Disasterology 101 (47 page)

They played video games, and watched some TV, then Kevin took a shower, and went to bed the moment the kids fell asleep.

No thinking. No analyzing. No making decisions. He just wanted a good night’s sleep before his Sunday afternoon encore.

Now that he’d told his kids, he needed to tell his parents, and he expected disbelief and hysterics. His mother would faint. His father would disown him, and his brothers would probably try to beat the gay out of him. And that was nothing compared to what he thought would happen when he told the most conservative members of the Morrison family.

So yeah, a good night’s sleep was definitely in order, because he wanted to be cool and composed when he broke the news.

Still, Kevin wasn’t surprised to be anything but calm by the time he pulled up in front of his parents’ house. A quivering mass of nerves had nothing on him.

He greeted aunts, uncles, and several cousins. He talked briefly with his brothers, and mentally practiced his words one more time before approaching his mom. Then all of a sudden he started questioning his decision. Should he go ahead and get this thing out of the way, or would it be better to hold off on his coming out spree until he’d had a chance to talk to his parents alone?

But that was something he would never know, because Ava took the option out of his hands when she opened her mouth, and delivered the news with all the subtlety a not quite four-year-old could muster.

“Daddy’s gay,” she announced as she took a corndog from her grandpa’s hand. “You can’t really tell, cuz he isn’t purple like Barney, but he’s got a boyfriend.”

Out of the mouth of babes.

As he had expected, there was rampant disbelief for a few hours but, to his total surprise, no hysterics. His dad was quiet, and his mother wanted to know if that was the reason why he got a divorce. His brothers were skeptical. John asked him how he could even consider “doing the nasty with another fella”, and Ben muttered something that sounded like “of all the things for that busybody to be right about”, but the reactions were mostly superficial, as if they really didn’t comprehend that Kevin was, in fact, a homosexual. As if it had yet to sink in.

He figured it would take some time, but he felt confident they’d never disown him. There were the usual kisses and pats on his back by the time some of his family members said goodbye, and that’s when Kevin really knew that even if they didn’t understand this “sudden change”, they got that it wasn’t a whim, or something he could have changed.

And they had his back.

Kevin couldn’t have asked for more.

Sadly, their neighbors and clients of his father’s house repairs company were not as supportive as his family, and that same afternoon Kevin started suffering the consequences of coming out as a “disgusting fag”.

That’s how Mr. Smith had referred to Kevin when he called his father to tell him not to bother with the roof job they’d been scheduled to do. He didn’t want depravity in his house. He’d find somebody else.

Kevin didn’t know which member of his immediate family let the cat out of the bag. He didn’t know how they managed to do it so quickly or why they would say anything at all, but when Mrs. Howard showed up around five o’clock, it became painfully obvious that someone had.

Kevin took a gulp of his coffee, and glanced at his watch. He drummed his fingers against the backyard fence, took deep breaths, and did everything in his power to not let John and Ben’s pacing get on his nerves.

There was no reason for him to continue to monitor the conversation taking place between his father and one of their lifelong clients on the sidewalk. Considering Mrs. Howard had come to his parent’s house to discuss the work they’d been contracted to do in her guest bedroom, it was safe to say he already knew the outcome.

Still Kevin spat out a curse when his father started toward them, his shoulders hunched forward, and his wrinkled face grim.

“What did she say?” Ben asked as soon as their father came into hearing distance. “And how the hell did she find out about Kevin?”

Their father shook his head and patted Kevin on the shoulder, but he didn’t make eye contact. No surprise there. He might not have turned his back on Kevin, and thank God for that, but he was still trying to come to terms with the fact that his youngest son had “turned gay after being married to a woman, and having three kids.”

That kind of shit didn’t happen in Benjamin Morrison Sr.’s world and, apparently, looking at Kevin directly made it all too much harder to comprehend, so he’d been avoiding it. But as long as he kept patting his back, and rubbing his shoulder, Kevin could deal with the rest.

“Shit,” John grunted, kicking some bushes in their parent’s backyard. “That’s the fourth client who’s cancelled in two days.” He lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “We won’t be able to make payroll this week if the clients keep dropping like flies.”

“Well, she didn’t exactly cancel the job,” Dad said, mirroring John’s gesture and rubbing the back of his neck.

“She didn’t?” Ben glanced at Mrs. Howard before approaching their dad. The unadulterated hope in his tone was like salt on Kevin’s wounds. “We can still do the renovations in her guest room?”

His father’s only response was a deep sigh.

“Four?” Kevin asked with a frown. “We’ve had four jobs cancelled?”

“I’ve been getting phone calls since Friday night,” his dad confirmed.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Kevin growled. “Nobody knew back—” He snapped his mouth shut. “Fuck.”

“What?” Ben asked.

“Mrs. Grannun,” Kevin snarled, gloom and sorrow swirling in his brain like a red fog. “I think she saw me kissing Cedric in the driveway.”

“Ugh,” John complained. “No talking about kissing another dude,
please
.”

“That busybody saw you all right,” Ben said, “and told everybody in town.”

“So why is Mrs. Howard still waiting on the sidewalk? Are we going to do her job or not?” John asked impatiently. He’d never been one to wait around.

