Page 102 of August
“Then, she should’ve stopped.”
“No, honey, I don’t think she should have,” she said. “Adele told me that Wendy is gay.”
“So is Adele, apparently.”
“She hasn’t said that. Don’t put a label on someone until they give you permission to do that, okay?”
“You’re gay. It makes sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. And stop that. You know better. We’ve talked about this before, AJ.” Elisa shook her head.
“They’re going to have sex, Mom.”
“Possibly, yes,” she replied.
“She had sex with Tucker, Mom.”
“I know. But if Ihadn’tknown that, that’s not your secret to tell me for your sister,” she said.
“Fine. But now, she’s just… like, gay?”
“She might be. She might be something else, or she might not label herself at all, but she’s your sister. No matter what, you’ll support her because I raised you to be a good man, Archibald Junior. You’re hurting now, and I understand why, but Adele is discovering something about herself that’s important. She’ll need her brother to be there for her.”
“I don’t know that I can right now if she’s with Wendy.”
“I know. I get that. Adele will, too. But when you calm down, you’ll realize how much you love your sister and that you’ll always be there for her no matter what. I don’t want you to have said something to her that you’ll regret later, Arch. You can’t take back words once they’re said.”
He looked at the closed door and said, “I’m going back to Dad’s.”
“You can if you want, but we still have some talking to do.”
“I don’t know that I can do it, Mom, watching you with someone else. Dad is with other women, yeah, but not for real. Adele and I know he’s not serious about any of them. But you’re here with someone, and you call her your girlfriend, I guess. And there’s a dog in the house now. You said you’d get one, but I thought we’d go together to pick him out or something, and he’s just here already. It feels like you’removing on without us, like you’ve got this whole new house, this new girlfriend, a new dog, and you’ll have a new job, too, soon. It’s like the moment we got into college, you thought you’d buy this place and start the next part of your life, and we’re not invited.”
“Archie, what? No,” Elisa said, standing up. “Honey, that’s not–”
“It’s fine. I’m not ready to deal yet. Whatever,” he said and hefted his bag over his shoulder. “I’m going to take more of my stuff back to Dad’s.”
“Archie, stay. Let’s talk more about what you’re feeling.”
“I don’t want to right now,” he replied. “Everything’s changing. Everyone’s moving on. Even Adele’s going to some smart kid school and has a new girlfriend, and I’m the idiot who couldn’t even get into a D-I school for soccer, and I like a girl I’ll never have. You’ve got everything you could want here. You don’t need me in the way.”
“Archibald Alexander, that is not true.”
“Mom, don’t middle name me right now, please,” he replied before he pulled open the door and left his room.
Elisa followed him out, watching him rush past Buster and down the stairs. When the front door closed behind him, Elisa didn’t know what to do.
“Hey,” Myra said. “I was just about to leave.”
“You don’t have to go now,” she replied on a sigh.
“Didn’t go well?”
Myra walked over to her and placed a hand on her lower back.
“No, not at all.”
“What can I do?”
