I smiled. “For what? Almost falling or kissing my boyfriend?”
His face drained of color. “He told you?”
“He did indeed.”
“That—”
“Careful,” I warned, but winked when he blanched. “I won’t ask why you didn’t tell me, not about kissing Reggie, but about you, because it’s not like I was open with you about myself.”
“Oh, so you’ve been…bi?”
“My whole life, and knew about it since my senior year of high school.”
“Oh.”
“You?”
“Uh, figured out I was into dudes when I started, uh,” he glanced at Reggie, facing turning red. “Still not totally sure if I’m into girls though. A little, but mostly?—”
“Huh, the opposite of me,” I said with a chuckle, looking at the mark on his forehead. “You okay?”
“Just a scratch,” he said with a shake of his head. “The least I should have after being so stupid.”
“Stop,” I told him firmly. “Just…don’t. We’re all alive, and that’s what matters.”
“But, Dad?—”
“No,” I said again. “Stop. If I had to pick this exact scenario above any other, then I would do it in a heartbeat.”
“You could have been killed! And so could Reggie; you both could have?—”
Reggie cleared his throat, surprising both of us. “And I’d do it again. Just like your dad would choose to put himself in danger to save me all over again. That’s called loving people; that’s what happens.”
“And I’m fairly certain your mother would prefer it to have happened this way,” I said with a snort.
“You’d be right,” I heard her familiar voice, and I looked over to see her leaning against the doorway to my hospital room. Her hair was tied back in a loose bun, and it looked like she had thrown on whatever she could find before flying out of the house. It had been years since I’d seen her look anything but immaculately dressed and primped up.
“Charlene,” I said in surprise. “You’re looking…well, jet legged, sorry.”
“Because I hopped on the first plane I could find when Jude called and told me,” she said as she walked in to lay a hand on Jude’s shoulders. “I never thought I’d be standing here for something like this…but here we are.”
“Here we are,” I said.
Her stern expression softened. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re okay.”
That she had rushed here said a lot more than her words, but I kept that to myself and smiled. “You and I both.”
She looked at Reggie. “And you…thank you for saving my son. Marc was right to say that you were the best choice to keep an eye on him just in case something happened. And look at that, something happened.”
Reggie fidgeted. “Uh…thank you? This is weird.”
“A little,” Charlene admitted graciously, her shoulders sagging slightly. “So…you and Marc, eh?”
The three of us stared at her in surprise, but it was me who spoke first. “How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough,” she said, a ghost of a smile on her face. “Quit looking so horrified, Marcus. I figured you out the first time you introduced me to Malcolm, but I assumed that if you weren’t going to say anything, then it wasn’t my place to bring it up. After all, for all that I blamed you for, for all that I hated you for…I never thought you would?—”
There was a long pause as all four of us knew what words filled that gap, but I knew saying them aloud was too much for her, and I took pity. “Well, I suppose late is better than never. But…I should point out that he hasn’t officially agreed to anything with me yet.”
