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“I can see that,” I laughed.
“I’ve never inquired, but do you have any siblings?” Noemi asked.
“I actually have a sister,” I said, feeling uncomfortable talking about her story.
“Is she nice?” Noemi asked hesitantly.
“I don’t deserve my sister, she was the first person to accept me,” I said, debating on telling her story, but ultimately felt like it was too personal. “My parents kicked her out too, so neither of us have had contact with them since.”
Noemi huffed and I knew she was holding back something.
“Your parents are dicks,” Vincent said it first, surprising me.
“That they are,” I said, looking out the window. “I never realized how much my childhood sucked until I grew older, and now I see how much I’ve missed out on.”
“I’m just glad you got away,” Noemi said, grabbing my hand. “I’m glad you are able to be yourself and you don’t have to hide because I think you are pretty fucking amazing.”
I clenched my jaw holding back the emotions that overwhelmed me.
“You should never have to be someone else, there is nothing better than waking up in the morning being exactly who you are, and Noemi is right,” Vincent said, looking at me in the rearview mirror. “You are fucking amazing. You do right by your job, and you do right by that organization. You’re so selfless and your parents are missing out because you are fucking incredible. You shouldn’t have to change for their acceptance because we accept you for who you are. The beautiful and caring man you are.”
“I could do better,” I murmured.
“Easton, you do…”
“I have a trust fund that I can’t access until I get married. If I get married, I get a portion of it and if I stay married for a year, I get the rest of it,” I said, looking outside to avoid eye contact. “If I just got married, I could use that for the non-profit and just do that full time. I could make a difference, that’s the reason I started it, but if I don’t get married by thirty-five, the money goes to my parents.”
I had always felt guilty that I had that money just sitting there. I’m sure I could find a woman to marry and give her a portion of it, just to spite my parents.
“Wait, that non-profit is yours? Easton, why don’t you tell people it's yours?” Noemi said, looking proud. “That’s an awful stipulation for your trust fund. What if you didn’t want to get married?”
“I didn’t want my parents to know what I was doing. I didn’t want them to tarnish the one thing that could make a difference for so many.” I shrugged. “My grandparents thought we should all have someone to spend our lives with, but if it didn’t work out, then I didn’t have to worry about it.”
“Is that the only requirement?” Vincent asked.
“Get a degree and get married,” I said, bitterly.
“Well, if you want someone to get married too, we could always draw up a new contract. I could be Mrs. Mercer for a year,” Noemi yawned. “You’re an amazing man, Easton. I’d be proud to be a Mercer.”
I looked down at her immediately, seeing her eyes close.
“Then once you get your money, we could part ways or keep fucking.” Noemi snuggled up to me, like she had just told me she was going to vacation with me.
I looked up to see Vincent looking at me with a small smile, like he approved. Did Noemi just solve one of my problems that has been plaguing me for years? Looking back down at her, I was tempted to just tell her yes, but I also worried. Marrying Noemi would be easy, but leaving her just might break me.
27
NOEMI
Life with Vincent and Easton fell into a comfortable rhythm. We always spent our weekends together with the occasional dinner or two during the week. The week before Christmas we spent together since we wouldn’t see each other that weekend.
Easton was spending the holiday with his sister, Vincent was going to see his step-dad, and I was going to Colorado Springs. I almost invited them again to spend the holidays with me, but chickened out last minute. Maybe I was being too selfish to want to spend another holiday with them. I didn’t want to admit it, but being away from them had made me nervous because I knew I was probably spending way too much time with them. The break would be good for us…mostly.
Easton: How is it going?
I looked at my phone, grateful one of them had texted me since I had been going back and forth on texting them after the obligatory Merry Christmas text. It was a couple days after Christmas and even though I was supposed to stay here till New Year’s Eve, I was so ready to go home.
Me: Ready to go home. How about you guys?
