Page 24

THE DINNER INQUISITION

There were dozens of boxes scattered about Legends.

The convention had taken over my store. Between swag, lanyards, programs, and stickers, I couldn’t keep up.

If somebody walked in right now, it looked more like a post office than a comic book store.

Menial tasks were a good distraction, especially after the bomb drop yesterday.

Or was that a bomb shell drop? Bomb shell, bomb drop?

“I’m driving myself crazy.”

I picked up the closest box, setting it on the counter. Tearing it open, I was delighted to see the lanyards for the convention. I always got excited seeing Legends Comic Store on swag. It didn’t compare to the awesome at the bottom of the box.

“Amanda!” I shouted. “Come down here!”

“I’m actually working!”

I raised an eyebrow and looked toward the loft. She had been working harder than usual on her comic. I think a looming deadline prompted her to pick up the pace. I should leave her alone… but I wouldn’t. Harassing one another while busy was kind of our thing .

I grabbed the badges from the bottom of the box and dashed to the back of the store. I took the stairs two at a time before realizing big boys should take them one by one like normal people. By the time I reached the top of the loft, I huffed and puffed.

“Please don’t die,” Amanda said.

She sat at her desk, pen in hand. This had become her home away from home. The platform suspended above the comic store looked as if a bomb had gone off. I understood why she wanted this chaos somewhere other than her apartment.

“You’re working?”

Amanda let out a long sigh before setting her pen down. “You know, I do illustrate once in a while.”

“Do you want me to leave?—”

“Oh God, no. I’ve been working for a whole thirty minutes.”

Once I caught my breath, I sauntered over to her desk.

She had been working on a comic about a small-town kid coming out of the closet and getting superpowers.

I couldn’t wait until she finished and we could feature it in the store.

There would be a big party, and we’d invite every person from Spectrum to attend.

“What has you excited enough to run?”

I dropped a stack of badges on the corner of her desk. Her eyes lit up. She tore the rubber band off and held one up for closer inspection. She glanced from the badge to me and then back. It started as a low purr and twisted into a squeal as her feet thumped against the floorboards.

“I can’t believe it!”

When I asked her to design the graphics for Firefly Con, I had no idea what she might come up with. I grabbed the next badge in the pile. In front of the text, she had turned me into a superhero, cape and all. Under one arm, I had a stack of comics and, in my hand, a bag with the Legends’ logo.

“I had my doubts.”

“Doubts?” She shot me a dirty look. “If I remember, you whined about it.”

“Whine is such a strong word. I voiced a strong opinion.”

“I don’t want to be the face of the convention.” Her impersonation of me bordered on frightening. “It’s going to look dorky. It’s?—”

“Okay, I get it. I whined.”

I walked around the drawing table she put in the middle of the room.

She had indeed been busy. I had listened to the story behind her comic a thousand times, but seeing it drawn out bordered on surreal.

In the first panel, a boy leaned in for an abrupt kiss with his best friend.

Shocked, she had pulled back, leaving him in tears.

“It’s amazing,” I said.

“It’s our first kiss.”

I didn’t have powers like the character in her comic, but it still touched close to home. At an early age, I knew I was different from the other kids. I thought if I did things like everybody else, it’d go away. Amanda didn’t include the panel where she slapped me, shouting, “Consent matters!”

Seeing the boy with his knees drawn to his chest, tears flowing down his cheeks, it was like looking at a memory. She set the page aside and showed me the next one. Amanda hadn’t inked it, but it made my heart sing.

“Did I ever thank you?”

“You didn’t need to,” she said. She held out an arm, beckoning me to stand next to her. Wrapping her arm around my waist, she leaned her head on my stomach. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“I was going to say the same thing.”

“You were the first gay person I met… or at least the first to come out. I’m not saying you led the charge, but you made a path for the rest of us.”

“I had help.”

“Real-talk time.” Amanda never pulled her punches. I’m not sure how she could get any more real. “You’ve never been the loud and proud kind of guy. You’ve always had a soft stand-your-ground approach. I don’t think you see how big a change you’ve made.”

“I haven’t changed.”

“Not you.” She leaned back, looking me in the eye.

“Firefly. There’s a Gay-Straight Alliance in the high school because you helped push for it.

