Page 69 of Mine

“Nope.”

“This is fire you’re playing with.”

“Lucky I’m an earth sign, huh? So he can’t hurt me one bit.”

He was confused.

“Astrology. I’m a Capricorn.” I shrugged. “Supposed to be hot in bed, but I dunno, it’s probably a load of crap.”

He grunted. “He’s very fortunate to have you.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at him. “It goes both ways.”

I left him at the buffet table and walked back to the table and sat down. As promised, there was coffee, and, fortified, I turned my attention to Cece.

“I want to talk about your remission.”

“Oh.” She was surprised. “Yes, what about it?”

“Hit me with the specifics. Me and Landry need to know.”

She looked back and forth between us. “What would you like to know?”

“Everything.”

“Yes, but—”

“He’s good,” I told her, my hand on her son’s chest. “I’ve got him. We need to know about you because he and I hafta go home tomorrow, and we need to know what’s happening with you, when we can come back, and if you’re up to flying out to Detroit to meet my family.”

She was stunned. “You want me to meet your family?”

“Yes, ma’am, of course I do.”

She looked at me, waiting, then at Landry, who was also waiting, both of us ready for her to tell us the plan.

“I….” She stammered, looked at her husband. “Neil?”

He looked at Landry and me. “Boys, we… Trevan….”

“Sir?”

“Do you understand how wildly inappropriate this is to ask? I mean, we don’t want Landry in a homosexual relationship. We don’t want him in the business he’s in, consorting with people below his station. You understand that we want him to stay here with us and for you to leave.”

“You do?” I smiled at him. “I thought you liked me.”

“I––we––”

“I know I surprised you, both of us did probably. Landry’s different.”

“Yes he is,” his father agreed with me. “But Trevan, the path Landry’s on is not the one we want him to follow.”

“Maybe,” I assented, “but what you want or think isn’t gonna change anything. You get that, right? He loves me, he loves my family—my mother especially—he loves his business, and he loves Detroit, his friends, all of it. So you have, like, zero chance of screwing up my life by taking him away from me.”

“I—”

My hand went up to shut him up. “So let’s get beyond all that. Forget it. I figured maybe you’d want to take a shot at knowing Landry, getting your family back together and all. Do you?”

He stared at me.