Kevin closed the lid on the coffee he’d been drinking, and placed the cup on top of the fence. “Out with it, Dad,” he said softly. “No reason to drag this shit out.”

“Well… we could still do it.” His father scratched his jaw tiredly, and that’s when Kevin noticed how old he looked. How tired, and even a little frail. “She says we’ve known each other too long, and as a favor to me and in deference to her friendship with your mother, the three of us can still do the job.”

“Well, that’s good, right?” John asked.

“Three of us can do it?” Kevin repeated, and for the first time in hours his dad looked at him straight in the eye.

“Me, Ben, and John,” his father finished after a few seconds that were charged with resignation, and defeat. “But you’re not allowed inside her house.”

“Godammit.” John kicked the fence again. “That’s so fucked up.”

“No, it is good,” Ben said with an apologetic smile on his face. “I’m sorry, bro. I know it sucks, but this is my bread and butter we’re talking about. I have a family to support.”

It more than sucked.

Kevin had been completely pushed out of the closet, and he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about it.

Whereas he’d had no intention of hiding his homosexuality from anybody, he hadn’t planned on letting the entirety of his town’s population in on his situation just yet. He’d wanted to get comfortable with his new status. Do things gradually. Make sure his kids were truly okay with everything before he had to face whatever fucked up attitude people decided to throw at him.

Not happening.

Butchered plans and all that, and now he had a potential disaster in his hands.

So what’s going to be, Kev?
he asked himself.
Part ways with everything and everybody you’ve known up ‘til today, or stick around people you barely communicate with anymore, and risk your family’s livelihood in the process?

He wasn’t surprised when it only took him two seconds to decide.

“Go for it, Dad,” he said, staring at the sweet old lady who’d been feeding him cookies since he was a kid, and trying to put a lid on the bitter indignation growing inside his chest. “I still have my part-time job, plus I’ll have my blueprints certificate in a couple of weeks, and then I’ll apply for that full-time job with Greenbriar.”

“What if you don’t get it?” his father asked.

“The application is just a formality.” And thank goodness for that. “There’s another project starting in January, and my foreman already told me he wants me in his crew.”

“Well, that’s good.” His father patted him on the back again, and Kevin could’ve cried at the relief he saw in his blue eyes. “You know I wanted you with me, and wasn’t too keen on you leaving the family business to go work for the big boys but… now that… well… clients are being hardheaded and…you know what I mean, right?”

“I know, Dad.” Kevin glanced away from Mrs. Howard, and forced himself to smile. “It’s all good.”

“Are you sure?” his brothers asked at the same time.

Come January he’d be okay. He’d work decent hours, and he’d still be able to make enough money to cover all his bills.

“Yeah.” Kevin circled his brothers’ shoulders with his arms, and kissed them both on the cheek. “I’m good.”

Even if he didn’t know what the fuck he was going to do in order to make ends meet for the next two months.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The Kevin who turned up at Cedric’s door Sunday night was not the affectionate, mostly talkative chap he’d been seeing for almost two months.

The first difference was his appearance.

Although he was the jeans and t-shirt type, and carried one stone of dust with him wherever he went more often than not, somehow he always managed to look well put together. T-shirt tucked in, nice belt in place, face clean shaven.

But tonight his hair stood up in every way possible, as if he’d been running his fingers through it non-stop for the past few days. The dark blue eyes that never failed to convey optimism and determination were sunken and shadowy, making him look wrung out, and if he ground his teeth any harder he would break his jaw.

The second difference, and most troubling in Cedric’s opinion, was his behavior.

He looked decimated… maybe even a bit lost.

He didn’t pull Cedric into his arms for a kiss and a hug. He didn’t even say hello. He just side-stepped Cedric, and headed toward the kitchen with the speed of a man who was carrying the world on his shoulders.

Or maybe it was that Ava weighed more than she looked.

Cedric closed the front door slowly, then rested his forehead against it and counted to thirty. It didn’t help. It was a bit difficult to relax when he could clearly hear the commentary behind him.

“Holy shit, this place is ridiculous.”

“Don’t say that word, TK. Mom’s going to kill you.”

“Not if you don’t tell her I said it. Check out those windows. You can see the entire city from up here.”

“That’s a beautiful piano… Do you play?”

The discordant notes played by Brianna on the usually spotless keyboard sounded like an explosion in Cedric’s head.

Bloody hell.

“Man, this is so frigging awesome. You’ve got a mansion up in the sky.”

“Cedric? Can you play the piano?”

“Yes, I can.” Cedric gulped, turned around, and approached the kids. “My mum started me on piano lessons when I was eight.” His heart rate was getting faster, and his fingers were tingling. He blinked repeatedly, and buried his hands in the pockets of his sweats. “Come on, love. Let’s join your dad and sister in the kitchen.”

“Is that a pool?” TK asked, his nose and forehead pressed to a window. “On the
roof
?”

“Yes, it is.” Cedric felt a cold chill run through his body. His throat closed up when he noticed the smudges on the window, but he fought the need to go get the cleaning supplies. It could wait. It would have to wait. “Come on,” he repeated, his voice smaller. Shaky. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”