Life in Fusion (19 page)

seemed like the right time.”

“What about all of your…” I glanced around the room, “…

stuff?”

“Hell, we’ll sell it,” Rocky said.

“Or you two could take it for your new home together!” Dixie

said excitedly.

Now Wade sat up on the edge of the sofa. “Wow…um…well

that’s really generous of you…but.”

“The desert motif doesn’t actually fit in well with the snow

covered mountains, Mom.” I held back a smile at hearing Wade

exhale in relief. “But thank you for the offer.”

“That’s true,” Wade nodded, doing his best to hide his

joy. “Besides, you should take the money from selling your…

collection, and treat yourselves to something extravagant.”

I gasped, reaching over and grabbing Wade’s knee. “And just

think, honey. They can pull the RV right up to your house when

they visit for Christmas!”

“Plug it right on it!” Dixie squealed. “Instant! Square!

Footage!”

Wade popped another penguin into his mouth, nodding as if

he were too excited for words.

I leaned over and kissed his cheek and gave him a big squeeze.

“I’m picturing all the beautiful holiday memories we’ll be creating

already—aren’t you, sugar bear?”

“Mmm hmm.” Wade smiled, squeezing me back as he

continued to chew.

“Well ain’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen?”

Dixie said, her eyes welling up.

Life in fusion
131

“Don’t go getting all mushy, woman.” Rocky stopped rocking

and grabbed Dixie’s wrist as she got up out of her chair. He

yanked her over, pulled her into his lap, and she squealed again.

“Last thing we need is for you to spend the next hour fixin’ your

make-up.”

“Well you don’t have to announce it like that.” She turned to

Wade. “I don’t know if Boone happened to mention it, but I was

the reigning Ms. Texas at one time.” She turned back and shot

her husband a dirty look. “So it wouldn’t actually require that

long to fix
my
face.”

“Ah, but it’s a nice face.” Rocky tickled her and she screamed

as he growled like a beast, pretending to rip into her throat with

his teeth.

I started to laugh as Wade stared at them, wide eyed, obviously

wondering what the fuck he’d gotten himself into. I knew I was

supposed to be embarrassed by them, but I wasn’t really, at least

nothing beyond skin deep. On some sick and twisted level, I’d

always found them to be adorable…despite being the train wreck

I knew they were.

They were happy. And there was something to be said about

the fact they had lived their lives not pretending to be anything

other than who they were. I’d never realized how important of a

role model they’d been until coming to grips with the fact that I

was gay. I was very lucky to have them and I knew it.

Wade had started to grin at them as they finally began to settle

back down. He absentmindedly shoved another penguin into his

mouth and I leaned into him, happy to see his instincts kick in as

his arm went around my shoulder. We settled back into the sofa

and I whistled, getting my parents’ attention.

“Will you two stop acting like teenagers in heat?”

“Goodness me, woman, we’ve humiliated our son again!”

“He can get the hell over it,” Dixie said with a snort. “I’m

more worried why they aren’t acting like teenagers in heat.”

I pointed at my neck after catching my mother’s attention.

“You’re hickeys showing, Momma.”

132 Ethan Day

Wade let out a loud rolling laugh as he looked between myself

and my parents. I knew he was half embarrassed I’d mentioned

it, but had been unable to keep himself from losing it.

Her hands shot up to her scarf and I knew she was blushing,

despite not being able to witness the evidence, due to the pounds

of make-up.

She pinched my father, who was belly laughing. “Dirty ass

man.”

“You weren’t complaining last night when I…”

“Okay,” I said, cutting my father off as Wade started to

lean closer to me. “Let’s try a new game called, we don’t share

everything
.”

“Oh hell, monkey,” Dixie said climbing off my father’s lap.

“He’s family now. We need to treat him that way.”

She winked at Wade, who nodded a thank you in her direction.

“And I do believe I’m owed one photographic trip down

memory lane,” Wade said, getting all serious.

“We can do that some other time,” I said, shooting my mother

a death by homo look should she so much as dare.

“What little we’ve managed to salvage, you mean,” Rocky

said, casting an equally nasty expression back at me.

Wade’s eyes widened as he turned to me. “You promised to

provide evidence of these so called awkward years.” He glanced

back to my parents. “I find it difficult to believe, despite his

insistence, that he was once geeky.”

Dixie burst out laughing, then sat on the arm of my father’s

chair. “He has such a complex about that. I swear I have no clue

where that comes from.”

My mouth fell open. “Hello…from you, is where it came.”

“Why do children always blame their mothers?” she asked as

if completely shocked by the accusation.

“You called me
monkey
so often, I thought it was my name!”

Wade was staring at me, trying to hold back his amusement.

Life in fusion
133

“A silly, totally innocent pet name,” Dixie said. “He had these

long, skinny legs and arms and I thought he was so cute…like a

little monkey.”

I placed my hand on Wade’s knee. “My first words were,

Monkey want juice
!”

Rocky was full-on laughing, while nodding his head and

pointing at me, like I was right.

Wade was attempting to hold back his laughter as he cocked his

head to the side. I rolled my eyes at him, knowing he desperately

wanted to tease me.

“The worst part was the betrayal of having my own mother

responsible for tagging me with the nickname, Ba-Boone.”

“It’s not my fault!” Dixie squealed, trying to defend herself.

“A name which stayed with me all through elementary and

most of high school, mind you.”

She folded her arms, defiantly. “I never once called you that.”

“Well sure, it only took what, five minutes, before a none-

too-clever first grader turned Monkey into Ba-Boone?”

“So wait…” Wade wiped his eyes which were now watering.

“Are there pictures or not?”

“I got up one night to find that one,” Rocky pointed at me,

“standing in front of the fireplace burning all his baby pictures.”

