Page 29 of The Photograph

Lorna laughs, and oh! the joy of being able to complain about this outside the office.

I fill them in on the three categories of people I’ve come up with, along with all the dreadful things they’ve said.

Mom belatedly catches up. “That homowhaty thing, I thought that wasn’t allowed nowadays.”

“It isn’t,” Lorna says, raising an eyebrow at me.

I flap my hand at her. “It’s fine. I’m their boss. I can sort them out if I need to.”

Mom peers at me over the reading glasses she’s perched on the end of her nose from around her neck.

“Mind you do, Dessy. No one treats my son like that and gets away with it.”

Mom occasionally comes out with statements like this, but she wouldn’t defend me if her life depended on it. She’s not one for a showdown at all, which is why we all ended up so headstrong. She likes to pretend that she’d step up to the plate if any of her children were in trouble, but in reality I was the one who argued with the schools, with the benefits people, with everyone.Gah. The office is the last thing I want to think about, it’s bad enough living it without talking about it, too.

“So, you’ve come to visit because Marla told you I was seeing someone new?”

I hadn’t thought about this aspect of having my sister here. Is it going to seriously cramp my style?

Mom pops a chip in her mouth. “Apparently, he came around to watch some TV the other night.”

Honestly, the gossip hotline with this lot.

I point my finger at the pair of them. “He did, but it is not a thing. We’ve only just met, and I still haven’t worked out whether he’s my type or not.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing’s wrong with him. I think he’ll find me too high maintenance, that’s all. He’s very chill, and a bit hesitant. He’s not well versed in the whole gay thing. He’s not out to his family.”

Mom purses her lips. “Oh, I always think it’s ridiculous when people say that kind of thing—about their family not knowing.” She waves her hand around. “I mean, as a mother, you know. How could you not?”

Lorna catches my eye again, and a giggle sticks in my throat.All the things we all hid from Mom.

“Must be really hard though, hiding like that,” Lorna says. “You’d expect a bit of caution.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I say.

She taps my hand. “He sounds lovely to me,” she adds. “I’m not sure you were finding the right type of person on the scene. And Dessy, you’re not high maintenance; you’re very chill yourself.”

“Only a member of my family would say something like that.”

Mom makes owl eyes at me.

Lorna laughs and ruffles my hair. “Lovely to have you back, Des.”

I make a face at her, and Mom beams. “Definitely, and we want to hear all the gossip from that club you go to. Lush? I love hearing about the things you get up to.”

“Crush.”

“Like the threesome he had the other night?” Marla shouts from her room.

My stomach turns over. “You weren’t even here then. How the hell did you find out about that?” I yell back.

“I heard you on a video chat with George.”

Jesus Christ.

Mom puts her hands over her ears, conveniently after she’s found out the information. “La-la-la-la,” she sings loudly. “I don’t need to hear about my children’s sex lives.”

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