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I shrug. “It’s not such a big deal. My family’s used to it. Growing up, my mum had her brother in the UK, even if his family was a couple hours’ drive away. But her parents and sister were all the way back in Jamaica. We hardly ever saw them. And my dad’s family were mostly in Hong Kong until the territory was handed back to China in ’97. A lot of them moved to England after that, so we saw a good deal more of each other, which was nice for both him and us.”
Jalen tilts his head. “So you’re half-Asian, half-Caribbean,” he says.
Given that I’m pretty sure his family’s of Mexican origin, I’m almost confident he’s not going to say anything ignorant. But a lifetime of wariness still puts my teeth slightly on edge.
“And one hundred percent British, baby,” I reply with a wink, hamming up my London accent.
That makes the boys laugh. Well, Jalen laughs loudly. Colby gives a little smile and traces his fingers through the sand.
Jalen playfully hits me with his closed fan. “All right, Austin Powers,” he teases. “What I meant was, I bet the food in your house wasamazinggrowing up.”
I grin, partly relieved, partly because it was true. “God, I miss my dad’s cooking,” I say, shaking my head. “Mum could burn a boiled egg, but Dad mastered all of his mother-in-law’s recipes he could squeeze out of her every time she visited.” I sigh, trying not to let melancholy creep in. “My nan passed about ten years ago. I always wished I could have had a bit more time with her.”
Jalen reaches out and touches my arm. “I bet she was proud of you, though.”
I drop my head back and laugh. “You have no idea. The aunties banned her from bragging about me sometime around 2008. It never did stop her, though.”
“I bet the aunties still brag about you,” Jalen says with a wink. It’s an unusually tender moment with my little firecracker, and I can’t help but cherish it.
I also can’t help but notice that Colby is determinedly getting food and drinks out of the cooler for us, not joining in the conversation about our families at all. However, I feel like we’ve spent enough time together that I want to ask about his situation. I have a hunch he needs a little help healing from something.
Potentially a lot of help.
“Are your family close by?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “They’re in Newcastle.”
That’s a couple of hours north of Sydney if I remember correctly. It cracks me up how many places here are named after towns back home in the UK.
“Colby’s family is right here with him,” Jalen says hotly, ignoring the bottle of juice his friend has in his hand as he throws his arms around him. Colby bites his lip, and pain slashes through my heart. “Fuck those guys,” Jalen adds.
I’m almost certain that’s the first time I’ve heard Jalen swear. He’s colorful with his language but doesn’t seem to enjoy cursing. The word hits like a harpoon.
I reach out and squeeze Colby’s knee. “Are you not close with them, then?”
Colby takes in a shuddery breath. He smiles sweetly at Jalen before gently extracting himself from his embrace. “Not really, no.”
“They sent Colby away for conversion therapy,” Jalen hisses, tears glistening in his eyes. “They tried to make him pray the gay away. His dad used to?—”
“My dad’s not here now,” Colby says firmly, and I can’t help but feel proud of him.
Jalen’s only defending him, and I love that. But today is supposed to be a celebration. A mini early Christmas. If Colby doesn’t want to bring that stuff up, I respect that.
Colby grabs Jalen’s hand and kisses his fingers, the way Jalen often does to him. “I chose to walk away,” Colby says, his voice wavering, but his conviction seems strong. “I told them where I am. They can contact me anytime they want. But unless they stop seeing me as nothing but a sinner, rather than their son, I haven’t got anything I want to say to them. Andthat’s okay.I’d rather have Christmas on the beach with you a million times over. That’s what you promised.”
“I did,” Jalen agrees.
They look into each other’s eyes for long enough that I start to feel like I’m intruding. But then Colby shakes himself and turns back to me. He wipes his damp eyes, but he’s also smiling. “Would you like to have Christmas Day on the beach with us as well, Andreas? You probably already have plans, but?—”
“No, no,” I say quickly. “Well, I was going to volunteer at the hospital, actually. But I can do both. My company donates presents to the children’s ward, and I like to go give them out.”
Jalen’s face morphs in delight. “Oh my god. Do you wear a little Santa outfit?”
“No,” I say, arching my eyebrow. “It’s an elf, actually.”
I’m making it up, but it gets the boys laughing all the same, and that’s what I wanted after our serious conversation.
Although I’m grinning as I open up various boxes of food, it has left me wondering something. If we’re all alone on Christmas, that makes total sense to spend it together. Jalen and I can’t be with our families, and Colby basically doesn’t have one.
