawed. “It’s not fair that you can be this geeky and cool at once.”
I grinned at how pissed he looked and went in for another kiss.
“It sounds amazing. I’m totally in. Ayako will love it, too; she’ll probably want to bring something.”
I smiled, pleased with myself for impressing him. “Good. Priya will be here so you can see the baby. She’s been asking about you.” He nodded and settled back into my arms again. It was time for Camilo to get to know my people.
Camilo
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Tom whispered and I nodded, thinking again how good he made me feel. We’d been watching a movie and dozing off after our talk about Thanksgiving plans. I had my head on his chest and was falling asleep when my phone rang. When I held it up, I saw Odette’s number on the screen and my heart immediately sank. If she was calling this late, something was probably going on with my mom.
“Hey, Odette. Is something wrong?”
“Hi, Milo. I’m just calling to ask how Dinorah’s doing. I tried to call her this morning and she didn’t pick up.”
It took me a moment to process her words. When I realized what she was saying, I stiffened in Tom’s arms and scrambled to sit up. This whole time I thought my mom was with Odette. I’d even texted with her this afternoon and she’d said she was fine. What the hell was going on?
“What do you mean? I thought she’d gone up to the house with you?” I sounded scared and Tom immediately sat up on the couch, his face alert.
I heard Odette click her tongue. “No, when we went to pick her up last night, she said she wasn’t feeling well and was going to stay home. I tried to convince her, but you know how she gets. I told her I’d check on her today, but she’s not answering her phone. I didn’t want to worry you, dear, but you know she’s been down lately.”
I was in a full panic by now, because this meant my mom had been alone and so depressed she couldn’t even leave her house while I’d been out with Tom all day. I’d barely checked in with her this week; I’d been so preoccupied with meeting Libe. I knew she wasn’t doing well, but I was so caught up in this thing I had with Tom, I’d totally dropped the ball.
“I haven’t talked to her since yesterday, Odette. I’ve been at my?—”
I looked over at Tom.