Now you’re helping keep it alive. The town might not be progressive, but their attitudes changed because they love you. I wish you saw yourself the way we do.”

She held up the badge, spinning it between her fingers. I watched as the image of me in a superhero costume came and went.

“Be the face of Firefly Comic Con, Jason. You’re the hero the town needs.”

Real talk apparently meant an arrow to the chest. Amanda had a way of cutting through the red tape and getting to the heart of the matter. I couldn’t always see the changes in our little town. Sometimes, it required a friend to point it out.

“Since you’re in real-talk mode, can I ask you a question?”

I walked over to the loveseat and plopped myself into a flattened cushion.

It was by far the most uncomfortable couch I had ever sat on.

It stayed in the loft because we didn’t want to throw it into the store below to drag it out.

No amount of throw pillows could stop a spring from poking me in the ass.

“Does it have to do with a mysterious blonde woman?”

“Has the rumor mill already started?”

Amanda spun about in her chair. “No, and that’s what has me interested. Somebody with legs like that and the blue hairs aren’t talking trash? Consider me curious.”

“It’s Simon’s ex-wife.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. “Well, that makes things interesting.”

“I brought Lucas home from school, and she was waiting for him. I thought she was off somewhere saving the world.”

“Gorgeous and a do-gooder. I’m seeing the appeal.”

“Calm your tits, missy.” Amanda didn’t need to say anything. I’m sure she was already imagining her naked. If she drooled, I’d slap her for good measure. “I don’t know how to handle the situation.”

“Did you talk to Simon?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“Then you’re making an issue where there isn’t one.”

“But—”

“It’s in your head.”

“What if?—”

“Stop it.”

I frowned. Amanda wasn’t providing the support I expected. Then again, she had a way of saying what I needed to hear. Was I making this a bigger problem than it really was? Maybe my discomfort with a new situation needed more time to process.

“Simon didn’t seem to mind you dancing with Jon.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it, though? Jon isn’t nearly as gorgeous, but it’s kind of the same thing.”

“Closest thing we have to shared custody is a house plant we bought.”

“I’m sure you’re both wonderful fathers to your plastic cactus. She’s the kid’s mom. Sounds like she’s going to be in the picture one way or another. Do you think you can deal with that?”

She asked an honest question. I mulled it over. There was no precedent for the situation. A couple of my exes were friends with the people they previously dated, but most kept them at arm’s length. There was nothing that bound them together, especially not a kid.

“I get it, it’s different.” She turned back to her table and picked up the pen. “It sounds like an adventure to me.”

An adventure. The positive spin on new experiences. Maybe Amanda had a point. Dating a man with a kid had turned into an adventure in my head. How different could it be dating a man with a child with an ex-wife still in the picture?

“Now go away,” Amanda said. “One of us is trying to work.”

She must be in the zone if she was demanding I leave. As much as I wanted to lament on the subject, I wanted her to finish the comic. Right now, I needed that happy ending.

“Fine,” I said, clawing my way off the couch of doom. “I’m off to be the face of a Comic Con.”

I eyed the groceries. I had stopped by the store to pick up Mom’s order, and something looked amiss. Had Dorothy given me the wrong bag? I couldn’t remember a time when Mom used thyme in her cooking. Mom knew how to make a belly happy, but I wouldn’t call any of her cooking fancy.

Opening the door, I continued inspecting the bag. “Mom, I think Dorothy mixed up your order. This doesn’t?—”

The burly arms reached for the bag, snatching it away before I could process. It wasn’t uncommon for Amanda or Jon to show up for dinner. At times, I thought they might be my mother’s favorite children. By the time I looked up, I was gawking at the back of Simon’s head.

“What’s going on?”

Simon set the groceries down on the kitchen counter and started rummaging.

Nothing about this made sense. Of all the people who could have set foot in Mom’s house, I never…

“Oh, God. Mom.” She had been alone with Simon for who knew how long.

What damage had unfolded while the two of them waited for me?

I went into the living room and saw them, every child’s worst nightmare.

The leather-bound books. Volume one, two, and three?

Inside was a cornucopia of photographs that no adult man wanted to be seen by the light of day.

From photos of Dad bathing me in the kitchen sink to my phase when I wanted to be in a boy band, complete with torn midriff shirts.

There was nothing sacred when Mom pulled those off the shelf.