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Ridiculous!

Back in those days, Morgan remembered, she thought boys were icky. That was all.

Of course, right now she also kind of thought boys were icky.

She shook her head again.

Ridiculous!

“Like I said, I was just being a smartass when I said it,” Warren continued, “but as it turns out, I get eighty bucks out of it.”

“Whatever,” Morgan said in a huff. “Anyway, I’m not actually identifying as gay.”

Both of her parents looked at her blankly.

“But you’re dating a woman,” Leslie said.

“Right.”

“And you’re a woman, so…”

Morgan sighed.

“Look, I know it doesn’t make any sense but I’m not ready to stick a label on my sexual identity yet, okay? I’m still trying to figure it out myself because this happened really suddenly. One day, I was Morgan, a heterosexual woman and now six weeks later, I’m Morgan, a woman in love with another woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out that, yes, I’m a lesbian but until then, I only care about the fact that I found a wonderful woman to be with and I don’t care one whit about what that makes me except a woman in love.”

Her parents looked at one another and shrugged.

“All we care about is that you’re happy, Doodlebug,” Warren said. “Well, I care about that and the fact that your mother owes me eighty bucks.”

Leslie rolled her eyes.

“I may as well give it to him,” she said to Morgan, “otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it. Anyway, really, Morgan, we don’t care that you’re seeing a woman. We don’t care if she’s a Black woman or an Asian woman or whatever; just as long as you’re happy and it seems to me that you are.”

Morgan let out a breath. She hadn’t really doubted her parents but, as she had considered before, how much does one really know their parents? Turns out her parents didn’t disappoint her, though, and now she felt an overwhelming surge of love for them.

Since she was on a roll, she decided it would only make sense to also tell them about Chloë’s age as well. Oh, and perhaps the little tidbit about Chloë being a former student of hers.

“There’s something I need to tell you about her, though,” she began.

“Oh my god, she’s a Trump supporter!” her mother wailed again, reaching in the bag for more potato chips. “It’s something you only think happens to someone else’s maybe-lesbian daughter!”

***

Back in Carlsbad a few hours later, Morgan stopped off at Von’s before heading home. Her period was approaching and she needed more tampons. She also wanted to pick up a nice bottle of wine for her and Chloë tonight since it was their six-week anniversary (unavoidable cringe at the improper word usage). She was also planning on cooking her girlfriend a nice dinner of poached salmon with asparagus and garlic dill new potatoes. Before getting out of her car, she fired off a text to Chloë.

Hey…just wanted you to know that I’m back in town. Stopping off at store to get some things before heading home! Miss you! Love you!

Inside a few minutes later, just as she selected a box of Tampax Pearl from the shelf, a voice behind her said, “Well, Morgan Banks, great to see you again.”

The Sam Elliott voice made her smile behind her mask and she turned to find Clint standing there holding a basket containing a variety of canned goods.

“Clint! Hi!” Morgan said, leaning in for a hug. When they separated, Morgan suddenly blushed scarlet when she realized she was still holding the box of tampons. She mentally chided herself. She was a grown woman who had bought countless boxes of these things during her life so far but what was it that made it so embarrassing when a man was around while she was doing it? Like, does a guy really need to know that she uses Super Plus? She resolved then to start buying these damn things via Amazon.

Clint seemed to guess what was causing Morgan her unease.

“Relax, Banks,” he said, waggling his Sam Elliott eyebrows. “I’m familiar with the whole concept of period supplies.”

Still blushing, Morgan dropped the box into her shopping cart.