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“So last night?” Dad prompted.
“Last night I went to see Renée’s drag show at Tilt-a-Whirl.”
“The gay club,” Dad said to Mom, whose eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously.
“I thought that was a twenty-one-plus bar?” she asked.
“They lowered the entry age to eighteen.” I showed my hand stamp that was supposed to keep me from getting drinks at the bar. Of course, Jeremy had short-circuited that for me.
“Anyway, there was this hot guy there, a college guy, you know? And he bought me some drinks.”
Dad made a tsking noise, but Mom silenced him. “Hear him out, Abe. I remember stories about blueberry wine from your teen years.”
“You can guess what happened. I had a few too many. And I got sick.” There was no way I was telling them about the GHB or whatever Jeremy had put in my drink. And there was no way inhellI was telling them about what I’d done in the alcove. “So, Robert and Barry—”
Dad lifted his hand. “Barry?”
“Robert’s boyfriend. They didn’t want me driving, so they took me home with them.”
“You could have called us. We would have come to get you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll call you next time.”
Mom lifted her brow.
“Or not. Because there isn’t going to be a next time,” I said. “I won’t be drinking at the club anymore. It’s against the law.”
“Good answer, Petey-boy,” Dad said. “Still, you weren’t honest with us about how you met Robert and what working for him entailed, and that’s disappointing.”
I held back my scoff. He couldn’t be serious. “I didn’t tell you about Robert being a drag queen because I was afraid you wouldn’t let me work for him. I figured you’d think it was weird. And Mom didn’t even know about me yet. So I kept it to myself.”
“Isn’t it weird?” Dad asked.
“No.”
He said, “It’s not weird that a grown man wants to include a child in a sexually deviant—”
“Excuse me?” I puffed up, anger returning fast and furious. “He is not a sexual deviant, and I am not a child.”
Dad and Mom talked with their eyes again, and he backed off. “I’m not saying that he’s a pedophile—”
“Oh, how generous. There’s nothing wrong with him.”
“He’s your friend.” Dad seemed to be pondering it.
“Yes and he’s my boss and he’s great.”
Mom said, “We believe you, Peter. But we don’t know this man.”
“And whose fault is that?” I snapped.
Dad and Mom exchanged another glance, and whatever Mom’s eyes said must have reassured Dad, because he deflated, relaxing into calmness again.
“Your mom and I should have asked more questions than we did when you took that job,” he said. “I admit, it seemed like a stroke of luck for you, and I was busy at the university. I figured your mother had it covered in terms of making sure everything was legitimate, and she probably thought I’d checked into it. We fell down on the job there, Petey.”
“Itisa legitimate job, and I’m going to keep working for him.” There was no way I was going to quit because they thought Robert was a pervert for being a drag queen.
My parents were silent for several long seconds. Finally Dad said, “All right. In that case, we’d like to meet Robert and Barry. I think that would be appropriate, don’t you?”
