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We settle my folks into comfortable seats on the deck and Jay offers them a drink as I bring out the nibbles he has prepared. Dad takes his beer, grunts, and grabs a handful of chips.
I swallow my sigh and return to the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as Jay, and I prep the salad and garlic bread.
“What for?” Jay dumps the chopped tomato on top of the lettuce.
I look up and nod toward my folks. “Them.”
Jay turns and leans with his hip against the kitchen bench as I crumble the feta into the bowl.
“You are not responsible for their actions or their decisions. And I’ll never judge you on their behavior. So, they’re… eccentric. Who cares? Tonight, they go home.”
He takes my cheese-covered hands in his.
“And you—”
He puts my right index finger in his mouth and sucks off the feta, then my middle finger. A soft groan escapes me and my eyes dart to the deck where Mom and Dad are helping themselves to cheese and biscuits and too many beers. Jay sucks harder and my attention returns to him.
”—my darling, will be all mine.”
His voice is almost a growl and the spot between my legs begs for his touch as I fall wholly and completely for this marvel of a man person.
Fuck!
***
Jay barbeques as Dad watches in awe. “Bess is right. You’re a keeper. Any man who can cook up a feast on a fire is a man I like,” Dad says, then downs the last of what’s likely his tenth beer.
We eat, or at least, they eat. My appetite fled after Mom spread vinaigrette down her cleavage and got Dad to lick it off. I collect the dishes and bring them in to the kitchen as Jay follows.
“I’m going to drive them back. There’s no way either of them can get behind a wheel,” I say to Jay as we watch my parents giggle and snort from the kitchen.
Besides the fact they’d enjoyed the food and the beer, my dad paid Mom more attention when he thought he might have some competition. They’re such children. Mom sits on his lap. Gag! I really didn’t need to see that. When Mom pulls Dad’s head into her boobs, I scrunch my eyes closed.
“I’m really sorry.” I slap my hand across my eyes and turn my back on the spectacle which are my drunk parents.
Jay laughs. It’s deep, honest and anything but judgy.
“I think it’s great that your folks can still want each other so much after all this time.”
He pulls me into him, and I lay my head on his chest. I’ve never thought of them in that way. It’s a revelation.
God, when did I become so reliant on being comforted by a man? And not just any man, but Jason Hill, my boss, Adonis, and all-time super fuck of my life?
Jay drives behind us, determined to drag me back to his place once I have both parents snuggly tucked away in their house. Both are off balance as they fall out of Dad’s nineteen eighty-seven Holden station wagon.
Jay wraps and arm around Dad and I gather my mother up. We stumble up the steps and into the house. “This way.” I motion for Jay to follow me up a staircase.
I unceremoniously dump my mother on the bed as Jay gently sits Dad down on his side of the king-sized mattress. Not wanting to incur any more psychological damage from seeing the two snogging like bunnies hot for chocolate, I grab Jay by the arm and drag him back to the living room.
“You brother?” Jay points to a row of framed photos.
“Yup.” I nod and come to stand by him as I point them out. “Mike when he was born. Mike and me the day after I was born.” I show with my finger. “And the day before he got deployed to wherever the fuck the country has sent him to this time.”
I can hear the bitterness in my voice.
“He looks a lot like you and your mother.”
