Page 10 of Like the Season
“Why are you yelling at your father?”
He forced himself to keep his tone low and even. “He refused to listen to me. He got pissy at me for informing him I live over twohoursfrom Orlando, then berated me for my life choices. I’m not sorry, and I’ve had enough. I’m an adult and I don’t deserve for him to talk to me like that. He wants respect from me, he needs to give a little in return. And by the way, stop trying to fix me up on dates.”
“Guess you don’t care about your parents anymore, huh?”
“Stop it, Mom.” He rubbed at his forehead. “Don’t play the guilt card. I’m happy here in Florida. That’s not a statement about my feelings about you or Dad unless you try to make it one. You know, I’d think you’d be happy for me.”
“How am I supposed to be happy for you when you won’t even settle down? You’re our only son, and the last boy with the Prevost name!”
You’ve…gotta beshittingme.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“No, what I heard is this comment out of left-field that you expect me to breed just…because? Seriously?”
“Stop being so crude.”
“Well, then stop making up silly excuses why you think I should get married.”
“You havenoidea how hard it is, trying to fight the lies when people whisper that they think you’re... You have to understand how that makesusfeel, when they say you’re…gay.”
She uttered the last word in a whispered hiss that made it sound like he might as well be sacrificing babies and skinning kittens, too.
The words left his mouth before he could pull them back. “Well, why should they whisper it when it’s true? I don’t see the big deal.”
He heard her shocked gasp, and it was like the bottle finally uncorked in his soul.
Not just uncorked—exploded into grains of sand.
Sitting up a little straighter on the couch, he barreled through it before she could recover enough to respond. “I’m gay, Mom. I’ve known it since high school and was too terrified to admit it. Especially around Dad, when I knew he’d literally kick my ass. Don’t worry, I never dated any guys while I was up there.”
“You…you—”
“I’m gay. I date men.” Well, that truth, about his relationship status, could wait a little longer. “You want to disown me? That’s fine, I’ve kind of expected it. You’ve got three perfect daughters who can do no wrong in your eyes, no matter what they do, so go ahead and pretend you don’t have a son anymore, if you want.”
She hung up on him.
Well, that’s that.
Setting his laptop aside, he carried his phone into the bedroom with him and curled up on Boyd’s side of the bed, holding Boyd’s pillow in his arms with his face pressed against it. It still smelled like him.
Seven days. I can do that.
Being at work without him would suck, but yeah, he’d be staying here at Boyd’s while alone.
Going home…hell, hewashome.
Boydwas his home, and all he wanted to do was remain right there, surrounded by the man, even if the man himself was winging his way to the other end of the damn country.
It was better than nothing. And outside of his current life in Florida, “nothing” was what he now had.
Thank god he lived nowhere near Virginia. That was, if his mother even told his father what Caleb had admitted. Maybe she wouldn’t. That was a possibility, too, that she’d cover it up to keep it quiet, not just from his father but from anyone else who might “whisper it”.
Must preserve the family image, not that they had much of one. Wasn’t like they were rich or anything. Their only claim to local fame was being descended from one of the first families who founded the town.
Since that didn’t translate into money, it meant jack shit. If anything—
