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Although I had never gone ice fishing, I had done plenty of shallow water fishing during my summers in the Bahamas. Most days it was the only thing to do.
After a day out on the ice, we didn’t end up catching anything. Titus said it was because they weren’t biting. My guess was that it was his non-stop talking.
That was fine with me, though. What was I going to do with a fish other than throw it back? And Titus was interesting to talk… I mean, listen to. He had ideas about a lot of things, most of which involved Snow Tip Falls.
“Have you given any more thought to coming to East Tennessee University?” I asked him knowing he would fit right in.
“Yes, I have. I have to say that the two of you have inspired me. I will be filling out an application for next semester,” he said with a smile.
“That’s awesome!”
“Yeah. And, maybe when I’m there, I’ll find myself a great guy like you did,” he said with a knowing smile.
I stared at Titus not wanting to express my surprise. I really shouldn’t have been. The one thing I should have learned from the people I grew up with was that you didn’t have to look or act a certain way to like someone of the same sex.
“So, you’re… gay? Bisexual?”
Titus’s head bobbed around as he answered.
“Let’s say, I’m open,” he said with another of his brilliant smiles. “I haven’t said that to anyone before.”
“Thanks for sharing it with me. If you come to E.T. I’ll have to introduce you to my roommate, Lou. I don’t know that many people at school like us… I don’t know any other people at all, really. But, he’ll be able to tell you all of the places to meet guys. That’s kind of his specialty.”
“He sounds like a great resource.”
“He’s a great person,” I said not able to say enough about Lou.
The rest of our day was spent discussing when we each realized that we were into guys. I also shared my three-parent upbringing. He was fascinated by it.
After he expressed a tremendous interest in meeting them, I promised I would introduce him. I certainly would have preferred to spend the day with Cage. But the day I had with Titus was pretty good.
Overall, the weekend ended up being better than any I would have had if I had stayed at school and allowed Cage to come up by himself. I liked Titus, Dr. Sonya, and Cali. When Cage came to pick me up, I promised that I would come back and hang out with them again.
“You’re always welcome,” Dr. Sonya told me as I left.
“How was your time with Nero and your mom,” I asked Cage as soon as I entered the truck.
“It was pretty amazing,” he confirmed.
Cage looked different. The tension that had enveloped him as we drove up was gone. He seemed calmer and more settled.
For the next hour and a half, Cage filled me in on what he learned about the mystery surrounding his birth.
“I couldn’t ask all of the questions I wanted to. She’s not fully there, mentally,” Cage explained. “Dr. Tom thinks she has some type of dementia. She has an unusual set of symptoms, though. And the longer I was there, the better she got. Nero said that he hadn’t seen her this clear-minded in years. That’s why I decided to sleep over and spend today. The longer I was there, the more she was able to tell me. I didn’t want to risk leaving and losing the momentum.”
“That makes sense. I’m glad you were able to spend so much time with her.”
“Yeah,” he said letting the conversation drop.
Though he wasn’t saying it, it was clear that there was something else on his mind. Everything about it filled me with dread. I wanted to ask him what he learned about Nero and maybe their father, but I didn’t dare bring it up. At this point, I just wanted to get home without a disaster happening. I thought I had made it until Cage parked the truck in front of my place and turned the engine off.
“Did you want to come up?” I asked hoping it was the case.
“Actually, we need to talk.”
The blood rushed from my face hearing those words. I was a deer in headlights.
“About what?”
