The Stars That Tremble (12 page)

“That’s my other dad,” Emma said, pointing to the other man. “He died when I was little.”

That surprised Gio too. It hit him just how normal Emma treated that relationship, like it wasn’t at all unusual to have two dads, and her tone was so matter-of-fact it gave Gio pause. He realized with some alarm that he was basically moving into the space once occupied by someone who was now dead.

He followed her around and got a quick glimpse into each bedroom. Emma’s was an explosion of pink, bright but tasteful, exactly what Gio imagined a teenage girl’s room would look like. There was stuff everywhere—stacks of music books and CDs, stuffed animals, books, papers, all of it just sort of thrown around. Across the hall, Mike’s bedroom was far more sedate, the walls painted a rich red color and the bed neatly made and covered with a gold blanket. That bedroom looked pristine. Did Mike really keep his space that clean or had he tidied up to impress Gio? Either way, Gio was impressed.

“Food’s ready!” Mike called.

Dinner was pleasant. They sat around a small table that looked handcrafted instead of store-bought. Mike asked Emma about class, and they talked some about future auditions.

“I guess the big news for me,” Mike said, “is that my father is finally retiring and offered me his old client list.”

“In Brooklyn?” asked Emma.

“Yeah, but I thought maybe it’s time to expand. Promote Sandy to be in charge of the Brooklyn operation if he wants it, let him handle those projects. I’m starting to think it would be better for our friendship if he didn’t have to report to me every day.” Mike poked at his chicken with his fork. “I certainly don’t want to go to Brooklyn unless I have to.”

“I thought you weren’t close to your family,” Gio said. He ignored the odd look Emma shot him.

“I’m not,” said Mike, apparently not noticing that Gio had breached some sort of social barrier. If nothing else, it was now clear Gio and Mike had talked about things beyond just Emma’s voice. It made Gio a little self-conscious, but he shoved the feeling aside.

Mike continued, “I’m the only McPhee kid who went into the family business. That’s how I got my start in construction, by the way. My dad runs a construction company and has an office out near Coney Island. I worked for him when I was a teenager.” He looked down at his plate and sighed. “I’m not sure sometimes if he was more upset that I’m queer or that I got kicked out of the army, but I suppose it doesn’t matter if I’m the only one around to take over the business.”

“Aunt Becky and Uncle Steve don’t want it?” asked Emma.

“Nope. Becky—that’s my sister—she could not want anything less. And her husband has an office job. He doesn’t know anything about construction. Then there’s Patrick. He’s my brother. He’s got a whole other life in Chicago.”

Emma tilted her head. “Do you think this is a good thing?”

“Well, sure. It’s more income for us. Your grandpa’s business stays in the family. I’ve been trying to find Sandy something to do for a while.”

“Sandy works for you?” Gio asked. “I thought you were just old friends.”

“He needed a job.” Mike shrugged as if that were the only explanation needed.

Emma looked back and forth between them a couple of times.

As dinner wrapped up and Mike started gathering up plates, Emma’s phone rang. “It’s Izzy!” she announced before running off to her room. Mike laughed when the door slammed shut.

Gio helped him clean up. As they stacked dishes in the sink, Mike said, “Thanks for bringing her home. I know she can do it by herself, but I worry.”

“Of course. Thank you for dinner.”

“It was my pleasure.”

Gio noticed that, for the first time since he’d arrived that evening, he and Mike were in close proximity. They stood hip to hip at the sink. Maybe it wasn’t the sexiest place, but Mike was right there and Gio had been wanting to touch him all night.

It was sweet and casual at first, Gio reaching over to run his hand down Mike’s arm. Just touching him was nice. Gio wondered idly if it was possible to miss someone so much after so short a time as he moved his hand to Mike’s waist and Mike turned to face him.

“You think Emma will be on the phone for a while?” Gio asked.

“With Isobel? Yeah.”

