Page 16 of Mr. Picture Perfect
My mom rolls onto her back and offers me a sleepy-looking smile. “That sounds nice. Have a fun time, alright? I’ve got plans of my own tonight with … with a …” She wipes a hand over her face, rubs her eyes. “… a friend,” she finishes blandly. “Can you tell Nan I ordered the, um, thing she wanted? For her garden?”
I don’t think she has any plans with any friend. But I smile at her anyway and nod. “Sure thing, Mom.”
“Look after that arm. Please. You have to be more careful.”
“I will.”
“Don’t be reckless like your dad. Being a big hero is nice and all, but at what cost?” Her attention is pulled back to the TV when the audience cheers at something. She rolls over to watch it, her eyes listless and far away, but momentarily sparked with interest. Maybe it’s the joy in watching others win prizes. Maybe she likes to imagine she’s one of them, walking onto the big stage to guess a number, or pick a door, or toss a ball at a target, winning the top prize and earning the audience’s roaring cheers.
I come up to the bed and kiss her on the forehead. “Love you, Mom.” She gives me a tiny smile and squeezes my hand with little strength, her eyes glued to the TV. I leave her door a crack open when I go, lingering for a moment before finally leaving her be.
It’s exactly eight on the dot when I’ve made the drive out to the farmlands and pull up to the front of the Strong residence. The sun has long since set to allow the stars to shine brightly out here in the Spruce, Texas countryside. At this time of night, the Strong ranch glows from the inside with warm light spilling out from its gaping windows. I’m greeted at the front door by Nadine herself, a slender yet busty woman with larger-than-life hair and big hoop earrings, radiating with energy that could combat a power plant. She howls upon seeing me and ushers me right in, where I’m met by her husband Paul, a quiet yet sociable man with bright eyes, as well as her older son Tanner and his husband Billy. The former-football-player-turned-high-school-coach Tanner and his sweet-eyed professional business-owner dessert-chef husband Billy are the staple couple in town. They’re as handsome as can be, wearing matching jeans and red flannel shirts, though Billy’s is orange in hue. In the living room sit their two sons Marcus and Joshua, who appear to be content playing Xbox on the enormous living room TV. The adults are gathered in the kitchen and dining room area, where all of the promised finger foods are on display. I had put on a light denim jacket before leaving the house so as to keep my unsightly bandages out of sight. I guess it does the trick, as I’m mercifully not asked once about my arm.
While Nadine busies herself in the kitchen with her friend and housekeeper Jacky-Ann, and Paul keeps the kids company asking questions about their game while sitting in an armchair behind them, I spend some time with Tanner and Billy by the food table.
“Doesanyonehere know what Nadine’s up to?” asks Billy with a shrug as he chomps a bite off a pig-in-a-blanket. Then his eyes flash. “Damn, these are good. Did you try these, babe?”
“I got here first with the boys, of course I tried them,” Tanner says with a laugh. “Tried every dang thing on the table. Dodge the jalapeño poppers at the end though, Cole, unless you want to burn a hole through your toilet when you get home.” That earns him a firm smack on the arm from Billy. “Hey, just bein’ honest!”
Billy turns his back on his husband. “Ignore him, Cole. By the way, I heard what happened at the festival. I mean, obviously,” he adds with half a chuckle. “Everyone’sheard. But I just wanted to say, as someone whohasbeen put through the infamous rumor mill of Spruce, if you ever need to just get away from it all, I hope you know by now thatthisis a safe place you can come to. Tanner and I live just down the path, too, right here on the property, out by a small body of water we reluctantly refer to as a lake.”
“More like a big pond,” mumbles Tanner through a mouthful of potato chips. “The Tucker-Strong Pond.”
“Our modest abode is newly renovated,” Billy goes on, “to accommodate the kids. And now with Jimmy and Bobby married, we rarely have visitors anymore, other than the occasional drop-in from Mindy needin’ a break from Joel and the twins.”
“You mean Joel and themonsters,” says Tanner.
Billy sighs. “Their kids aren’tthatbad.”
“Yeah, they are. Little monsters in their terrible twos.”
“Tanner …”
“I’m serious. One of them bit our Marcus on the foot ‘cause he wouldn’t let them touch his laptop. Mindy and Joel are raising a pair of wildChihuahuas, not human babies.”
I stifle a laugh. “Well, regardless of what your friend is raising, I truly appreciate the offer to get away. But I’m not too worried. I know these things blow over fast.”
“They do,” assures Billy with a smile.
“Sorry,” grunts Tanner, lifting a hand. “If you ever wondered where your boss gets his sass from, it isn’t my mama. It’s entirely and unapologetically fromme.”
Jimmy, one of my two bosses, is Tanner’s younger brother. He is, to be fair, quite sassy. Thinking of him makes me smile. “I enjoy working under the pair of them—your brother Jimmy and his man Bobby. They make great bosses and sure know what they’re doing with the Strong Fitness Zone. They had a vision and achieved it.”
Tanner smiles. “You sound like you admire them.”
“I sure do. And for quite a while. You remember when Jimmy asked Bobby out to prom back in high school? And in front of the whole soccer team? Well, I was a freshman when that happened, and I gotta say, it changed me in a pretty fundamental way, seeing someone be so brave like that. It set a fire inside me. Since that day, I swore I’d be true to myself.”
“Well, damn.” Tanner shakes his head. “Makin’ me choke up, talkin’ about my little bro and his guy like that.”
“It’s just the truth.” I smile. “I’m proud to work for the two of them. I was proud to sit there and watch them walk the aisle, too. They make a great team, and they give hope to me that someday, I will have a special guy bymyside.”
Billy and Tanner seem caught in a trance after my spiel, both of them staring at me with glassy, empty eyes.
It catches me off-guard. “Oh. Did I … go on a bit too long about them? Sorry. I got kinda sappy there, huh?”
Tanner snaps out of it first. “Nah, that was great. And y’know what? You’re right. Jimmy and Bobby, they … they make a great-ass team.”
“The greatest of them all,” agrees Billy, staring off somewhere with an odd, faraway look in his eyes. Tanner puts his arm around his husband, then kisses him on the cheek. Billy smiles, though it seems distracted, and when the kids suddenly break into shouts at the TV screen over their game, Billy’s attention is pulled. “Hey, it’s just a game, it’s just a game, boys, calm down.” He excuses himself and heads to the living room.
