Page 43 of Running Scared
Reg grunted.“And that, as you have probably figured out, is typical Dean.”
“I’m starting to get that picture,” Bailey told him, and at that moment traffic opened up.Bailey gave a happy “Whee!”as he stepped on the accelerator and headed for the hills.
TWO ANDa half hours later—after one rest stop in Kettleman City for coffees, sodas, and a chance for Catherine and Mr.Bumble to be walked on a little green outside a strip mall—Anthony directed Bailey down a long roller coaster of a straight road where fifties-style ranch houses sat back on absurdly large property packets while Reg took his turn napping in the back.Much of the scenery was brownish, with tiny little lawns, many of those with white picket fences inside a larger chicken-wire or chain link property fence.There were even, to Bailey’s surprise, a couple of pools, barely glimpsed in what amounted to the backyard.
“I thought you people were always in a drought?”he said.
“Sometimes,” Anthony conceded.“But sometimes not, and then the pool comes in handy when it’s hot.”
“I imagine so,” Bailey said.It was barely twelve o’clock, and he could already feel the unrelenting dry July heat starting through the windshield.“I have no idea if Dean packed my trunks.”
“If he didn’t, I’m sure there’s a zillion pairs you can borrow,” Anthony said blithely.“Reg’s parents are uber prepared—and sort of the king and queen of ‘there’s always room at the table,’ you know?”
“How long have you known them?”Bailey asked.
“Only a couple of months,” Anthony said.“But my parents had both losttheirparents before I came along, and my stepdad’s folks are—” He grimaced.“—not kind about the LGBTQA crowd.”He pronounced it all together, like “elejebetequa,” and it took Bailey a moment to realize that the young man had just told him that his step-grandparents were bigots.“I wassoexcited,” Anthony told him, “when my dad told me his new boyfriend had parents who liked the whole family tobethe whole family.They invited me to their big reunion picnic at the beginning of June, and it was one of the best days of my life.”His voice dropped.“And Reg was there, so that was nice too.”
“Best friends?”Bailey asked, although he suspected it was more than that.
Anthony’s sidelong glance confirmed it.“You don’tseemstupid, Doc,” he said softly.
“Well you don’tseem… coupled,” Bailey retorted, thinking he might be getting the hang of this brother thing.
“Mm….”Anthony gave one of those glances behind him that indicated he needed everybody to be asleep.“Reg is used to being the quietest Royal.The one everybody overlooks.He needs to get used to being the most important person, at least to me.Baby steps, Doc.Baby steps.”
Bailey blinked at the young man who had just shown far more self-awareness than Bailey had in the last four years, but before he could think of anything to say, Anthony spoke hurriedly.
“A left up there—you see the cattleguard and the gate?That blue house with the mother-in-law cottage and the pool gate and the big backyard—”
That self-awareness vanished, and Bailey was suddenly in the presence of an excited little kid who got to visit grandma and grandpa, and as the other occupants behind him started to shift groggily awake, he slowed the minivan down and made ready to turn left.
TWENTY MINUTESlater, after being shown to a guest bedroom in the big house, where Mr.Bumble was left to roam with a sandbox and some food and water handy—and after seeing his father shown to the mother-in-law cottage, the better to accommodate Catherine until she and the multitudes of indoor cats had a chance to get to know each other—Bailey, his father,andCatherine, sat in the shade by the surprisingly roomy pool while the three younger men swam and played like teenagers.
Their hosts were Ed and Julie Royal, who had greeted them with a plate full of sandwiches—from peanut butter and jelly to lunch meat to chicken salad—and the off-brand sodas of their choice in big plastic cups of ice, as well as a cold pitcher of water.
Julie Royal was a sixtyish wiry dynamo of a woman, who had been weeding one of the many vegetable boxes in a garden that took up about a quarter of the big backyard as they’d driven up.She was dressed in an oversized T-shirt with the sleeves and neck ripped off and a pair of what had once probably been her husband’s basketball shorts, as well as a big floppy garden hat, and she smiled up at them as her husband wiped some of the sweat off her forehead.
He’d been the one to greet them while she’d hurriedly washed up and prepared their lunch, and Bailey had gotten the feeling that meeting someone—anyone—in their son’s life was a big deal for them.
He could suddenly see why Anthony had been so delighted to be here.
“Relax!”Julie said, smiling at the both of them.“We’re so happy to meet you.I’ve got to say, Dean hasneverinvited us into his super-scary job life before, so you’re, like, a triple treat.”Her voice dropped conspiratorially.“Did he really push you out of an airplane?”
Bailey had to laugh.“He briefed me first,” he clarified.“And it was Marcus who did the pushing.Dean wasn’t secured to the frame and didn’t have his chute on yet, so he stayed back from the bay door.”
He was startled by Julie’s cackle.“Oh, Ed, it’s so cute.He’s exactly like Dean!Did you see how he tried to make it a smaller thing with that ‘just the facts, ma’am’ schtick?It’s adorable!”
Ed, who was a scant few inches taller than his tiny wife, with largeish ears and a grin that stretched between them—gave a happy grimace.“Julie, honey, they’re new.Give them a chance to get their feet on the ground before you call them adorable.”
She shook her head and patted Bailey’s knee.“Oh, he doesn’t know.I mean, hedoesbecause hecanbe the most romantic man in the world, but you know, don’t you?That the two of you are something special?”
Bailey’s ears heated, and his father chuckled.“They’re not in the admitting stage yet, Miss Julie.It’s fine.He’s just happy to meet you all.”
Julie grinned at him, and Ed spoke up.
“You two are welcome to stay here as long as you like,” he said.“Connor, we had to hustle to make the cottage habitable—it’s been a while since it’s been used as more than storage.Let me know if there’s any repairs to be made.Leaky faucets, cold water, anything.”He gave a whimsical little smile.“I’ll try to be a good landlord.”
“Well, you should let me help with that,” Connor said, perking up.“I was a contractor in my younger days.That’s a neat little place—good bones.But I’d love to fix up the wiring and the plumbing for you.It would be the least I could do, given you’ve put us up here on no notice.”
