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Seeing them all acting like their normal selves made me happy. I realized I really had missed being there for Christmas even though I wouldn’t have wanted to leave Gadleigh for anything.
“Was everyone there for Christmas today except me?”
Grandpa leaned into the frame, his chin resting on Doc’s shoulder. “Mostly. But we missed you. Especially when Hudson’s girlfriend gave him a Christmas ornament made out of stained glass. You should have seen how red his ears got.”
“Darci was there? I thought they broke up.”
Doc’s eyes glanced up as if looking at something off-screen, and I realized maybe Darci was still there and had heard me.
“Oh shit,” I said quietly. “Is she… are they still there?”
“No,” Doc said quickly. “They left a little while ago. I just thought I heard Pippa crying and realized the monitor isn’t turned on in here. I’m gonna go check on her. Love you, son.”
“Love you too,” I said before watching him disappear down the hallway toward the bedrooms. Grandpa watched him go before turning back to me.
“Darci and Hudson are still going out. That poor girl looks at him like he’s the last pint of ice cream at the grocery store,” Grandpa scoffed. “If it weren’t for him being in Dallas and her being here, I think she’d have wrangled a commitment out of him already by sheer force of will.”
I thought about how it could be worse for them. “Dallas to Hobie isn’t that far apart. Compared to, say… if she was in Europe or something.”
Right on cue, my face heated up like a solar flare. I hadn’t meant to be so specific, and Lord knew Grandpa never missed a beat.
“Something going on there, Felix?”
Saint and Otto had wandered off to join Hallie in an argument about something in the background. It was just Grandpa left on the call with me.
“I met someone.”
Somehow, he knew when to keep his jokes to himself.
“Sounds serious. Where does this someone live? There on the island?”
“Monte Carlo.”
There was no way in hell I could tell him who it was. Obviously I trusted Grandpa, but his house was probably full of friends and family members, and who knew how much everyone had been drinking at Christmas dinner.
“Damn, Fee. How’s that supposed to work?” Grandpa’s face was creased with concern, and I felt his love for me across the ocean.
“It’s not. He’s not in a position to start something,” I admitted. “I’m just feeling sorry for myself.”
“Is he already in a relationship?”
I blew out a breath. “No. That’s not it. More like… more like the deepest closet possible. A closet he’ll never come out of and one that wouldn’t have room for me in it even if I wanted to squeeze in there with him.”
Grandpa was silent for a moment. No doubt, he was trying to figure out how to solve the unsolvable problem, and I loved him for that.
“It is what it is, Grandpa. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
He peered into the camera at me. “I love you, Felix. We all love you. When you come home, we’ll make sure to distract you, all right? I don’t know what else to say.”
I felt my eyes prickle and my chin tilt in a nod.
“Love you too, Gramps. Tell Doc the same. Gotta go.”
Once I disconnected the call, I sat back on the sofa and closed my eyes to think about the situation I was in with Lio. Talking about it to my grandfather had clarified it for me. There was absolutely no future for me with Lio. I knew that now.
Lio clearly had no plan to be the first openly gay king, and who could blame him? Talk about a life in the media crosshairs. I couldn’t even imagine the scrutiny he’d be under if he tried to make history that way.
So I had two choices. I could cut it off now and spend my remaining days trying to focus on the glass, or I could accept the thing with Lio was a temporary fling and enjoy it while it lasted.
I stood up and turned toward the door of my guest apartment. There was a stained glass bedpost calling my name. For tonight, at least, I could have both.
Chapter 21
Lio
I knew something was up with my sister. She had that look about her that sisters get when they’re getting ready to lay down some truth. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for any of her truth, but I was definitely sure she was going to lay it down regardless.
“He’s cute,” she began.
I couldn’t help but smile. “He’s fucking gorgeous and adorable as hell. And it goes without saying, I call dibs.”
I noticed Jon’s eyebrows quirk up as he glanced at Hen, but Hen only chuckled. “No worries, Lio. I’m not shopping around at the moment.”
The fire crackled as quiet descended. I thought about my father and his pregnant mistress. No wonder Hen was put off looking for someone. Falling in love was dangerous business in our family. Not that I was in love, of course. Because going down that road was a nonstarter for me. I couldn’t even consider the possibility of falling for someone I really wanted. Even if Felix had been the right gender for my life’s plan, I still saw how many relationships ended in disaster. I wondered if Hen did too. If so, I hated that my father’s lack of responsibility to this family would cause my sister to lose her hope of finding love.
