Frank chuckled. “Internal affairs doesn't think so.”
“Dad!”
Frank put his hand up, “Please, son. It’s okay. I’ll still receive my pension, and now your mom and I can start doing all that traveling we’ve been dreaming about. We just get to start a little sooner.”
“I’m so sorry, I—”
“You have nothing to be sorry about, Avery. I swear. You are the one that deserves an apology. I pushed David onto you, and made several mistakes along the way. It’s only right that it blew up in my face. This doesn’t change anything, Avery, but I want you to know that everything I did was to protect you. I’ve been in law enforcement for decades, and I’ve seen the heinous things people are capable of. You’ve always been on the softer side, and I worried that I’d get a phone call that some bigot had beaten the life out of you in the street. When I met David and found out he was gay, I thought the best way to protect you was throughhim.An officer I could keep an eye on… oh, bah,” Frank exclaimed, waving his hand. “None of that matters. This will be a good change for all of us.” With that, Frank took a healthy swig of his beer and reached across the table for the potato salad
Avery kept his gaze down on his plate. I couldalmost seethe wheels turning around in his pretty little head.
He’s spiraling…
Slowly reaching over, I covered his hand with mine. “Since we’re celebrating, you should tell them your good news.”
Avery locked eyes with me. “I’m not sure if it’s the right time.”
“Nonsense, Avery! Tell us!” Maggie encouraged.
“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’d like to do with myself. I know I’ve made some… sticky decisions in the past, but the one thing I keep coming back to is baking.” Avery shrugged and dropped his gaze as if he was embarrassed. “I think I want to go to culinary school. There's a baking and pâtisserie program at Emberford Tech… and, well, I enrolled for the spring.”
Maggie gasped. “Avery, really?”
He looked over at her and nodded. “Yeah. I love doing it and would like to learn more than what TikTok offers. Maybe one day, I’ll have my own bakery. Who knows?”
“I think that’s a great idea, son. You’ve always been great in the kitchen,” Frank said.
“I think I’m gonna get fat,” I said, still trying to chewmy first bite of burnt steak.
They laughed and everyone went about their plates for a few until Frank set his knife down and said, “James, I didn’t have a lot of time, but I was able to speak to the clerk’s office, and it seems like they are pretty unhappy with the shop they’ve been contracted with. If your shop can handle it, I think they’d like you to submit a bid for monthly maintenance and repair on the EPD’s entire fleet. It’s about 650 cars, trucks and SUVs.”
For a split-second, I lost control of all motor functions. I heard my fork clang down against my plate. “Pardon me?”
“Dad, that’s amazing!” Avery cried.
Frank shrugged and went back to attacking the leather on his plate.
“Mr. Thompson, I don’t know what to say,” I exclaimed. “Th—thank you!”
“It’s nothing. Now, James, tell me about yourself,” Frank began. “Do you like to watch football?”
Chapter Twenty
Avery
Six Months Later
Bending over to grab another cardboard box off the kitchen floor had me groaning. My arms were sore, and my lower back wasn’t in much better condition. I silently cursed my mother for insisting on giving us all our housewarming gifts before we’d even moved into the place. I told James she had done it on purpose to make our move more unbearable,but he just said that my mother was a very nice lady to have bought us all that junk.
Gift of a horse’s mouth, or whatever-the-fuck he’d said.
Of course, James was right. As usual. Mom and Dad had really gone out of their way to make sure James and I would be taken care of in our new place. I still don’t know who she thought we were going to be feeding with table settings for eight, but whatever.
“Being in school now, you’ll want to invite your friends over to cook for them,”she said.
I kept telling her that I was actually studying to be a pastry chef, and that James was really the better one in the kitchen, but she usually just waved her hand and dismissed me.
I smiled as I pulled out my brand-new tumbler. Mom had given it to me yesterday when she stopped by to pick her Jeep up from the shop after an oil change. She had announced, louder than necessary to a lobby full of waiting customers, that she had finally had enough of my petty theft. As my ears were turning red, she pulled out a box from her tote bag and handed it to me. It was a silver-and-black cup with matching lid and plastic straw that had been customized with my name on it.
