Page 40 of The Swap Masquerade

It wasn’t until a loud sob tore from my chest that I realized I’d actually been crying. I let her comfort me for a moment and then I pulled back, wiping my eyes with the back of my hands. Mom placed her hands on either side of my face, her blue eyes radiating warmth and love. “I’m proud of you, by the way. It was time for you to finally speak your truth.”

“You knew?” I whispered.

Her smile was soft. “I’m your mom. What do you think?”

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I turned to see Trey standing nearby, gnawing his bottom lip, and looking unsure. “Hey, bud,” I said cautiously. “I know you probably have a bunch of questions and that’s okay. You can ask me anything.”

He hesitated a moment then he stepped forward and put his arms around my waist, burying his face in my chest. “Thanks for what you said. That really meant a lot to me.”

Mom and I looked at each other. I don’t think either of us had been expecting that to be the first thing out of his mouth. But then again, Trey always had been full of surprises. I hugged him back. “You’re welcome. It was all true.”

Trey grinned up at me. “Still, it was pretty cool to hear you say it. I guess I’ll forgive you for dragging me down the steps the way you did.”

I reached out to tousle his hair, but he dodged my hand and started walking away. I called out after him. “Wait! Is there anything else you’d like to say or ask me?”

He looked confused at first and then his face cleared. “Oh, you mean about you being gay?”

“Well, yeah.”

Trey shook his head. “Nah, we learned all about it in school. Besides, three kids in my class are on the rainbow. It’s no big deal.” I watched him head off to the kitchen with my heart in my throat. His easy acceptance and uncompromising love meant the world to me and helped take a little of the sting out of my father’s reaction. I wished everyone could view the world through my brother’s eyes. It would be a much gentler place if they did.

“Would you like to stay and eat, honey?”

I turned to Mom. I knew she was trying to make things better, but right then, there was only one person I wanted to be with. “I’m not really all that hungry now. Raincheck?”

“Sure.” She followed me to the door, but right as I was about to walk out, she stopped me. “Give your dad some time, okay? He’ll come around.”

I nodded then headed out the door. I wished I could share in her optimism, but the look on my father’s face as he’d walked away was still etched on my brain. I guessed only time would tell.

Chapter 16

GAVIN

I had just finished folding a load of laundry when I heard a car door slam, followed a few seconds later by a knock at the front door. “Hey! This is a nice surp…” My words faded away, along with my smile when I got a look at Elliott’s face. His eyes were brimming with sadness and his cheeks had salt tracks down them as if he’d recently been crying.

“I’m sorry. I know you weren’t expecting me, and I probably should have called first, but—”

“Don’t apologize for coming here. If something’s wrong, I want to know about it. Come here.” I held my arms open for him and something fluttered in my chest when he didn’t hesitate to step into my embrace. He was shaking as I wrapped my arms around him, and I wondered what in the world could have happened to upset him so much. When he’d stopped shaking, I led him in and sat him down next to me on the couch.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“Could I have some water, please?”

“Of course, I’ll be right back.” I hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a glass, quickly filling it with cold water from the fridge. When I returned to the living room, he was in the same spot, hunched in on himself and looking more fragile than I’d ever seen him.

“Thanks,” he said when I handed him the glass. He drank a few sips before setting it down on the coffee table. “They know. I told them.”

“Told who, what?” I had a pretty good idea, given where he’d been headed when we’d spoken on the phone earlier, but I wanted to be sure I understood everything that had happened.

“My family. I told them I don’t want to play baseball anymore. I ended up telling them everything. How I feel about baseball, what I want out of life. I even told them I was gay. I was standing there, and Dad was talking about a scout coming to see me and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It was like something broke inside me, and I had to let it all out so I could breathe again, you know?” I nodded because I did know. I remembered from my own coming out. I was pretty sure it was that way for most of us in the LGBTQ community. There came a point when we were simply tired of hiding who we were, and we just wanted to be free.

“I take it that things didn’t go as well as we’d hoped.”

Elliott shook his head, his chin wobbling as his eyes filled with fresh tears. “Mom and Trey were both great, but Dad walked out. He couldn’t even look at me, Gavin.”

His tears spilled over then and I pulled him toward me, wrapping him in my arms. I rocked him back and forth as he cried and then I let him tell me everything that had happened, purging himself of the pain he was going through. By the time he was finished, he had hiccups from crying so hard. He drank the rest of his water to get rid of them.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you. I was just so upset and the only person I wanted to see was you.” My heart thrilled at his words, but I hated that he was in so much pain. I knew there was nothing to do to fix things between him and his father. Only they could do that, but I could make sure Elliott was cared for in the meantime.

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