Page 22 of August
“Oh, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter.” She laughed and reached for her fork. “I only meant that when I went upstairs to change out of my dress for dinner, I left the pasta on the stove, and it boiled over. She went to stop it for me, and when I got back, I was really close to her for the first time. I sort of had my hand on her back for a second, but she didn’t move out of the way or anything, and she didn’t flinch, either.”
“So, she’s into the idea?”
“What idea?”
“Elisa, she’s into the idea of there being more than just a client and contractor relationship. I don’t know many contractors that are down with their clients having their hands on their lower backs.”
“Oh, I don’t know. It could just be a neighbor or friend thing. I mean, women touch each other. She said no to drinks and dinner twice before, remember? She might have felt bad about saying no two times and stayed out of pity. I haven’t exactly done anything to let her believe that I have an exciting life. The opposite, really. She knew the kids were gone because they preferred their dad’s place. And I understand why. I just couldn’t stand being in that guest house anymore, acting like the housekeeper more than the woman he was married to for decades.”
“I know. I’m sorry. My brother has always been a dick,” Gwen said. “Annabelle, too, though. I like to think that my parents realized that and, six years later, hadmeto balance things out cosmically. Of course, they’re twins, and I’m just little old me, so they had to have little Grant four years after me once they’d confirmed I wasn’t a dick, too. Seriously, it’s like Arch and Annabelle popped out of the womb entitledand expected everyone to do everything for them, or at least, make things easier on them. I don’t know if my parents raised Grant and I differently, but if I didn’t know for a fact that my mom gave birth to all four of us, I’d swear two of us were adopted.”
“Which two?” Elisa asked with a smile, loving whenever Gwen talked about her distaste for her older siblings, even though Elisa knew it was petty.
“Depends on the day. You know my parents. They can be assholes, too. My mom was born with that silver spoon in her mouth, and my dad had it put up his ass when he popped out right after they cut the cord.”
Elisa laughed and said, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“Sometimes, they’re cool, though. I know it probably didn’t seem that way to you, given how things were in the beginning. When I tell you how pissed off they were that their precious first-born son had gotten a girl pregnant out of wedlock while he was also in college, you’d probably not believe me because, from your perspective, I’m sure, their anger was aimed at you.”
Elisa nodded and said, “I got a lot of glares, yes.”
“In their mind, their perfect baby had worn a condom like he was supposed to, so it wasn’t possibly his fault that it broke, and you should’ve been on birth control, too, or not be having sex at all. Gotta love their old-school blame-the-woman-for-everything approach.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right, too. Your mom actually asked me who my gynecologist was and whymymom hadn’t talked to me about safe sex. Shehadtalked to me about safe sex, and Iwason birth control.”
“You were?” Gwen asked, looking surprised.
“Sort of.”
“Sort of? We’ve never really talked about this. I didn’t want to bring it up because I thought it might be hard for you to talk about.”
“I went to the campus clinic when I started dating Archie. They gave me a pile of condoms and birth control. I took it.I just didn’t take it long enough to have it be beneficial. Your brother wasready,and I wasn’t, really, but I still said yes when I shouldn’t have, and here we are.”
“He pressured you? You never told me that,” Gwen said, leaning over the kitchen table and looking concerned. “Do I need to murder my older brother?”
“Let’s just say that I knew I was gay then.”
“You did? You didn’t tell me that, either. When you came out to me, you said you’d been soul-searching, and you figured it out.”
“I did soul-search, but I’ve known forever. I might have even known before you knewyouwere gay, probably, given our age difference. Anyway, I knew when I met Archie, but I didn’t know how to admit it to myself, let alone anyone else, and we went out a couple of times. We were making out one night, and I could… feel he was…”
“Oh, gross. That’s my brother, Elisa.” Gwen shook her head in disgust and leaned back again.
“How much of this do you really want to know?”
“None of the details, obviously.”
“Well, he asked. I said no at first, but we kept kissing, and I could tell that he really wanted to. I should’ve repeated my no and told him that we should wait, but I didn’t. Things kind of went from there. So, while your mom was wrong to blame me and should’ve blamed both of us for getting pregnant, I didn’t tell him no, and I knew the birth control wasn’t exactlypotentyet. Ididmake him wear a condom, at least, thinking that would help. He argued at first, but–”
“He didwhat?” Gwen asked.
“He put it on, at least.”
“But hearguedwith you?”
“He said we were both virgins, so there wasn’t a point. He didn’t have an STI.”
“Hold on.” Gwen shook her head rapidly. “My brother, who was already pre-med then and should’ve understood the basics of how sex worked, told you that just because he didn’t have an STI, he shouldn’t have to wear a condom? Like, hejust forgot that he could get you pregnant?”
