Page 74 of Up In Flames
“You said we could ask questions,” Mom said, her voice small and her brow furrowed. Troubled.
I nodded because I couldn’t speak. I had to save my words for the answers they wanted.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“There are a million answers to that question. I never meant to hurt you by keeping it from you, but I had to protect myself. I know your church and stuff is important to you, and I know it hurt you when I stopped going. I guess I didn’t want to add to that.”
“Is that why you stopped? Will, honey… Did someone there say something to make you feel unwelcome?” Anger flashed in her eyes, but not at me. Her anger was directed at other people.
“It's not—no. Not directly, but sometimes what people don’t say can hurt just as much. I don’t remember anyone beingopenly hateful, but enough were openly not accepting enough to make me feel like I didn’t belong there.”
“Honey, we—you’re more important to us than anyone in that place. We can get a new church. We can find different friends. We only have one son.”
“Tell us about this man of yours,” Dad said. “What was his name again?”
“Oren.” I exhaled. “Oren Reid.”
“How’d the two of you meet?” Dad asked, taking control of the conversation to give Mom a chance to breathe and get her emotions under control. That she was mad for me and not at me made all the difference.
“I pulled him out of a car wreck.”
Dad laughed. “Leave it to you to pick up someone at an accident.”
The three of us shared a laugh, and I suddenly wished I’d told Oren to come. “I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
“So call him up. We can save him a plate.”
“I don’t know that I want him eating your food. This makes my food look like cardboard.”
“You and I both know I didn’t make this.” Dad rolled his eyes at me. “Now are you going to invite him or not?”
“Dad, I think Oren’s had enough excitement this week. He was stuck in an elevator at work, which triggered a migraine from the stress. He’s finally back on his feet, but I don’t know how social he’d feel like being. I’ll bring him around soon, I promise. Just give him some time, okay?”
“I guess that will have to do. So long as we get to meet him.”
“You will. He’s, ah… he’s moving in.”
“Moving in? How long have you been together?” Mom asked, sounding more sad than concerned.
“Not long actually, but it feels right.”
“It must, if you were willing to take a huge risk for him. I’m sorry if we ever did or said anything to make you think you couldn’t tell us.” Dad’s eyes were unusually glassy.
I wished I could tell them that they hadn’t, but I didn’t know at this point if that would’ve been a lie. Had I applied the whispers at their church to everyone around me? Including my parents? It was a possibility. But I was tired of living the way I had been. Meeting Oren had made me want more for myself. Better for myself.
“I want you guys to meet him. He’s important to me. I’ll make it happen soon, okay?”
Dad smiled at me fondly. “Okay, son.”
CHAPTER 33
Oren
Iwas at Will’s when he was done having dinner with his parents. None of my stuff was here, except for a couple of bags of clothing and some toiletries but having Will walk through that door made the space feel like home.
“Hey, you. How was dinner?” What I really wanted to know was if he’d managed to tell them and what they thought. I doubted it had gone bad because Will looked too relaxed for anything catastrophic to have happened.
“Dinner was great.” He tossed his keys on the counter and made a beeline for where I sat on the couch. I’d been doom scrolling and pretending that the evening wasn’t going by at a crawl.
