“You haven’t talked to your parents since they threw you out?”
“Nope,” he said.“You’re not gonna talk me into doing that.”
“I wasn’t gonna try.”
“Have you come out to your parents?”he said.
“Not yet.”I tried to sound casual, not like I’d been worried about it for months.“It’s complicated because I haven’t told them about what my uncle did.I’ve got a lot of stuff to tell them, and I don’t want to tell them over the phone.They live in Timmins.Too far to drop by for a couple of days.I want to tell them about you, but I can’t do that until I’ve told them about the other stuff.What I’m trying to say is I can’t take you with me this Christmas.”
“It’s okay,” he said.He reached over and took my hand again.
“I talked about it with my therapist.I’m gonna book a ticket to go there for Christmas.That’s when I’ll tell them.I’m gonna tell them about my uncle first.Then before I leave, I’m gonna come out to them.Depending on how that goes, I’ll tell them about you.”
“You think they’ll be okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“What if they’re not?”
“If it’s a choice between them or you, I’m gonna pick you.Just so you know.”I really did not want to start crying in front of him again, so I looked at the road and blinked a lot because everything was blurry.“It’s gonna be hard not seeing you.You’re my whole world, and leaving you alone over Christmas when I should be with you—when I want to be with you—sucks.I’m sorry.”
He squeezed my hand.
“You’re not blaming me,” I said.
“Because it’s not your fault.”
Chapter Twenty-Three: Not What I’d Planned
When we arrived atthe nearest town to the cottage, I pulled into a grocery store.
“I made a list,” I said.
As he was unbuckling his seatbelt, I said, “Hey you.”And I leaned over and kissed him.
He smiled, bemused.We hadn’t grocery shopped together before because our work schedules conflicted.It felt like a date, walking so close we brushed against each other.He kept shooting me sly glances, picking up stuff that wasn’t on the list.
