Page 35 of Soft Rebound (Mad City Moments #2)
Joe
I run home for a change of clothes, then stop by the grocery store to grab some food and alcohol because this is shaping to be a long, boozy afternoon. Trey and Bobby have already arrived by the time I get back.
Bobby and Liz are in the guest room, where Bobby sometimes stays. They’ve closed the door and are currently arguing. It’s loud enough to hear that they’re yelling, but not loud enough to discern what they’re saying.
Trey looks a bit worried, but also disheveled in a way I never see him. He’s always so put together at work. Now he appears debauched, and I pat him on the back. “Looks like it’s going well with Bobby, huh?”
“You have no idea,” Trey says. “I’m actually terrified.”
“Why? Isn’t that a good thing?”
“I don’t know. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Why would it drop?”
“They always do.”
“I don’t think they do,” I say. “My folks have been happily married for decades.”
“Then your dad got sick,” Trey says.
“Yeah, but that’s just life. It happens.”
“And my sister’s husband died,” he says.
“I mean, he was in the military. That was the risk. It’s not like they broke up.”
“But I know how she felt when he died,” Trey says. “Falling in love and then losing that person. It’s fucking terrifying.”
“It is.”
“And even you,” he says. “You’ve been sleepwalking for years.
All sullen at the office, doing nothing but work.
When I met you, I never even knew you hadn’t always been the walking dead,” Trey says.
“Only now when you’re with Liz do I realize how you are when you’re not depressed.
That’s fucked up, man. Your whole personality was different.
I don’t want my personality to change if Bobby decides to dump me. ”
“I don’t think he will,” I say. “But even if he does, I don’t think you will react like I did. I was married for a long time. And my ex, Kim... It turned out she deceived me about something important. It’s the deception that I couldn’t recover from.”
Trey watches me intently. I never talk about Kim so I know he’s curious for more but doesn’t probe. Doesn’t push.
“Bobby will need you now,” I say. “He will be out. He might lose his family. You can’t freak out on him now.”
“God, I’ve never been this serious with someone,” Trey says. “I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.”
“But you like him?”
He nods. “So much I don’t know what to do with myself,” he says. “But I didn’t think we would be moving in together just yet.”
“You probably don’t have to,” I say. “He’s got Liz. And maybe the fallout won’t be too bad.”
Trey’s gray eyes are stormy, filled with anguish. “It will be bad,” he says. “Really bad. It will blow over, but it will be bad. I remember coming out to my parents. I thought they’d kick me out.”
“Bobby is a grown man,” I say. “He has a trade and work experience. He’ll be okay.”
“God, my stomach is in knots—”
Liz and Bobby burst out of the room, both red in the face. Bobby can’t stop running his hands through his hair.
“What happened?” I ask.
Liz speaks first. “I suggested that he text Mom and Dad and Mickey and then tell them he will talk to them on the phone.”
“So? How did it go?”
“He did. Told them he’s gay and that he’s seeing someone here and that it’s serious.”
Trey swallows hard. I swear his normally glowing brown skin turns pallid and clammy.
“So what did they say?” I ask.
“See for yourself.” Bobby offers me his phone, where a group chat is displayed.
Bobby: Hi everyone
I have something important to tell you
Lizzie says to give you a heads-up over text so have time to digest
I’m gay
There’s someone I’ve been seeing for a few months now in Madison
His name is Trey and he’s pretty amazing
Other than that I’m the same Bobby you’ve always known
Mickey: No worries
I knew you were seeing someone in Wisconsin
No way you were heading that way every weekend to see Lizzie
I also suspected the gay thing
Doesn’t change anything for me
Bobby: Thanks man
I appreciate the support
Mom, Dad?
Dad: What do you want us to say?
This is not how we raised you
Bobby: There’s nothing wrong with how you raised me
This is just who I am
Mom?
Dad: She is too upset about this
Mom: It’s all Lizzie’s fault
Ever since she moved away from home she has lost her way
Bobby: Lizzie’s moving to Wisconsin didn’t make me gay
Mom, you know this
Mom: She’s lost her way, rejecting the nice boy she was engaged to
And now you’re running around with men
You are both going to hell
What is everyone at the church going to say?
Dad: How are the boys at the shop going to react?
Mickey: Nobody is going to hell
I will talk to Mom and Dad tonight
Maybe everyone chill now
And maybe we can talk on the phone tomorrow
Bobby: I am the same person I’ve always been
Lizzie: And Bobby’s boyfriend Trey is amazing
Mickey: Let’s all talk tomorrow when the dust has settled a bit
Bobby: Okay
I love you all
“Shit,” I say.
“Yeah,” Liz says, rubbing Bobby’s shoulder. “They’ll come around, Bobby. Give them time.”
