Page 72 of Trevor Takes Care

She clutched the mug in one hand, still in her robe and slippers, her gray and silver bedhead adding to her wearily exasperated attitude.

“So you’re back with Sky.” She wasn’t asking. But Trevor supposed Sky wouldn’t have flown down here for a visit otherwise, not in her eyes. And she was right, anyway. “What about G.G.?”

“What about G.G.?” Trevor echoed innocently.

His grandma put her mug down to cross her arms and sigh. “My daughter did not raise a cheater.”

“No one is cheating. I told you that.” Trevor wanted some coffee too now, so he got some, digging out the honey to add to it.

Her grandma watched, looking mystified at this, but then holding out her mug for a trial.

“Everybody knows about everybody,” Trevor assured her after they’d both had some caffeine and clover honey. “Although Sky showing up last night was a surprise. A good one, but a surprise. The rest… we’re working out.”

“Is this a gay thing?” she asked. “Will Sky want breakfast?”

“No.” Trevor went for the harder question first. “But maybe, right now, queer people are more welcoming to things like this, nontraditional families and everything.” Trevor wasn’t awake enough to think that through. “And yes, Sky is going to eat.” Trevor would ensure it. “He likes fruit, whenever he manages to remember to get any. In fact, nothing too sweet for breakfast unless you’re in the mood for it. I might take him into town. Do you have anything you need me to get while we’re out?”

His grandma harrumphed but turned toward the refrigerator. She paused once there. “So… you’re sure no one is cheating?”

“Cross my heart.” It was childish but Trevor was still dopey from the high of yesterday.

“And you and Sky have worked out your silliness? He knows how you feel? You know how he feels?” His grandma peered at him, eagle-eyed.

Trevor was going to blush. He could feel it. She made it sound so obvious. “Yes. The rest of it, the long distance… we’ll work on that.”

“And you won’t hurt G.G.?” she pressed, cradling a carton of eggs. “He was just starting to come out of his shell.”

Precious hermit crab, Trevor thought fondly, then pulled himself up and drank more coffee to help him focus.

“Now you’re on Team G.G.? Yesterday, you thought he was a homewrecker,” he pointed out.

His grandma narrowed her eyes and put the carton down on the counter hard enough to make Trevor worry about the eggs. “Brian Trevor, this is not a laughing matter. People can break. They can be hurt.”

Trevor nodded to acknowledge that, then considered the surface of his coffee for several moments. “When I reheated the lasagna for G.G., it dried it out a bit, but he still ate it and said he liked it.” So had Trevor. For a first effort, it had been surprisingly good, if sort of less-than-ideal looking. “I like G.G. A lot. I could love him, maybe, with enough time. If I knew him more. Sky knows that. He thinks my heart is understimulated with only one person to love.” He looked up. “I think they would get along. But I guess we’ll find out about that. Will that be okay with you?”

His grandma tapped her fingers on the egg carton, sitting with what Trevor had said. He loved that she did that.

“I am not the rest of the family,” she murmured at last, almost begrudging. “That’s why we do well together.”

Trevor smiled widely. “That’s true.”

She tapped the carton again. “I’ll make breakfast for us, and then for Sky when he wakes up. And you’ll go out with Ellie while I feed him. I don’t want you around while we talk.”

Trevor straightened in alarm. “Grandma.”

“I want to make sure he’s okay with it.” She gave Trevor a stern look. “I believe you, and Sky is a clever thing. But his family won’t think to look out for him, so I will.”

“I love you, you know,” Trevor managed once he could breathe again. His grandma made ahmphsound as if unimpressed, but looked distinctly pleased. “Are you going to do the same for G.G.?” Trevor couldn’t help but wonder. “He’s older, but his family, excuse me for saying it, don’t give a shit about him.”

His grandma raised her head to frown into the distance for several seconds. “I should talk to G.G. anyway,” was her final decree. “Send him over at some point, would you?”

Trevor nodded, though resolving to warn G.G. first. G.G. was a skittish poodle and Trevor’s grandma was steel on the inside.

“I’m glad you’re thinking of them. You think of others a lot. Mom acts like,” Trevor paused because he didn’t have a nice way to say what he’d realized, “she acts like that’s weird. As if it’s dangerous, or you’re only doing it because you’re… uh… lonely, I guess. And you need to be protected from it.”

“Hmm.” Was his grandma’s initial response to that. “What do you think about it?”

“I think that she doesn’t know how much that includes you taking care of her and everyone else in the family.” Honestly, Trevor didn’t know how his grandma, and his grandpa for that matter, had resisted the urge to tell his mom off for sticking her nose in, worrying over stuff without trying to understand it first, and being condescending and then pretending that she wasn’t. “How you live your life isn’t hurting anyone, and if someone asks for too much from you, well, I’m here to help. She probably thinks I should stop you. But she also thinks it’s embarrassing that her youngest is an unemployed artist. Well, thatisembarrassing. I don’t even know why Sky is….” Trevor shut his mouth. He tried again. “You don’t need to be protected, anyway. Not from that. You’re very good at boundaries—in a good way! That’s a compliment.”

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