Page 59 of Courageous Hearts

Bo chuckles at that. “What was he like?”

“My dad? Steady is the first word that comes to mind. He was calm but powerful, kind of like the lake. A big presence, but he never threw around his weight. He was attentive, and he loved my mom so much.”

Bo hums, the sound a little sad. Melancholy, almost, if a hum is capable of sounding such. “And your mom?” they ask.

I puff out a small breath. “You’d love her.”

“Really?” they say, turning their head slightly.

I press my lips against their cheekbone. “Yeah. She loves to sing and dance.” Like you. “She’d love you, too,” I add.

Bo doesn’t say anything to that, and I wonder what they’re thinking.

I know Bo doesn’t have a relationship with their own mother, since they told me she left when they were a baby. Bo is friendly with one of their brothers but not the other. But they haven’t talked about the rest of their family.

“Are you close with your dad?” I ask.

Bo shakes their head almost imperceptibly. At first, it seems like they’re not going to answer me verbally, but finally they speak. “My father and me… No, we don’t have a good relationship.”

“Sorry to hear that,” I say gently, squeezing Bo tighter in my arms. They go lax. “He’s back in Texas?”

Bo nods. “He and Diesel both. My aunt, too. Sara’s fantastic, though. I love her to pieces. I was glad to spend the last two years of high school with her after my dad found out what I am.”

I tense at that, but Bo seems to catch on, and they twist in my arms enough to brush their lips near the corner of my mouth.

“Let’s not talk about that right now, all right? Another time,” they say. “Right now, I wanna enjoy this.”

“Okay,” I respond gently, letting loose a breath. I want to know more, but I’m not going to press a sensitive topic if Bo’s not ready to talk about it. There is another matter I’m curious about, though. “You said something about going back there. Is that happening soon?”

“Yeah,” Bo says quietly, their fingers flitting over my arm where it’s wrapped around them. “I’m visitin’ in a couple weeks.”

“How long will you be down there?” I ask.

“Eight days,” they answer.

“Hmm. That’s a long time.”

Bo chuckles slightly. “Gonna miss me?”

“Yes,” I say plainly, rubbing my nose along Bo’s neck and kissing their bruise.

I am going to miss them, and isn’t that something?

“I’ll miss you too,” they say, so quietly I almost miss the words.

Bo exhales slowly, their body a dead weight against me, and something about that—that inherent trust—makes my chest feel tight. It makes me feel affectionate and wildly protective.

I still have to tell Grant about everything that’s happened. So much has changed since our phone call. So much is different. I still don’t understand how, after so many years of assuming I was straight, I find myself here with Bo. It feels like, in the matter of a single blink, my entire world has been tilted on its axis. I don’t mind the new angle in which I’m spinning, but I do wonder at it.

Was my sexuality always more fluid than I realized? Or is it only Bo?

As the breeze turns a little cooler, I hug Bo tight to me. They’re like a beacon of warmth at my front, keeping me heated despite the chill in the air. Turning my head, I catch sight of a smattering of pink in the clouds above our heads, and I trace the color back to where it disappears behind the treeline.

“Look,” I say gently, pointing it out to Bo.

Bo shifts their gaze, laying their head on my shoulder as they blink up at the sky. “Too bad it’s not over the water.”

I nod. We’re facing east. On the opposite shore, over in Michigan, it’s probably a very different view, all lit-up color over the tumbling waves as the sun slips into the horizon to the west.

---