“At least Mickey seems completely on board,” Trey says. “My sister was, too, when I first came out.”
“I’m so sorry, Bobby,” Liz says. “So sorry that Jake forced your hand like this.”
“I probably deserve it. I’m the one they got your address from.” He shakes his head. “I still can’t believe Mom went through the GPS locations in my truck. I would never expect her to do that in a million years.”
“I’m a little proud of her tech savvy, to be honest,” Liz says.
“I’m a little amazed she even thought of it,” I say. “It would never occur to me to do that.”
“They didn’t know where you were before the GPS thing?” Trey asks.
“No. I just picked up and left after my fiancé dumped me. Decided to start fresh. I’m still starting, though. Needed a little space to do so.”
“So this guy decided to find you after months away, and your mom decided that he should?” Trey asks
Liz nods. “She’d tell you she wants the best for all of us.”
Trey shakes his head. “Parents need to not fucking meddle. No matter how well they mean, they need to not meddle.”
I look at Liz, who seems completely focused on Bobby.
“I’m so sorry, Bobby,” she repeats as she rubs his back.
“It’s fine,” says Bobby, but he’s looking at his feet. “You didn’t do anything. I... I just don’t know what to do now.”
“Now,” I say as I get up from the sofa, “we eat and then we get wasted. I didn’t go to the grocery store on my way for nothing.” I march over to the fridge and pull out one of the six-packs.
Bobby smiles and Liz beams at me. I was hoping I’d have a whole day to spend with her naked, but this is nice, too.
I let Bobby and Trey help themselves to the beers, then grab two for me and Liz and set them on the coffee table.
I sit in the middle of the sofa, next to Trey, and pat the empty seat on my other side as I look at Liz.
She giggles and hops off the bar stool, where she’d been sitting to console Bobby.
She plasters herself to my side, kissing my cheek and gently stroking the other one.
I wrap her tight in my arms, and a feeling of warmth, of contentment, blooms in my chest.
“You two are stinking adorable,” says Bobby, still sitting on the bar stool and taking a swig from his bottle.
“Don’t be jealous, baby,” Trey coos. “Liz doesn’t have much furniture in the living room for all of us to cuddle. You and I can sit on the floor, though.”
“In my defense,” Liz says, “the furniture came with the apartment. I don’t think the woman I’m subletting it from cared much to entertain. Or cuddle.”
We all laugh, and it lightens the mood some.
Bobby’s still nervous and keeps checking his phone.
“You can talk to them tomorrow,” Liz says. “Give them some time to calm down.”
“What if I don’t have a job anymore? If Dad doesn’t want me back at the shop?”
“You’re a grown man who can fix cars,” I say. “You can do that anywhere. Your sister lives here, Trey lives here. Heck, I live here. You can stay with any of us and find work fixing Wisconsin cars instead of Minnesota’s.”
For some reason, my words seem to break through, because Bobby finally smiles. It’s a wide, genuine smile, just like Liz’s.
“You’re right,” Bobby says. “Mom and Dad don’t actually have power over me. I know, it’s such a stupid thing to say, so obvious ... but it’s not easy to have it sink in, I guess.”
Trey leaps off the sofa and hugs Bobby sideways, around the shoulders. “It’s gonna be okay, Bobby. It’s gonna be okay.”
Bobby closes his eyes and squeezes Trey’s bicep.
We are all quiet for a few moments, and then Liz’s other phone suddenly buzzes. There’s a quizzical look on her face.
As she reads the message, her eyes go wide, then her mouth.
“Good news?” I ask.
“It’s my boss. From Qpik,” she says. “The woman I was covering for, the one who’s supposed to come back from maternity leave, just quit. The job is mine if I want it.”
“Baby, that’s amazing! You did such a great job, they’ve been itching to keep you. Congratulations!” I open my arms and she kneels between my thighs, wrapping her arms around me.
“Lizzie’s a rockstar accountant,” Bobby says. “Always been.”
Liz sits down on the floor, between my knees. I stroke her hair and her shoulders, and she rubs her hand up and down my calf. Bobby and Trey look at the two of us with a bit of amused curiosity.
“Yeah. I’m glad accounting pays well and I’m good at it,” she says. “But I think I might want to go back to school. Once I’ve saved some more money, that is.”
“Oh? What would you do?” Trey asks.
“I’d like to teach,” she says. “Probably high-school math.”
“I think you’d be a great teacher,” I say.
Bobby’s forehead scrunches. “How come I never knew that’s what you wanted?” he asks.
“Probably the same way I didn’t know you were gay,” she says. “We weren’t as close as we thought we were. But we’re adults now and we can have whatever relationship we want.”
I’m sitting behind her so I can’t see her face, but I think she’s smiling at Bobby because he’s smiling back.