Page 176 of The Locker Room

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precious team will win, and you and Chris can come out of the closet and

the world will kiss your goddamned homo-toes.”

Xander wiggled his bare toes, except for the black-and-blue one,

which was still wrapped. “Are they different than straight toes?” he

asked. “Because near as I can tell, only one of mine is bent right now.”

Penny didn"t even crack a smile. “Yes, Xander. You"re gay right

down to your straight toes, okay? And the only thing wrong with it is

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that you and Chris have hidden it for so long, that you"ve practically

forgotten it yourselves. For you guys, it"s just”—her hands flailed for a

minute—“„us". You say, „me-n-Chris"s, and Chris says, „Xan-n-me", and

even Mom and Dad and I forget. And we know, and we love you, but

you"ve never had to tell the whole rest of the world. You think maybe

you could do this better if the whole world knew you were married, and

it wasn"t just a secret joke with your tattoos?”

Xander looked at her, tired to his bones. She was a human rights

defense attorney—very junior, it was true, but God. Chris"s little sister

now had a law degree and a stubborn streak a mile wide, and she was so

much like her mother it made Xander"s chest swell just to look at her.

But he couldn"t do anything about it now. He knew what she wanted,

and doing it now would just fuck them all. God—God. Chris and

basketball. It"s all he"d ever wanted. When had making a political

statement become a requirement of growing up?

He couldn"t answer it now. In fact, right now, there was only one

thing he could control.

“Penny, my foot hurts like… like… like I don"t even have words

for it. And myhusbandisn"t here to kiss it and make it better. Sure. I"d

love to change the world, but right now, I"m going to take a fucking

painkiller and find an old movie to watch. Does that suit you?”

“Someday you"re going to have to face all this, you know that,

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