They both leaned at the same time, their lips meeting in the middle, and it was such giddy relief to finally be kissing Mike. Gio opened his mouth and really tasted Mike, savored him, and he ran his hands up Mike’s arms, over his neck, and into his hair. He clutched at Mike, pulled him closer, so desperate to finally get
something
….

“Hey, Daddy, can I— Oh.”

Gio pulled away quickly, but the damage was done. Emma stood in the kitchen doorway, staring at them. Then her face relaxed and something like triumph came over it, although he didn’t think she looked pleased.

“I knew it!” she said. “I knew something was going on!”

Mike bit his lip and gave Gio a sidelong glance. “Um, so….” He shook his head. “Em, it’s not—”

“You should have said something,” Emma said.

Gio couldn’t figure out if she was happy or panicking or upset or what. Her face was now completely inscrutable.

Mike said, “Sweetie, I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure that—”

“I can’t believe— This is— No, I can’t deal with this.” Emma turned on her heel and stalked back to her room. The door slammed again.

“I should go,” Gio said.

“No,” said Mike in a way Gio knew really meant yes. He grunted. “I don’t want you to go, but maybe that is for the best.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble between you and Emma.”

“It takes two.” Mike frowned. “Uh, let me walk you out.”

Gio grabbed his bag on the way to the door. When Mike opened the door, Gio leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Mike. For dinner and… everything.”

“Yeah. I, ah, guess this just became a real thing.”

“How do you mean?”

Mike leaned on the door. “I was enjoying the time we were spending together getting to know each other without having to deal with the real world closing in on us. Because, you know, we don’t have a lot in common, but I really like you, Gio. I’d like to keep seeing you. But I guess now I have to work this out with Emma. It’s not a secret anymore. The stakes just changed.”

“I’d say we should put things on hold, but look how well that worked last time.”

Mike chuckled. “Go ahead and say we should put things on hold. Maybe then I’ll get to sleep with you again.”

Gio leaned toward Mike. “Maybe we should put things on hold. Especially this Sunday.”

“What’s this Sunday?”

“My next day off.”

Mike put his hand on the side of Gio’s face and stroked his cheek gently. Then he leaned forward and kissed Gio. “I won’t see you Sunday, then. Especially not at your apartment. Definitely not at two in the afternoon.”

“I really think that’s for the best.”

Gio kissed Mike. He meant it to be a quick peck, but he got stuck there, licking into Mike’s mouth and really tasting him. Mike was such a wonderful kisser; just standing there with him was bliss. Then he heard a door close down the hall and became conscious of the fact that they were standing in the doorway of Mike’s apartment, where anyone could see them.

“I’m really going now,” Gio said. “I definitely won’t see you on Sunday.”

“Nope, not me. I won’t be anywhere near your apartment on Sunday.”

Gio pulled himself away with a substantial amount of effort. “Night, Mike.”

“Good night.”

A
FTER
Gio left, Mike walked to Emma’s room. He knocked on the door. “Em, we need to talk.”

“Did Mr. Boca leave?”

“He just did, yes.”

She grumbled. He heard fabric shifting. Then she said, “All right. Come
in.”

Emma was sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest.

This was a new frontier in parenting. The only boyfriend Emma had ever met was the guy Mike had been dating when Emma was six. That guy hadn’t lasted and Emma didn’t seem to remember him, plus at the time, the only real explanation required was, “This is Daddy’s special friend.” But fourteen-year-old Emma was more savvy, understood about relationships, probably thought about sex.

Oh, dear Lord.

She’d also practically pushed Mike at Gio. He only partly understood where her reaction had come from, but why she was so upset was a little bit of a mystery. Mike sat carefully at the foot of her bed and took a deep breath.

“Okay, before we get into this,” he said, “I just want to say that I am a grown man capable of making my own decisions, and at the end of the day, you don’t get a say in what I do with my personal life. Understood?”

Emma nodded.

“Good. Now, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about Gio. I probably should have.”

She still hugged her knees to her chest, but she sat up a little straighter. “How long?”

