El & Em - Chapter 25

Story: El & Em
Rating: NC-17 (in a couple of later chapters only)
Word Count: This part: 3,200. Full story: About 103k.
Summary: Philadelphia, 1972. All Luke wants is to share his music with the world. When an imposing, slightly older trumpet player called Emmett joins his band, Luke is fascinated – and a lifelong friendship is born. Love and loyalty are forged in the slow burn of tours, shows and recording sessions. Over the years, Luke’s curiosity and Emmett’s indulgence slowly push the two of them into complicated new territory. Emmett tries to keep them safe – but Luke wants it all. In this monumental romance spanning more than twenty years, there are no heroes and no villains – just people doing their best in a messed up world.
Previous chapters: 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19 || 20 || 21 || 22 || 23 || 24

Chapter 25

Luke and Laura had one long discussion before he made his decision, and then never really spoke about it again. Laura's bottom line was simple: she wanted a real partner and a real family, not a public relations exercise. Other than that, she put no rules or restrictions on Luke; she just trusted him. So it wasn't because of her that Luke cut off contact with Emmett; no, he made that choice himself.

He suggested relocating and she had no objection. He picked Seattle not only for the distance – whatever that was worth, when he was rich enough to charter a plane any time of the day or night and be with Emmett in a matter of hours – but because he'd heard that interesting music was coming from the area and thought it might be inspiring or at least distracting. The other option was Austin, and Luke didn't see himself living in Texas.

( Being a father turned out to be everything Luke had hoped for. )