Page 51 of Returning Your Love
Smiling, she leaned onto her desk, chin propped in her hand, eyes twinkling with mischief over the receptionist’s counter between us. “Imagine the tips a boy like you would get from all us older ladies around town.”
I chuckled. Babs’s flirting was the only thing that had made me smile in days.
“There’s lots of cougars around here, but I can imagine you’d prefer a woman closer to your own age,” she continued.
Hardly, but I wasn’t in the mood to out myself at the moment since she was definitely fishing. If I told Babs my sexual preference, me being gay would be the talk of the town from now until Christmas if not longer. A few pride flags waved in front of businesses and attached to houses, and no one seemed to care a lesbian couple owned and ran Frenchie’s, so I wasn’t concerned what people would think.
It was simply a private issue that wasn’t anyone’s business but my own.
While I hadn’t heard anyone discuss Dad’s bisexuality, I wasn’t sure if he’d ever shared his truth with anyone but me. His best friend Dexter and Kell were also openly gay and had dated for a short time, or so I’d heard. Who knew with gossip in a small town like ours.
“I’m considering a job down in Berlin,” I offered Babs news to talk about. “Once the football season is over, I’ll needsomething more permanent with insurance, a 401k—all the good stuff.”
“You were smart to finish your degree in engineering before skipping off to the NFL. Your daddy is proud of you.”
I nodded, glad for myself I’d chosen that route. Otherwise, I’d really be up shit creek without a paddle because my contract money wouldn’t last forever. “Heard from Coach Bernard?”
Her smile widened. “He called just yesterday, high on living his retirement dream.”
I could imagine. Who wouldn’t want to travel across country and relax after being stuck in one place his whole life? “Think he’ll ever come back?”
“He better!” Babs straightened, a glint in her narrowed eyes. “Or I’ll have his hide.”
“Why’s that?” I asked with a smile at her spunk.
“He promised me a ring on Christmas and the rest of his days until death parts us!” She whisper-hollered even though the station was close to empty except for Officers Davidson and Jones on the building’s other side.
I blinked. “Why, Kathy Babs O’Neill. Since when have you and Coach been an item, and how is this not the gossip of the century?” I asked, my voice low too.
She glanced around, checking that the others in the office were busy at their desks before shifting forward, beckoning me closer with a crook of her finger.
I leaned onto the counter with crossed arms, having entirely too much fun when I should have been wallowing in the shit of my current circumstances. Babs was a breath of fresh air.
“I know how good you are at keeping your own secrets, so you won’t spill mine.”
A punch of adrenaline hit me, straightening my spine. “What are you talking about?” I asked, my smile dissolving.
“Oh, please. You think you did a good job hiding who has owned your heart since you were young boys?”
I blinked.
Jesus fucking Christ.
The town gossip had seen and actually kept her mouth shut just like Dad.
“Spill your secrets, Babs. You have my word I won’t say shit to anyone.” That was the only admission to her assumption she would ever get from me.
“Coach and I were an item long before he married his wife.”
“Are you shitting me?” I asked, failing to keep my voice down.
“Shh!” She glanced around the building again. “It’s a terrible secret, but yes. He pissed me off way back when, I dumped him, and he snagged hold of Rose Gibbons, got her pregnant, and had to marry her so her daddy wouldn’t take a shotgun to his balls.”
Well, goddamn.
“I won’t lie and say that he and I didn’t flirt on occasion during the years they were married. I’m no saint, and neither is he,” she continued, “but we didn’t fall into bed together until after she passed in March.”
I stared. Babs had always been known for her wildness, in her late sixties and single her whole life, but Jesus. “You mean you loved him and waited for him to be free again?”