“Not very. We were going to wait until the workshop was over, but then we went out two weeks ago.”

“When I stayed at Isobel’s.”

“Yeah.” He took another deep breath. “So, okay, now you know. Gio and I are dating. I don’t know if it’s serious yet, in case that’s your next question. I do know that I like him. I thought you did too.”

“I do,” she said. “It was just… weird. To see you together, I mean.” She dropped her arms and relaxed her posture a little. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, since you and Mr. Boca kept chatting whenever you came to pick me up. And I thought, yeah, how cool would it be if you dated him? Because I like him a lot and I thought he was gay too. But actually seeing it?”

“It’s weird. I get it.”

“I want you to be happy, Daddy. I do. It was really strange to see you kissing him, though.”

Mike thought about the situation for a moment. “I know it’s been just you and me for a long time. We make a good team, the two of us.” Mike had told himself for years that Emma was all he needed, but that wasn’t true. He still missed Evan some days, but more than that, he missed what they’d had. He missed having a companion, he’d missed the intimacy. “You know, all this talk of you going to college, and I keep thinking, ‘I’ll be here all alone.’ I know that’s a long way off, and you
are
going to college, but I’m not looking forward to the empty nest.”

“I’m not leaving yet.”

“I know. But… I like having you around. And it’s not going to be just us forever. You’ll grow up and make a life of your own.” Mike sighed, trying to piece together his thoughts without having much luck. He wanted this to be okay, but her body language indicated to him that it wasn’t. “I mean, it’s weird, right, because he’s your teacher?”

“Not for much longer.”

“Still.”

Emma unfolded herself and moved to sit next to Mike. She laid her head on his shoulder. “Yeah. What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“What if you break up and hate each other? Mr. Boca promised to help me with my audition for the Olcott Young Musicians Program, which I have to get into, Daddy, I have to. He knows a bunch of the faculty at Juilliard too. Everyone respects him. This is my ticket in.”

Mike hadn’t gotten much past thinking of the immediate problem of Gio leading Emma’s workshop. He really had thought that once the workshop ended, he and Gio would be in the clear to see each other. But maybe they wouldn’t.

And yet Mike didn’t want to stop seeing Gio. “Em, I really don’t think—”

“I thought it was cute that you seemed to like each other, but the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a bad idea. And I know you’re a grown man or whatever, but this is my future we’re talking about.”

“I know, sweetie.” Although it was Mike’s future too.

M
IKE
definitely didn’t go to Gio’s apartment Sunday afternoon and they definitely didn’t have scorching hot sex, and so he definitely was not spooned up behind Gio, sleepy and sated in Gio’s bed.

Well, except he totally did do all of those things.

“What did you tell Emma?” Gio asked.

Mike felt a pang of guilt for sneaking around, but he also felt like he needed to pursue this a little more before pushing the issue with Emma. “She and her friends went to see some pop singer who is giving a free concert in Central Park today, so I didn’t really say anything. Just that I had to run a few errands, so I might not be home when she gets back.”

Gio chuckled. “She’s seeing a pop concert? That may derail my teachings.”

“I don’t know about that. She’ll probably inform me tonight that her friends have terrible taste in music and that this singer is just so
pedestrian
.” Mike sighed. “I do not know how I raised this girl sometimes. When I was her age, I was sneaking off to rock concerts. Sandy’s older brother used to buy us beer. Not that I think that’s what she should be doing, just I can’t believe sometimes that she is my daughter.”

“You’re a good father.”

“Thank you.” Mike was glad Gio couldn’t see his face, because he was certain he was blushing.

Gio slid his hand over Mike’s arm. “When I was her age, I worked as a stagehand at a theater in Florence and took voice lessons with
il primo uomo
. He was the anchor of an opera company that operated out of the theater.” Gio laughed. “I had such a crush on him. He was this bearish older man, maybe in his thirties at the time, with a full beard and everything. He had a voice that could break glass.”