Page 105 of Dear Mr. Brody

Van: I came out to my parents today.

“Holy shit.”

I pressed the call button next to his name and the phone rang once.

“Hi,” he said, and the sound of his voice sent a twist of warmth through my gut.

“You came out to your parents?”

His laugh rumbled through the speaker. “It’s not that exciting. My brother came out first. He’s engaged to his roommate.”

“You’re joking.”

“I’m serious. He told them today, and then casually asked me about you in front of them. I figured since they didn’t freak out about Owen, I might as well be honest.”

“Damn. You seem okay? I’m guessing they took it well.”

“Yeah” he said, and I thought I heard his voice break a little. “They did. It was good. God, I feel… at peace. I know for some the outcome is very different. I’m grateful.”

I sagged against the wall in the hallway, wishing I was there with him. I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him in person.

“Hell, I want to kiss you right now.”

“You can kiss me as much as you want tonight.” In the background, I heard a female voice shout the wordgross. There was a rustling sound, then laughter, and maybe a squeal. I laughed too. “Jesus Christ.” He was breathless. “You’d think my sister was the baby of the family. I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.” I hoped he could hear the smile in my voice. “I’m just happy everything went like you hoped.”

“It was better. I’ll have to tell you more tonight because I have an audience now.”

“Hi, Parker.” A chorus of voices rattled through the phone, and my boyfriend groaned.

“I would like you to know that my siblings are both forty years old, but have evidently forgotten what it means to be an adult.”

Marcos had told me to take it slow. And it was good advice. But my mouth opened, and my heart spoke. “I hope I get to meet them.”

“My family?”

“Yeah. They seem fun.”

“I’d like that,” he said with a quiet laugh. “Though, I think you’d all gang up on me. So maybe not.”

“I would never.”

“I have a hard time believing that.”

“I’ve kept Marcos in check this whole time. Give me some credit,” I teased.

“Park.” Rachel stepped into the hall. “Shit, sorry. There’s like two slices left.”

I lowered the phone. “I’ll be there in a sec. Save them for me?”

“Only if you save me. Chance is talking sponsors again.” She rolled her eyes. “Hurry up.”

I raised the phone back to my ear. “Sorry, Van, I have to go. The new boss is stressing about sponsors again. Rachel won’t feed me lunch if I don’t divert his attention.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and headed back into the kitchen.

“Yeah, of course.”

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