Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“See, at the moment, whenever Harper wants to go dancing or to the movies or even to an event at school like the horrible French Film Festival––” Kola turned to Jake, who mimed putting a gun in his mouth. “––Tighe has some lame-ass excuse so he can’t go.”
“To be fair, we think they’re lame,” Jake clarified, “but they’re all perfectly reasonable.”
“French films are great,” Hannah announced. “I’ve rewatched Amélie a hundred times, 120 Beats per Minute is amazing, La Vie En Rose and––”
“I don’t know what those are, but the ones we had to watch were all in black and white, and everything had subtitles,” Jake complained. “I hate subtitles. I would rather have my braces put back on than watch a movie with subtitles.”
“Interesting,” Hannah said, arching an eyebrow. “Because you’ve seen every season of Narcos on Netflix, the original and Narcos: Mexico, all with subtitles, and you’ve watched a ton of Korean dramas with me.”
He crossed his arms.
“Clearly you’re a Francophobe, or Gallophobe, if you prefer.”
“No. I went out with a French girl visiting from Paris just a month ago.”
Kola scoffed. “Went out with implies that you dated instead of bringing her home to bang.”
“That was rude,” I assured my son.
“Come on, Pa, he doesn’t date,” he said, gesturing at Jake. “He screws. End of story.”
“That’s not the point,” he informed Kola. “That’s not what we were talking about.”
“He’s right,” Hannah agreed. “Apparently French girls, and I’m guessing French food is fine, it’s just their cinema that he takes issue with.”
“Exactly,” he told her, smiling. “And my point is, there were, like, seven people in the auditorium to watch the boring-ass films, and three of those were us. But Tighe, he wasn’t there, and I don’t even remember the lame-ass reason he wasn’t.”
“That still doesn’t give you two the right to bail on one of your closest, oldest, dearest friends,” I told them. “He deserves better.”
Kola whimpered, and we all looked at him. “Can’t we just forget about this for now and all stay here and play Diablo instead of going out? We’ll go tomorrow, but right now, I just wanna sit on the couch and eat junk.” He moved over to Hannah and put an arm around her shoulders and tucked her up next to him. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she soothed him, turning so she could hug him. “I’ll make some gross nachos.”
His smile was blinding.
Tighe and Harper returned the same time Sam got home, and when Sam bent to kiss me before heading upstairs to change, Tighe looked sort of gobsmacked. When everyone else went to the living room, he lingered next to the refrigerator.
“You all right?”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
I smiled at him. “You have a question, I can tell.”
He levered off my appliance to stand in front of me, hands shoved down in his pockets, looking like he had—I was guessing—when he was five years old and confessing something. He was a handsome young man, all blond-haired, blue-eyed pretty.
“Mr. Kage, he’s a marshal?”
“He is, yes.”
“And do people at work know that he’s gay?”
“He’s actually bi, but yes, they all know.”
“Why do they have to know?”
“Oh, I see. You’re asking why because it’s really none of their business.”
“Yes,” he said, exhaling sharply.
I leaned on the counter as I regarded him. “Well, he didn’t make an announcement, because you’re right, it’s no one’s business, but he also takes me with him to all the functions he goes to as a marshal, holds my hand when we go to the movies, introduces me to everyone we meet as what I am, his husband, and of course, I’m the one on all the emergency forms.”
He nodded.
“That hasn’t always been the case, though,” I assured him. “It took my husband a long time to be comfortable with his sexuality and being with me.”
His head snapped up from staring at the floor to my face.
“When we were alone, he was fine. When we stayed home, he was loving and sweet, but outside, he wasn’t ready to be out and proud. His family isn’t homophobic, but Sam being with a man was new for them. I can imagine that if they were homophobic, it would have been very difficult for him.”
“Yeah,” he rasped.
“And perhaps if they had been putting him through school, it might be very difficult to come out when that might mean they cut him off without their financial support, and more importantly, that he wouldn’t have a family anymore.”
His gaze held mine.
“Back a hundred years ago when I was in college, I had a lot of friends who stayed in the closet, because if they came out, they’d lose their families and their money and privilege.”
“And you thought they were weak, right?”
“No,” I assured him. “Even then I thought, everyone has to make their own decisions. I have a friend who got married and had children and, years later, got a divorce, and only now is he being true to who he is.”