Wade smacked me in the arm. “You didn’t!”

“I was fit to be tied,” Dixie said. “Can’t ever remember being

so angry with him.”

“How old were you?”

“He was twenty-four!” Rocky said. “Snuck back home in the

middle of the night like a cat burglar and set fire to all of them.”

“That’s really awful,” Wade said, shaking his head at me.

I folded my arms and settled back into the sofa, making sure

they all knew I wasn’t the least bit sorry.

“I’ve found a few since then, though.” Dixie winked at Wade.

134 Ethan Day

“I’ll show them to you some time when he isn’t around. He’s

sneaky that one—I don’t want him to know where I’ve hidden

them.”

“I’d like that,” Wade said, smirking as if he’d beat me at some

game I wasn’t aware we’d been playing.

“Get up off your butt Rocky and go fire up that grill,” Dixie

ordered, getting up off the arm of the chair. “Let’s cook up the

burger-dogs.”

“I’m gonna need another beer then,” Rocky announced, like

it was condition of his surrender into doing her bidding.

I squeezed Wade’s leg and got up as well.

Wade followed my lead. “Anything I can do to help?”

“You can tell him all about that Olympic stuff,” Dixie said

thumbing toward Rocky, who got up out of his lounger. “He’s

been like a little kid all excited to meet a real life Olympian.”

“Geez-us Dixie!” Rocky slapped his leg. “Now the poor boy’s

gonna think I’m one of them stalkers.”

I laughed, realizing my father had no clue what being a stalker

actually meant.

“We’re family now, right?” Wade shrugged. “So we’re

supposed to tell each other everything.”

“Christ, he’s been drinkin’ the Kool-aid,” I muttered.

My mother smiled before walking over and giving Wade a

big hug. “You young man, are like Christmas and my birthday all

rolled into one.”

Wade was grinning and looking very cheesy when she let

loose of him.

“Sweet,
sweet
man,” Dixie added as a condemnation of my

snark.

“That, and he adores talking about himself,” I added. “Huge

ass ego on this one.”

“Then he’ll fit right in,” Rocky said as Dixie reached over and

pinched the hell out of my other arm.

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135

“Ouch!” I frowned, rubbing my arm.
At least both sides will

match, now
.

“Serves you right,” Wade said, all but sticking out his tongue

at me before leaning over and kissing my arm where my mother

pinched me. “He’s been jealous ever since he found out I have a

sandwich named after me.”

“Wow!” Rocky said, staring at Wade as if he’d just been

handed the Nobel Peace Prize. “That’s impressive.”

“Yes, yes,” I said as my parents started walking toward the

kitchen. “You now have a son in law you can
really
brag about.”

“Oh my,” Dixie said, looking at Rocky. “I hadn’t even thought

of that.”

Rocky tossed his arm over her shoulder. “Me either.”

“Let’s hope the house doesn’t sell too quickly,” she said. “I

can hardly wait to rub a few people’s noses in it.”

I laughed as they disappeared into the kitchen tossing out the

names of their lifelong friends who constantly bragged about

their children and grandchildren. Wade came up behind me and

wrapped his arms around me.

“They’re…” He trailed off as if searching for just the right

word.

“Certifiable—coo coo for cocoa puffs—sick-n-twisty?”

“Sweet.” Wade kissed me on the cheek. “I love them, and I

love you.”

“You don’t have to lie, sweetie.” I sighed. “They’re a lot to

take.”

“That’s true,” Wade chuckled. “But they accepted me with

open arms and without condition. And I love that they’re like

you. They don’t hold anything back.”

“I can’t believe my parents are going to be mobile.” I felt a

teeny pang of guilt thinking I was holding back the nagging fears

I had. “You realize they’ll be able to drop in at a moment’s notice.

We may never have any peace.”

136 Ethan Day

“Like peace is possible with you in a room?”

I gasped, shocked for about two seconds, before realizing he

was right.

“I’m afraid to ask but I feel like I must,” Wade said, swaying

back forth, rocking me.

“Okay?”
Here it comes, the something awful I’ve been expecting. The

other shoe. The jig that’s now up.

“What the hell is a burger dog?”

I grinned, turning around in his arms so I could face him. I

could tell my Mr. Anal-eater, no pun intended there, was fretting

as to what the hell he was about to put into his body. “It’s just

seasoned hamburger they roll up into the shape of a hot dog.”

Wade shook his head, obviously confused, and I gave him a

quick peck.

“Why?” he asked.

“So they’ll fit on a hot dog bun, silly.”

Wade laughed under his breath. “Well that explains it.”

“I would certainly hope so,” I added, knowing he was being

sarcastic.

He stared into my eyes for a moment, trying, I assumed, to

decide whether or not to push for more or let it go. He settled

for another kiss.

“Aww, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”

We both smiled hearing my mother, but I could tell Wade was

the slightest bit uncomfortable because he pulled away. It was

nice to see him vulnerable and unsure of himself. It was usually

the other way around, and the tiny crack in his armor made him

even sexier.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew it was Wade’s unwavering belief

that we were meant to be that was powering this relationship.

Not that I didn’t want it…us…
him
. It was his conviction that had

a way of quelling all of my own fears, most of the time. But it

was nice to see him slightly off kilter, making me feel as though

Life in fusion
137

I could be there for him once in a while as well.

It was like he was on a constant state of alert, as if keeping

watch for anything off in the distance that might be headed our

way. He didn’t want anything to derail us on our path. I felt bad

for him, as I was well aware he was doing most of the heavy

lifting.

Dixie suddenly snapped out of her trance and started shoving

Rocky toward the sliding patio doors. “Go fire up that grill, you

hear me?”

“Yes Momma.” Rocky said back at her, while making a whip

cracking sound as he spun around on his heel.