Page 55

“Dad, you were naked in bed with a bloke?”

“Yes?” No point trying to squirm out of this one. “Dylan. I told you about him.”

“You made bloody jokes about him!”

“If I remember rightly,youmade the jokes. Gray threatened to sing.” I wasn’t going to let him railroad me. I’d done nothing wrong.

“But I thought you were kidding! Dad! You’re straight!”

My son. The idiot. I took it all back.

“How do you know?” I asked, trying to stay calm. “You can’t help who you fall in love with. Pot? Kettle? Black?”

Irrational, I knew, but there was a little bit of anger. A smidgen of shame. And yes. Perhaps not a hundred per cent honesty.

“Dad.” His head dropped into his hands, and he made a frustrated sound towards the floor.

“Yes,” I said calmly.

“You can’t do this. Not now.”

“What are you on about?” I reached out and squeezed his arm.

My boy. My beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful boy. My son.

“You’ve never done this. Ever. I leave you alone for a couple of months, and you go all…unhinged and start hooking up with blokes?”

Oh God. Another thing I hadn’t even thought of.

“I have to admit that I haven’t really thought this through, Reuben.” I had to look around to ensure the kids were out of earshot.

“They’re upstairs,” Gray said. “Rediscovering their toys and hopefully not destroying anything.” He was always the sensible one and still understanding of the situation. “Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit?”

I nodded. Perhaps this was what we needed. A chance for my son to yell at me, and for me to see if I could make him understand.

“Reuben, this just happened. I didn’t set out to meet someone. I didn’t make myself a profile on some dating app and go all out trying to get myself… What do you call it? Lain?”

“Laid, Dad.” He looked tired.

“Laid. That wasn’t my intention.”

He made another frustrated sound. Then he looked at me. Really looked at me.

“Dad, you like women. You like Black women especially, with big lips and big hips. That’s what you always say. You liked my mum. A lot.”

“I adored your mum. She was the most beautiful girl in the world. Stunning.”

“And now you expect me to believe you’re suddenly into scrawny, middle-aged white men? He’s like…old, Dad. And balding!”

Was he? I hadn’t noticed. Didn’t care.

“He’s also got a warm heart. He’s got three children, and he makes me laugh. Divorced. He’s a lawyer.”

“So he’s rich.”

“He lives next door, Reubs. And he’s not rich. He’s a very normal man, and one I incidentally found myself becoming friends with. And then…”

“One thing led to another? It doesn’t work that way. You expect me to believe that you just woke up and put a man in your bed?”