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Parker shakes his head with a chuckle. “You should have seen the way he looked at you when he introduced us, Noah. I’ve never seen him look at Mom that way before.”
“So, you don’t care that I’m a guy?” I ask, wondering when their eventual freakout will come. “You don’t care that he’s gay?”
Parker looks almost offended. “We’re out in the real world. We’re not as close-minded as you might think.”
I blink back my shock. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Mary says sweetly, grabbing my hand as she rubs her thumb against my palm. “All we ever wanted was for Dad to be happy. That’s it. If you make him happy, we’re happy.”
“And you’re okay that I’m younger than you are?” I chance, knowing that I’m probably pushing it.
Parker cringes. “Not going to lie, it’s kind of weird.”
I laugh that off. If anyone cares about my age, they can go fuck themselves. I can deal with Parker being weirded out by that, but I can’t describe the amount of relief I feel that they’re okay with this.
“He’s going to be happy to hear that,” I laugh, squeezing Mary’s hand. “Well, after he gets embarrassed that you saw the painting.”
“We should go and tell him,” Mary says, turning to Parker. “He needs to know that we support him.”
That’s great and all but… “Maybe wait until there aren’t hundreds of people he needs to entertain, and your mom isn’t here.”
“So smart,” Mary coos, reaching over to ruffle my beanie-clad head. “Ugh, I can’t wait to get to know you better.”
“Since we have time, maybe you can show us around a bit more? Tell us about yourself?” Parker asks, something hopeful in his voice.
It’s shitty the way they found out—Jarred should have been the one to tell him—but this eases a little bit of the tension in my chest.
Maybe this really can work out. If his kids are on board then maybe, it’ll make the rest easier. Maybe it’ll push him to finally live his true life.
Maybe everything is going to be okay.
CHAPTER26
JARRED
“I don’t like the way that young man spoke to me.”
My jaw clenches and my face strains with the effort to remain impassive and relatively pleasant as I take Jenny away from the entrance of the camp. The last thing I need is to make a big scene, especially on such an important day as today.
“He probably didn’t like your tone,” I say, smiling and tipping my head at a passing parent.
“And all those piercings?” She gags, making the sign of the cross as she steps through the door and into the empty chapel I’ve led her to. “Ugh, what has this generation come to.”
“Jenny, what the fuck are you doing here?” I snap and now that there’s nobody around, I can let my anger show. “Seriously? What the fuck?”
“Watch how you speak to me, Jarred!” she hisses, narrowing her eyes at me. “I’m here because I’m your wife!”
I shake my head. “Soon-to-be ex-wife if you’d just sign those damn divorce papers already.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffs as she takes a seat in the back pew. She huffs as she pulls out her compact mirror from her purse, checking her reflecting and fussing over a stray hair coming out of her bun. “We’re not getting a divorce. Why would you even say that?”
My jaw drops. “Excuse me?”
“Whether you like it or not, we’re staying together,” she puts plainly, smiling as if she isn’t the wicked bitch she is.
“No, we’re not.”
“Well, I’m not signing the papers.”
