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“Well, that’s pretty convenient,” Gabe said, and a stunned silence fell.
Convenient for what? Was he referring to what I think he was referring to?
Fir groaned. “Really?”
Gabe shrugged. “If you wanted it to be a secret, Tomás shouldn’t park his car in our driveway. The dude has a BMW, Dad. Not exactly flying under the radar there.” He shot me a look. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I said, but the truth was that I had no idea how to react. Was this normal? Were sixteen-year-olds supposed to know these things? Then again, none of the kids looked even remotely surprised.
“You all knew?” I asked before I could think better of it.
Shrugs and nods all around. “Nothing stays secret for long here,” Violet said. ‘I’m surprised you don’t remember that.’
Ouch. Nice little dig there.
“Violet…” Auden narrowed his eyes.
“What, Dad? He grew up here, didn’t he? Was it that different fifty years ago?”
Fifty years ago? Why, that little…
The teens burst out laughing, and we adults were chuckling with forced grins. Jesus Cristo, it was almost fifty years ago. Half a century.
“We’re getting old,” I said with a sigh.
“Speak for yourself,” Fir said. “I’m nowhere near fifty.”
That earned him another round of laughs.
“And denial is a river in Egypt, Dad,” Josiah said, and we were all in stitches again.
“Is that a problem?” I asked Fir after the teens had taken off to get some ice cream. “That they know, I mean?”
He shrugged. “Gabe wasn’t wrong that if we’d wanted it to stay secret, we should’ve been more discreet.”
“You don’t mind?”
“I don’t think sex is something to be ashamed of, especially not gay sex, so no. Not necessarily something I’d planned on discussing with my sons, but that’s on me, I guess.” He cocked his head. “Are you okay with it?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? Everyone knows I sleep around.”
He made a sound of protest. “Sleeping around implies something negative, like you’re cheating. You’re not.”
“No kidding. I haven’t even had sex with anyone else since…” I frowned. Was that right? Was I inadvertently monogamous for the first time in my life, even though I wasn’t dating Fir?
“Me neither,” Fir said, and why that made me all warm inside, I had no clue. Then again, very little about this whole situation made sense. I was breaking all these rules I’d had for so long, and I was doing it without a second thought. What was happening between us was nothing like any hookup I’d ever had. Fir was different.
As day turned to evening, the atmosphere at the Summer Festival shifted. With the kids all hanging out on another field to watch a movie projected on a big screen, an air of freedom and anticipation settled over the adults who remained. The DJ who had been playing earlier was replaced by a live band, their soulful tunes filling the warm night air. The twinkling lights overhead cast a romantic glow on the people moving on the makeshift dance floor.
“Isn’t this nice?” Fir asked as he watched the couples sway in time with the music. The dim light played off the soft angles of his face, highlighting the smoothness of his skin and the freckles I’d become quite fond of. “And they’re playing U2, which happens to be my favorite band.”
“So, are you going to ask me to dance, or are we just going to stand here?” I tried to keep my tone light despite the pounding of my heart.
Fir smiled, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks. “Would you like to dance with me, Tomás?”
“It would be my pleasure.” I took his hand and led him onto the dance floor. As we found our place among the other couples, the band changed songs into some ballad, plunging us into an even more intimate atmosphere.
Fir placed one hand on my shoulder, the other on my waist, and pulled me closer. Our bodies seemed to fit together effortlessly, as if we’d been dancing this way for years. My pulse quickened at the contact, and heat radiated from him. The fragrance of his cologne, subtle and alluring, filled my senses.
