Page 34 of Tailored for Them

My dating history wasn’t a thing my parents balked at. When I told them in my late twenties that I most likely wouldn’t get married like Tucker, or have kids, they told me as long as I lived a happy life, that’s all that mattered to them.

I could be open with them about who I was dating, how casual it was, etc. They never became those parents who wereconstantly asking their single kids, “When are you going to settle down?” or “Don’t you feel lonely?”

They were already part of my support team.

I didn’t need a monogamous romantic partner to not feel lonely.

My mom and dad understood that. They respected and trusted me to make my own judgments about romance, or the lack of romance. They were there if I had questions or just needed to vent. They never pushed me to get married or not. Perfectly supportive. Always loving.

Hell, I had it better off growing up enby and queer with my parents than Beck had it growing up straight with her religious parents. To my knowledge, Beck had only spoken to her parents once in the last decade because of the toxic expectations they continued to put on her in the name of their religion.

“Taylor?” My mom pressed.

I blinked back to the present, watching my parents gather food for us to sit and eat at the kitchen table.

“One sec,” I lifted a finger as I followed them to the dining room, opening Nicole’s text.

Nicole: Are you free tonight?

Hell yeah!

Me: Free as a bird. Want to come over?

“Is this someone new you’re seeing?” My dad asked once we all got settled at the table.

“Yeah,” I replied, resting my phone screen while I stabbed my salad with my fork, “We’re making plans for tonight.”

“Oh, what are you two going to do?”

In response, I silently chewed my food and stared at my mother with one raised eyebrow until it clicked.

“Oh, geez,” she chuckled to herself, rolling her eyes as she continued, “That’s what I get for asking.”

I lifted a shoulder as my dad snorted and took a bite of his burger, which resulted in half of it being gone.

“Hey…” I took another bite of food and thought for a moment before I decided to be bold and ask, “…Did you two ever feel disappointed that I never got married or settled down?”

Both of them lifted their gazes from their plates to give me confused and alarmed expressions. The divot between my dad’s dark eyebrows deepened dramatically, whereas my mom’s eyes widened behind her frames.

“What? No, honey.” My mom reached out and rested her hand on my arm. “Did we ever make you feel that way?”

“No, not at all.” I lifted a shoulder, “I guess I was just curious. We’ve never really had a deep conversation about it,” I took a sip from the can of soda my parents set out for this meal, “I just told you one day that I wasn’t interested in long-term relationships, and you both just, like, accepted that.”

My dad hesitated before taking his next bite of salad, his fork hung halfway between the table and his mouth as he asked, “Did—did you want us to question you some more?”

My mom turned to look at me, waiting for my answer.

“No,” I shook my head, “I love how you both trusted me to know what I want for myself. That you never pressured me one way or the other,” I lifted my shoulder again, “But that doesn’t mean you never had your own feelings about it.”

They let my words hang over the table for a moment.

My parents shared another look, and part of me felt a little envious over how they could have silent conversations with each other so easily like this. My brother and I were pretty good at predicting what the other was going to say, but my parents had a connection that was deeper than I could fathom.

“I guess…” My mom set her fork down and folded her hands on the table in front of her, leaning closer to me, “Your father and I got extremely lucky. We found each other so young, and we grew up together. Not everyone gets to have that, whether they ‘settle down’ or not.” My mom lifted her fingers in air quotes. “So when your father and I heard you say you weren’t going to force anything like that to happen, and that you felt confident in that decision to live your best single life, we felt a little bit of relief.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Why relief?”

“Taylor.” My dad rested his elbows on the table as he folded his hands under his chin, “You’ve known what you wanted since the day you were born.” He gave me a warm smile, the same one he’d been giving me for as long as I could remember. “You haven’t made a lot of decisions that you’ve regretted in your life—big decisions, at least.”

---