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“You won’t hold them against me, right?” I asked Declan, who gave me a look I couldn’t read. He was smiling, and there was a softness in his gaze that nearly stole my breath.
“I don’t know if I can be seen with you in public anymore,” he teased.
I crossed my arms and pretended to be upset. “That’s not very nice.”
“Well, I was lying anyway. The stories are cute.”
“I have more where those came from,” Mom told him.
Declan gave her a face-splitting smile. “I’m all ears.”
Mom threaded her arm through his, and the two of them walked away together.
“Oh boy. You’re in trouble, little brother,” Ollie said.
I watched them go. “I kinda love it.”
“Good man.” Dad clapped a hand on my shoulder.
Everything felt perfect.
The rest of the afternoon and evening went well too. Eventually, I told Mom to stop hogging Declan’s attention, to which she laughed. He hung out with everyone else while I helped Mom finish up dinner. I’d loved cooking with her when I was young. Those were some of my favorite memories, which likely explained why I enjoyed spending time in the kitchen so much now and why I’d started doing it more after breaking up with Neil and heading back to LA.
“He’s special, isn’t he?” Mom said while I made the mashed potatoes. Yep, we’d had them for snacks earlier and were eating them at dinner too. We were carb people around here.
“Yeah, he is.”
“I like him.”
“I can tell, and I’m glad,” I replied.
“He seems a little sad sometimes, like he needs lots of love. He’s joining the right family for that.”
Christ, she was the best. I didn’t understand it, how some people like me could get so lucky and how others like Declan didn’t. “His friends are his family mostly. Marcus, Corbin, and Parker. They’re great. I like them a lot too. We spent an evening at his friend Marcus’s place once. I’ve never seen friendships as strong as theirs. I spent some time with Parker too.”
“He’s The Romantic, right?”
I froze, trying to figure out if I heard what I thought I heard.
“Don’t look at me like that. I started listening to the podcast. They’re funny together. It’s very…informative. That Corbin, though…I think he wants love more than he’s willing to admit. It’s one thing to enjoy sex, but he sure has a lot of it. In my experience, he’s compensating for something else he lacks.”
I didn’t know what the hell I choked on, but suddenly I was coughing and Mom was patting my back. The thought of my mom listening to The Vers was…well, it was scary. She was the type who would ask questions and share her opinion like she just had. I didn’t have it in me right now to tell her people could have sex just because they enjoyed it and there was nothing wrong with that.
“Stop making a big deal out of nothing, Sebastian. I might be old, but I’m hip. And I’m learning a lot! Like the name—The Vers. I didn’t get it at first, but now I know it’s a play on the name for men who like both—”
“Oh my God. Don’t finish that sentence. I can’t talk with you about this. It’s—”
“Is everything okay?” Declan asked, walking over.
“My son is having a kitten over the fact that I listen to your podcast and know what a vers is,” she said in all seriousness. “What I don’t understand is—”
“Ahhhh!” I screamed, putting a hand over her lips. “Whatever you were going to ask, please don’t.”
I looked at Declan, who was watching us with his mouth hanging open and his eyes bulging out in a way that looked almost cartoonish.
“If you want to run, I understand, but I’d like to ask you to reconsider,” I told him.
Mom pushed my hand away. “Hush. We’re not that bad.” She eyed Declan. “It’s a very good podcast, dear. You should be proud.”
“Um…thank you?” Declan said, clearly unsure how to respond.
“I don’t know why you’re so surprised I listen to it. The whole thing isn’t about sex. I love the ‘QHF’ segment. It’s really interesting learning all those LGBTQ historical facts. The Stonewall riots…well, it’s not something I remember being common knowledge. I hadn’t heard about it. Plus, we support people we love in this family. That’s just what we do, so of course I’m going to do the same thing for Declan.”
Oh, well, when she put it like that, I couldn’t be upset with her anymore.
“Um…thank you, Ms. Cole,” Declan said, less of a question this time.
“You can call me Mom or Marcie. Sebastian brought you home, and that means you’re stuck with us now.”
I wanted that more than I’d ever wanted anything in my whole life.
“Thank you, Marcie.”
“Why don’t you come over here and help me and Sebastian finish up? He might be some bigshot Hollywood star, but around here he’s just our Bastian.”
