Page 72 of Tulips and Lost Time

“So you just… you’re cool with her dating?”

He scoffs. “Have I ever had a say in the matter? She’s an adult, and she made a point to go away for college to somewhere I wouldn’t be able to stand over her shoulder and watch every move she makes. I’d say my opinion is no longer relevant. And even if I tried, she’d tell me to mind my business.”

“So you…” Stunned, my stomach whooshes with nerves. Opportunity. Hope. “You’re gonna let her date. Whoever. Whenever. And you’re not gonna freak?”

“Well… no.” He drops his hands into his pockets and smirks. “I’m gonna mind my business on the Blake thing, since the dude is more feminine than any chick I know. He’s with her because she’s sweet, not because he’s attracted to women.”

“You…” My heart gives a single, painful knock. “What?”

“He’s gay.”

“No, he’s not!”

Marcus beams, giddy with the knowledge that his baby is coming home. “Yes, Lenaghan. I assure you, he likes dudes. It’s not like I’ve asked Kari, and she hasn’t mentioned it. And I don’t have any problem with guys liking guys, or girls liking girls. Love is love and all that. But I’d bet my entire house he isn’t into women the way we’ve been led to believe.”

“What the fuck?” I set my water down on the ambulance floor, liquid splashing over the lip and onto my hand for a blissful, cooling second. Then I shove up from my makeshift seat and hobble into the mildly fresher air outside the bus. “She’s dating a gay guy? Bullshit.”

“I mean… has she actually said she’s dating him? Or have we made assumptions?”

“I…” I don’t know! “The girls call him Ten.”

Marc’s cheeks turn a sickly green, but he shakes his head, rejecting the idea. “The girls—as in, your sisters—are the biggest troublemakers I’ve ever met. They’d call him Gandhi if they thought it’d get a reaction out of someone.”

“No, she’s?—”

“Blake is not my sister’s boyfriend. Not in an intimate way. I’ll eat my hat if I’m proven otherwise.”

“Saturday?” My heart thunders in my chest. My pulse, physically noticeable in my wrists and throat. Could it be? Is it possible we’ve assumed shit, the girls have stirred the pot, and Kari is stubborn enough to play along?

Yes.

Is it wishful thinking on my part?

Also yes.

“This Saturday?” I clarify. “Two days from now?”

“Bright and early. I wanna leave here around six, so we can get over there and pack their shit up. It’s time to bring my sister home. I’m not wasting a second.”

After Marcus walks away, a tune on his breath and a skip in his step, Mitch wanders closer. Like they’re playing tag team. Though the latter approaches with a brow raised in curiosity and a long slick of sweat running along his shirt from the boiling heat. “You look like you ingested a couple of funky mushrooms.” He stops in front of what I suppose is my vacant stare and waves his hand in my face. “You okay?”

“Kari’s coming home.” I press a hand to my stomach, nerves battering until I can almost feel the wings of anxiety brushing my palm. “In two days.”

“Kari… Macchio? Marc’s sister?”

“Yeah.” I break my focus on nothing and turn back to the bus to continue working. “Her.”

“The one you sent away all those years ago because she was steak. and you were tofu or some shit?”

“I was steak. She needed to experience the buffet.”

“And did she?” He follows me to the back of the bus, but though I climb in, he presses his hands on the doorframe and remains outside. “Did she glut herself at the all-you-can-eat buffet?”

“Well… no. I don’t think she did. But she saw what was offered.” I turn and grin, woozy with happiness as I meet Mitch’s stare. “She got to sample the buffet. Met thousands of other dudes in her age bracket. She had the freedom to do what she wanted, go wherever she pleased, and do it with whomever she fancied. And now she’s coming home.”

He looks at the ceiling and smirks. “So now you can present your steak on her plate and declare home sweet home?”

“You’re messing with my analogy. But yes. Sort of.” I glance at the back wall of the ambulance and get back to counting supplies. “I’m gonna help Marcus pick her and the others up on Saturday. We’re gonna bring them home and settle them in at their new apartment. And soon, whenever she starts work, I get to bring Kari to the hospital and be that one person she knows in a big, new, scary place.”

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