However, after the moment passed, Auggie started laughing.
The laughter was so strong and boisterous that I was nearly bucked off his lap, and he wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me from falling off.
I had no choice but to laugh along with him, and our combined voices filled the night air, drowning out the rush of the river below and the chaos of the city in the distance.
After that, we continued to cuddle on the bench for a while, but we didn’t go any further. The mood wasn’t right. However, a sense of physical intimacy continued to linger between us even after we returned home. That single conversation had brought us closer, like we’d crossed over a barrier we hadn’t even known was there. Touching and kissing came a little easier each day, and although we hadn’t slept together yet, we could both tell it was only a matter of time.
CHAPTER 30
Auggie
Mia bouncedat my side as we waited at the park, bursting with energy as each second ticked by. It was an overcast day. The sky above us was hazy with a promise of rain that didn’t seem to want to come, but that still couldn’t dampen Mia’s spirits. Eli was arriving today, and Mia was about to burst out of his skin with excitement.
It had taken longer than I wanted to arrange transportation to bring Eli to Baton Rouge. Even a domestic flight was difficult to secure on such short notice, and Eli had taken some convincing before he agreed to accept my offer. Not only did I have to prove to the man that I did, in fact, know Mia, but I also had to provide evidence that Mia actually wanted to see him before he would agree to get on a plane.
I couldn’t fault Eli for his caution. The man was only a year older than Mia, but he’d probably experienced a lot of betrayal and broken promises in his lifetime. People didn’t just end up living on the street for no reason. It was usually because of a mix ofbad luck and painful experiences. For now, Eli had no reason to believe that I wasn’t just another abuser looking to use Mia in some way.
Well, I’d just have to show him differently, but I would need time for that.
Apparently, Eli was also still miffed that Mia had just up and disappeared one day without a word to him. Of course, he didn’t know the truth of it all but that wasn’t my story to tell, so I left that up to Mia to discuss once the other man was here.
Unfortunately, all of that meant that it had taken a couple of weeks before I was finally able to deliver Mia’s friend to him. The waiting had been excruciating. He’d been marking off the days on the calendar with the same eagerness as a kid counting down to Christmas.
Come to think of it, had Mia ever been able to celebrate a proper Christmas?
Back when he lived with his mother, she always got depressed around the holidays so Mia had mostly spent the time by himself and staying out of her hair so as not to upset her further.
Then when he went to live with his father, he rarely received gifts of any kind. Most of the time he was overlooked, and on the few occasions when he was given a gift, it was usually something hyper-masculine, like a toy gun or a particularly violent video game. As if that could somehow get his gender expression back on track and make him more acceptablymale.
After that, when he went to Camp Green Hill, there weren’t any more presents and Christmas stopped being celebrated all together.
That would have to change this year. As the two of us waited for Eli to finally arrive, I decided that this Christmas I would have to do something special to make up for everything Mia had missed out on in the past.
It was just a little past noon when a familiar car rolled into the park. Roland had agreed to pick up Eli from the airport so that I could stay with Mia and help keep him calm while we waited. At first, I’d tried to turn him down. Roland and Tyler had already done so much, helping me with Mia’s case and getting me in touch with Eli in the first place. Asking Roland to use his day off to pick up Eli from the airport seemed greedy. However, Roland insisted, claiming that he was already so involved that he had a vested interest in the outcome.
Roland got out of the car first, then came around to open the passenger side door. A moment later an unfamiliar man stepped into view.
I’d seen a photo of Eli before, but it had been from a few years ago, and it had been a mugshot when he was arrested for alleged vandalism, so it wasn’t the most flattering. The man who exited the car barely resembled the photo, and I almost suspected that Roland had brought us the wrong man, until I noticed Mia’s reaction.
There was a small gasp, and then Mia ran toward Eli, so clearly pleased by the sight of him that there was no doubt as to the man’s identity. Eli was shorter than expected, with his hair shaved short in a way that made it haphazardly stick up in the front. His face was narrow with harder lines that I’d expect to see on someone his age, but his eyes were soft when he saw Mia running toward him.
“So, you really are here.” He reached out toward Mia, but his hands stopped before he made contact, eyeing Mia’s visible burn scars. “Your man there really wasn’t lying.”
Mia glanced back at me. “No. Auggie doesn’t lie.” Then he closed the rest of the distance between them and pulled Eli into a hug. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you agreed to come.”
Once Mia crossed that physical barrier, Eli lost the last of his hesitation and returned the hug. “Well, it was a worthwhile risk. I figured it wouldn’t really make any difference if it weren’t really you. I’ve had so many claims of your whereabouts over the years that all turned up false, I figured if your man was wrong, I wouldn’t be any worse off. Although, it seems like he’s been taking good care of you.”
With a blush and a frankly adorable giggle, Mia pushed a lock of his long hair behind his ear and nodded.
It was then that I realized Eli wasn’t the least bit surprised by Mia’s appearance. Before the fire, Mia’s hair had been long, and although he didn’t have much choice in his clothing while homeless, he must have worn feminine clothing whenever possible. Eli had probably seen more of Mia’s personal style even more than I had.
That meant he might also know things about Mia’s past that I wasn’t able to find. I’d been able to give Mia factual information about himself, but I couldn’t tell him all the little stories and anecdotes that he’d forgotten. With any luck, maybe he’d told these stories to Eli in the past, and now the other man could return them to him.
The two of them drifted over toward the swing on the otherwise empty park playground, discussing Mia’s scars and his recoveryfrom the fire he’d suffered through. Meanwhile, I moved over to a nearby bench with Roland, keeping an eye on the pair while, going over the details of a recent case that had shown up on our desks.
I’d been so distracted by arranging things with Eli that I hadn’t been paying as much attention as I should have at work, but Roland was happy to bring me up to speed.
We stayed there until late in the afternoon when the park began to grow crowded. The place had made for a good neutral ground for this meet-up when it was empty, but with more and more children gathering on the playground now that school had ended for the day, we no longer had the privacy we needed.