Chapter 2
1927 Words
“Your dad will handle it.”
“Do you think he’ll let us live here? We’d have to change school districts, but....” He flushed and looked away from the older man. “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t stop to think that maybe you wouldn’t want us here.”
“Why wouldn’t I? And what would I have to say about whether you live here or not?”
“Well, Daddy’s always liked you. Momma would get pissed… sorry,” he apologized when Mr. Tom raised his eyebrows. “Momma didn’t like it when Daddy talked about you. She said it was your fault that he was gonna go to hell. You’re… you’re Daddy’s boyfriend.” Tad’s cheeks felt so hot he was sure a piece of paper could be set on fire just from touching them.
Mr. Tom looked thoughtful. “I guess you could call me that, although partner is closer to it.”
“So it would matter to Daddy if you didn’t want us to stay here.”
“Thaddeus, your father likes me… Oh?”
Tad was shaking his head. “Daddy loves you.” He was surprised to see Mr. Tom blush.
“He… he does?”
“Hasn’t he told you? He told me and Becca once when… when he was explaining why he couldn’t see us....”
“Your father isn’t supposed to not see you because of me.” Mr. Tom bit off a swearword that would have resulted in Tad being unable to sit for a week if he’d dared say anything like it. “I knew this wasn’t going to work.”
“No, please, Mr. Tom. You don’t understand. Daddy told us it would only be for a little while, until he got things settled, and it was. But then Momma…”
And now Mr. Tom looked very sad. “I’m sorry, Thaddeus. I never wanted to come between your father and you and your sister. You’re his children, and he loves you more than anything.”
“Including Rocky Road ice cream?” It was a small voice from the doorway. Becca stood there, and Tad didn’t have to ask how much she’d overheard. She’d gotten very good at ghosting around the house, avoiding attention. Unlike their cousins, who never seemed to do anything wrong, he and Becca couldn’t do anything right, and Grandpa Eleazar had taken pleasure in finding fault in everything they did, although tonight had been the first time he’d ever struck him.
“Including Rocky Road, Rebecca.” Mr. Tom smiled at her, and he took in her posture and attitude. “C’mon in. How was the hot chocolate?”
“It was very good,” she said politely.
“But?”
She dimpled. “I like it with cinnamon.”
“I’ll remember that.”
And Tad had a feeling that Mr. Tom would remember something as trivial as how his boyfriend’s… his partner’s little girl liked her hot chocolate.
There were footsteps in the hall, and then his father walked in. Tad’s eyes grew wide as he realized how angry Daddy was. He made himself as small as he could.
“Do you… are you gonna take us home, Daddy?” Oh God, he didn’t want to take his sister back there.
“You are home, son.”
“Jack, I’d better go.”
“Can you wait a second, Tom? I’d… I want to talk to you.” He turned to Tad and Becca. “It’s late. Why don’t you two get ready for bed? I’ll come in to say good night in a little bit.”
“What’s gonna happen, Daddy?”
“I’ll go see your momma tomorrow, and I’ll get this whole thing sorted out then, I promise you.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Becca kissed his cheek. She smiled uncertainly at Mr. Tom, and as if understanding her quandary, he held out his hand to shake hers, and then did the same to Tad.
“Good night, Rebecca, Thaddeus.”
“Good night, Mr. Tom.”
“Close the door please, son?”
“Yes, Daddy.” But Tad didn’t close the door the whole way. He left it open enough so he was able to overhear the conversation.
“Jack… She didn’t expect to kiss me good night, did she? I didn’t make her feel bad, did I? Jesus, I’m so bad with kids….”
That surprised Tad. Didn’t adults always know what to do?
“It’s all right. I’ll explain it to her, and you can let her kiss you good morning.”
“Good morning?”
“I want you to stay the night.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Jack.” Mr. Tom sounded uneasy, and Tad wondered if it was because he liked Daddy better without him and his sister hanging around.
“Oh yes, buddy. You promised to stick around for better or for worse. You’re not weaseling out of the worse part now.”
Tad caught his breath, a burning in the back of his throat, and he blinked to keep tears from falling.
“I know you don’t mean about your kids staying here.”
“Asshole. Of course not. Those two are the best part of me and their momma.”
Tad let out the breath he’d been holding. He was just dumb. Why had he thought Daddy would toss him and Becca out like so much trash?
“I’ve never stayed here when they’ve been here. Are you ready for them to actually face the fact that I sleep in your bedroom?”
“Our bedroom, babe. And I think it’s time. From what the kids told me… I don’t like it, Tom. I couldn’t understand why Reba insisted on moving in with my folks.”
“Reba is tighter than anyone I know.”
“Tom….”
“God knows you were willing to continue paying the mortgage, but she still wants you to give her that much money every month. I wouldn’t have begrudged it, Jack. They’re great kids. They’re your kids—”
Hearing that made Tad realize how much having Mr. Tom like them meant to him.
“I’m glad you think so. I do, but then I’m their daddy.”
