Page 46 of Harboring Secrets
“Hello, Carol. It’s nice to hear from you. What can I do for you?”
“What can you–Liam Anthony Lawson. You’re gay? Since when?”
Carol sounded worried, but not angry. I could work with that. The lack of anger made my knees weak and I leaned more weight on the counter.
“Bisexual actually. Since always. But if you want specifics, since you were dating Matthew Hart. Sorry, I know he was kind of a meathead, but he was hot as shit.”
“Matthewwas your bisexual awakening?” Carol sounded incredulous. “You were eleven.”
“Listen, he was hot, okay. Those broad shoulders. That narrow waist. His ass. Did you see his ass?”
“And suddenly I’m very sorry I asked.” Carol’s laughter soothed the little boy in me who thought she’d hate him for this. “Did you secretly lust after all my boyfriends?”
“Hardly.” I rolled my eyes. “Only the hot ones.”
Carol was quiet for a long moment and I let her have it. Now that the band aid had been torn off, the relief I felt made my head swim. I never realized how tightly I’d held myself until I let go. For the first time in years, I felt like I could breathe.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to. I wanted to tell you about him, but I didn’t know how.”
“Can you tell me about him now?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Does he treat you well?” Carol asked, her voice wavered from emotion and I wished that I’d told her in person so I could’ve seen her face.
“He’s amazing. Smart, friendly, sweet.” He worries about me making choices just to please him. He wants me to find a purpose on my own, something just for me. He supports me in ways no one ever had. Or maybe in ways that I wouldn’t let anyone else. But instead of saying all that, I said, “Yes, he treats me well.”
“Good. He better.” Carol cleared her throat. “Tell me about Brodie. What does he do? How did you meet? Where did you meet? Can I meet him? Send me a picture.”
“Oren said there were pictures.”
“Yeah, those don’t count. I want one you took.”
I sent her a picture of him standing at the shore, his pants rolled up to his knees and his shoes dangling from his fingers. We hadn’t planned to go near the water that day, but we’d taken a bit of a detour on our explorations and all the walking had made Brodie’s feet hot. We went down to the water so he could cool off. I’d snapped a couple pictures of him without him noticing me, but the one I sent to Carol was of him looking back at me. He had a bright smile, one I liked to think of as mine. I could almost hear him calling to me to come join him.
“He’s no Matthew,” Carol said, “but he’ll do. When do I get to meet him?”
“Soon, I promise.”
“I can’t get away right now, but surely the two of you can make the trip.”
“I’ll have to run it by him, but yes, I want you two to meet.”
“Good. Okay, I have a meeting in fifteen that I have to prep for, so as much as I would like to keep interrogating you, I have to go. But you’re going to call me more often, and you’re going to come for a visit. Okay, Liam?”
“I’ll call more often. And as for coming for a visit, I’ll see what I can do.”
“I suppose that’s fine. Love you, little brother.” Carol ended the call. Before I could even see the headlines, Brodie was calling me.
“There are photographers following me,” Brodie whispered.
“Fuck. Where are you?”
“I’m in the back at Bennett’s. Ethan is letting me hide in his office. Do you know what’s going on?”
“What’s going on is that apparently my sexuality is big news on a few websites. Someone wanted to do a follow-up on me after the hospital ceremony where I opened Piper’s wing. Apparently, a bisexual well-off widower is big news today.”
