Page 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Campbell

I’d found my way to the ledge in front of the dormant fireplace, across the room from where Josh sat on the couch. I had to dodge a few stuffed animals and plastic dolls along the way, as well as a blue pop-up tent. Josh’s eyes followed as I sat, but then he closed his. He’d leaned forward again, a defeated tension framing his posture. Eventually he leaned back and rested his head on the back of the couch, listening to my words.

He removed the buds as he lifted his head, cupping them in one hand and slowly, deliberately, placing my phone on the couch beside him with the other. There were tears in his eyes.

“This is all my fault,” he began.

I tried to work out what he meant, tilting my head from my perch across the room.

“Not sure what you mean, babe.”

“I shouldn’t have said any of the stupid fucking things I said last night.”

“Yes! You should have! Did you hear what I said? We’re on the same page about this. You said I wish everyone could know , and God damn it, Josh, I’m so sick of hiding. I wish everyone could know, too and they can! It doesn’t even have to be a big deal. You taught me that. Oh crap, I’m gay too , and boom, you were out, and your brother was out, and you got to live your life. I don’t want to keep you in the closet, of course that’s part of this, of course it is. But in equal measures, I don’t want to be in the closet anymore either.

“I’m not asking for some dramatic press conference or Sports News Now! interview. I’m just asking for us to be out when you go to Buffalo for this job, and when I follow you there next year for mine.

“Please, baby.”

We sat across the room staring at each other, both of us wiping away tears. Josh’s face began to soften into a smile, and I felt the weight of six years lift from my shoulders, knowing it would be okay for me to like the boy instead of the girl from here on out. To like this boy for the rest of my days.

He was crying through his smile, and I wanted to wipe his tears away, so I began to stand as the door burst open.

“Here’s Miss Octo and Miss Hedgy!” the high-pitched voice said.

I hadn’t met the child, but I’d seen pictures of the girl who was responsible for Josh and me meeting, and this was clearly her. I looked down, and sure enough, two of the dolls were an octopus and a hedgehog.

Vera ran into the room toward me, or rather toward the stuffed animals. “Hello,” she said before bending down and scooping them up. She turned and took in her uncle.

“Uncle Joshy, are you crying because you’re going to miss school?” Josh let out a laugh and opened his mouth to answer, but Vera continued before he could.

“Because I don’t think Devon is going to miss school. He’s coming to New York to be with me and daddy and to work and to go to a different school. And we’re going to have adventures and go to Explorer Girls.” Josh opened his arms, and Vera slotted between his legs, accepting the hug her uncle offered without taking a breath. “You could move to the city! Maybe everyone could move to the city. Uncle AJ is already there, but Uncle Vance can come! He can write anywhere. And there are schools there where he could teach. Maybe he could teach at my school! And grandma and grandpa can work at Devon’s new school. And you can go to Devon’s new school, and Uncle Hunter can play for the Hattans. I wouldn’t want my Florida grandparents to move, though, because then where would we stay when we go to Florida?”

Just then a flustered-looking Jamie and Devon arrived at the doorway.

“Here she is!” Devon said into the room, then, looking directly at Jamie, “Here she is.”

“We said we’d meet you outside, little one.”

“I know, Daddy. I just had to get Miss Octo and Miss Hedgehog.” Vera had extracted herself from Josh and held each one up as she said their names.

The men’s gazes shifted from the girl and her dolls back and forth between Josh and me as if they were clocking a tennis match. Devon spoke up first. “Come on, Miss Vee, let’s let these two finish their conversation.”

He stuck out his hand, and Vera took it. “They were talking about moving to the city like you, Devon!”

Devon shot a look at his best friend. “Really?”

Josh laughed as he stood up, taking his niece’s other hand in the one that would always sport a subtly crooked finger.

“No,” he said to the group before leaning down to speak directly to Vera. “My boyfriend and I are moving to a city but not yours. It’s closer to here. And I’m not going back to school. I’m going to work for the hockey team that Campbell is going to play on.”

Vera looked my way. “Are you Campbell?”

I nodded.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Vera.” I walked up to the group and wrapped my arm around Josh’s waist from the other side. With Jamie in front of us and the remaining four of us connected, we walked through the back of the house and out the slider to the beautiful back patio and the crowd of family, friends, and colleagues celebrating Josh and Devon’s graduation.

“You know, Vera, your Uncle Josh and I met because of you.”

“Really? I like to call him Uncle Joshy, by the way. None of my other uncles’ names are like that. But I have an Aunt Rosie, so that counts. I have lots of aunts and uncles and lots of grandparents. My Hampstead grandparents are here today but not my England grandparents or my Florida grandparents.”

I looked to Josh with a smile and a question on my face. “Welcome to the family,” he whispered in my ear before giving me a quick kiss behind it.

“Vera’s maternal grandparents live in Florida,” Devon explained.

“And my mother and her husband …”

I nodded in understanding and completed Jamie’s sentence “... live in England. Right, Josh mentioned that.”

Vera had continued talking but just so happened to have stopped as we neared the firepit, where Josh’s parents were sitting along with mine and a group that included a few people I recognized from pictures as some of Josh’s siblings.

The group went quiet at the same moment Vera did, but then Vera repeated the question I had clearly missed.

“How come you met Uncle Joshy because of me?”

I knelt down in front of the precocious girl. “Well, at the same time Uncle Josh hurt his finger, I hurt my ankle, and we ended up sitting next to each other while we waited for the doctor to see us,” I began, simplifying the story. Josh and I went back and forth, telling a short, PG-version of our story for Vera but really for everyone within earshot.