“No need. I’ll walk.” He felt compelled to open the door. There might be a cadre of chopped up college bodies in a freezer or something.
“What are you looking for back there?” Walker’s voice became fainter.
“Nothing.” Cameron turned the doorknob. The door squeaked open. He was hit by bright sky blue walls. His eyes went straight to the racecar bed in the corner and a chest of toys by the window.
Hobiewas spelled out in block letters on the wall.
“Are you looking for something?”
Cameron jumped and knocked his foot into a Lego building of a castle. His ankle took a chunk out of a tower. Pieces spewed across the carpet.
“Shit!”
“What are you doing?” Walker ran over to pick up the literal pieces of this mess.
“Who’s room is this?”
“My son’s.”
Cameron’s throat immediately shut down for business. He steadied himself against the doorframe. Walker, who he got drunk in a bar and naked with, had a son, a young son by the looks of this room.
“Please tell me you’re divorced.”
“I am,” Walker said somewhat dejectedly. Cameron realized how cold the question sounded once it turned out to be true.
“I’m sorry.”
Walker shrugged it off.
“About the Legos, too.”
Cameron watched him corral the last of the pieces into a pile by what remained of the castle. He was thrown through the ultimate loop, but he also found himself intrigued. Walker wasn’t just some guy in a bar. He was a father and divorcé. Most Browerton students usually had the same stories, the same paths. Cameron enjoyed hearing something new. It gave him something to focus on while he planned his exit.
“How long have you been divorced, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Two years.”
“Still kind of fresh.”
Walker shrugged. More like a humoring shrug. Cameron was well aware about the wounds from parents splitting up, though only from the child’s point-of-view.
“How old’s Hobby?” Cameron asked. Walker whipped his head around in surprise, until Cameron pointed to the Hobie sign hanging on the wall.
“It’s pronounced Hobie, like rhymes with Toby. He’s about to turn six.”
“Kindergarten, right?”
“Yep.” Walker fixed the pillow on Hobie’s bed, which only made him seem more attractive to Cameron.
“So are you still in the closet? I mean, does your ex-wife know you hook up with guys?”
“Ex-husband.” Walker gestured out of the room, and Cameron followed his lead back to the kitchen. “We had a civil union.”
“That’s so cool. You’re living the gay American dream.” Except for the divorce part, but in Cameron’s mind, that was as much a part of being an American as a white picket fence.
Walker offered up a glass of water, which Cameron gladly accepted. He had an open kitchen, complete with a breakfast nook and stools, overlooking the living room with a vaulted ceiling, skylight, and fireplace. Cameron wondered if he would have an adult condo like this in the future, and a husband, and a kid. It was all too much to think about now.
“How did you meet your ex-husband? I’m sorry if I’m prying. It’s interesting. I’m still in college mode, so I just assume everyone meets at parties or in discussion section.”