“—but you know as well as I do she’s giving it to your father’s church.”
“Tom, she didn’t even realize they were gone.” There was a heavy sigh that Tad had no problem hearing.
Mr. Tom said a bad word, and Tad stuffed his hand in his mouth so he wouldn’t reveal his presence with a giggle.
“Jack, I really should have….” His voice became muffled, and Tad wondered if his father and Mr. Tom were kissing.
This was the first time he’d been around when they’d done something like that, and it didn’t really bother him because he’d seen the way Mr. Tom had looked at his daddy when he thought Tad wasn’t paying attention. He couldn’t remember Momma looking at Daddy that way, although maybe she had before he and his sister were born.
Mr. Tom was talking again. “I should have taken you away from her the first day we met.”
“Then I wouldn’t have two of the greatest kids in the world.”
“This is true. All right, but I definitely should have stepped in and kicked that b***h Julie to the curb.”
Miz Julie was Daddy’s third wife. Before her was Miz Truvie, but she’d only been married to Daddy for a few months before she ran off with her girlfriend. Tad and Becca could scarcely remember Miz Truvie. Maybe she had been a lesbian—for the longest time he’d thought everyone was saying she was Lebanese, and Tad could never figure out what that had to do with anything—but she’d been nice to him and his sister.
When the gossip started making the rounds, Grandpa Eleazar had shaken his head and told Daddy he didn’t have a lick of sense when it came to women, and he never should have let Momma divorce him.
The ink had hardly been dry on the second set of divorce papers when Daddy had come by to tell Grandpa Eleazar and Grandma Hannah that he was getting married again and invited them to the wedding. Tad and Becca had gone, but no one else had. Grandpa Eleazar had said Daddy must be one of those men who needed to be married, but now he was taking it to the extreme.
Miz Julie… Tad shivered. He supposed people would think she was pretty and maybe in a way that was true, but she would smile at him and Becca, and the smile never reached her eyes. She hadn’t liked it when he and Becca came to spend a weekend or a few weeks in the summer, always complaining they made too much noise or too much work. All she wanted to do was lie on the couch, watch soap operas, and eat chocolates. Or go shopping for clothes. Daddy’d had to build a closet just for her clothes and shoes.
And then when they got home, Momma would ask lots of questions about what Miz Julie wore, how she kept the house, and how she and Daddy got along. She’d smiled when he’d mentioned that Daddy often had to make them dinner after he came home from work because Miz Julie said she had a headache.
He and Becca had been secretly glad when Daddy told them he and Miz Julie weren’t going to be together anymore. Afterward, he’d learned that Mr. Tom had taken Daddy out to get drunk, only when he’d come home, he hadn’t acted drunk, even though Tad could smell liquor on his breath. Tad would have sworn he’d seemed almost… relieved.
He brought his attention back to what Daddy was saying.
“Reba was going on about some of Tad’s friends. She thinks they may be—God forbid the word gay pass her lips. She called them light in the loafers—and she’s afraid that between them and me, Tad will go that route.”
Tad frowned. He did think some actors were pretty hot-looking. Did that mean he was gay, like his momma was worrying? But he’d also found himself getting an erection when the girls in his class would bend over to tie their sneakers or reach up so the bare skin of their midriff was exposed, so maybe it just meant he approved of the way those actors took care of their bodies.
Mr. Tom took good care of his body too. There was a Stairmaster set up in a corner of the small living room, and he knew Daddy had given that to Mr. Tom for Christmas last year. “So you can stay longer, babe,” Daddy had whispered.
“What do you want me to do?” Mr. Tom asked. “I’ve got classes tomorrow, but I should be able to find someone to cover for me. And there’s not much in the house.”
“Can you talk to Miss Abby?” That was Mr. Tom’s momma. “Tax season is over, so she might not be busy. Maybe she wouldn’t mind coming over tomorrow to stay with them until we get home, maybe doing some grocery shopping with them?”
“Good idea. You won’t be able to hold Mom back. She’ll love it.”
“Great. I’m keeping them both home from school until I see what’s what. But either way, I think I’m gonna need to buy a bigger house. This place is little more than a dollhouse, and even if the kids don’t stay here permanently, they’ll need more room. I… uh… I need a bigger room for us.”
“Now, Jack—”
“Please tell me you’re still giving some thought to moving in with me?”
“But Jack, if you have the kids living with you….”
“Please, Tom?”
“All right, I’m giving it some thought.”
“And you’ll take over the bookkeeping side of the business for me? You’ll have your own office.”
“Don’t push your luck, Jackson.”
But Daddy gave a happy laugh. “I’ll just go make sure Becca and Tad are settled in and say good night.” His father’s voice seemed louder, as if he was approaching the door, and Tad bolted for the bedroom that was his.
Thankfully, he noted that his sister had turned down his bed and laid out his pajamas for him. She was the best sister. He’d have to do something special for her.
He peeled off his clothes, shimmied into his pajamas, and slid into bed just as Daddy pushed his door open.
- Writer
