“Oh?” I arched a brow. “Is something wrong with the bushes?”
“No, nothing like that.” They lowered their voices. “It’s only…” The dark-haired guy glanced at his redheaded husband, and a look passed between them. The redhead nodded.
“Go ahead.”
“We were hoping you’d take care of us. The other guy…he gave off signals like he didn’t approve of us.” The man held up his hand and wiggled his ring finger. “Being gay, I mean.”
“Oh, uh. I don’t know ’bout Lennie. He’s all right.”
“But he’s not like you, right?”
His serious eyes cut right through me, and I stood paralyzed. My stomach dropped a mile, and I grew breathless. I’d never had this happen and had no fucking idea what to say.
“Uh…what?” My voice sounded weak, and I coughed to try and cover it up. “Sorry. Something got stuck in my throat.”
“It’s okay. We’re not forcing you to come out to us. But we appreciated the way you helped us. And yeah, we’d like three more rhododendron bushes. Two red and another that blush pink to match the one we already bought.”
Regaining my composure, I pulled out my work gloves from the back pocket of my jeans. “Yeah, uh, well. Sure.” Smooth talk wasn’t my strong suit on a good day. “Over here.” I pointed to the lineup of bushes. “Any of these would work. They’re thirty-five each or two for sixty-five.”
“Can we do three for ninety since we already bought the other at full price? You weren’t having the sale last time. Plus we want some more azaleas.” Ticking off on his fingers, the redhead counted. “I’m thinking five more should do it.”
“I gotta check with Lennie. He’s the boss.”
“Okay. We’ll go ahead and pick out what we like.” Hand-in-hand, they wandered up the row of bushes, bending to take a sniff or touch a leaf. I hurried back to where Lennie was ringing up a sale. I waited until he gave the customer change, and then I explained what the guys wanted.
“Yeah, sure. Those people spend money like water. Not like they gotta worry ’bout kids or nuthin’.”
Some people’s ignorance was astounding.
“Um, well, whatever. I’ll go back and tell them it’s okay.”
Lennie pushed back the Mets cap he wore. “You looked kinda weird when they was talking to you.” He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me off to the side. His voice dropped. “They didn’t ask you to do nuthin’ kinky with them, right? I heard about some of these sex places. People dress up in leather and shit.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “You are too fucking crazy. No one asked me anything except about the price of a rhodo bush. You need to get your mind outta the gutter, man.”
“You know what I mean.” Lennie joined me in laughter and slung an arm around my neck. “Us real men havta stick together.”
I kept the smile plastered to my face while my insides turned to ash. “Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”
Two weeks later,I stood in the front parlor of Frankie’s grandmother’s house and surveyed the progress. The entire house had been cleaned of most of the old furniture and all the clothing, which we’d donated to Goodwill after Frankie’s mom took what she wanted, and when I pulled up the carpeting, in every room we discovered beautiful original wood floors. Once stripped, sanded, and polished, they’d be beautiful and add tremendous value to the house. A few pieces of furniture remained, like the high-backed sofa and tufted armchairs.
“Wow. I can’t believe how big the place looks now. Nana Josephina had so much stuff crammed into every space, I never realized how large the rooms are.” Wandering into the parlor from the formal dining room, where I finished stripping and sanding the glass and wood French doors, Frankie halted by the large bay window and sat down on the cushioned window seat. “When I was a kid, I remember sitting here and looking out across the street, watching the neighborhood boys play baseball. It was the first time I realized I was different. That I wasn’t interested in the girls who hung around the players.”
“Oh yeah?” I joined him and pressed my leg against his, sitting close. “You never told me this.”
A sweet smile crossed his lips. “Yeah. I didn’t care about the game in the least. But damn, I liked seeing them in those tight uniform pants. It got me so horny.” He laughed at the memory.
I tipped his chin up with my fingers. “You make me horny. All day. I don’t forget you’ve given me this second chance, and I promise I ain’t gonna fuck it up this time.”
I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his slim shoulders, loving how we fit together. For all his flirty ways, he calmed the storm inside me, believing in me. Giving me belief in myself.
He wrapped his legs around my waist, our kisses growing hungrier and more needy. The late-afternoon sun beat down warm on us. Sitting here in this empty house, kissing Frankie, I’d reached a point in my life where I could honestly say I was happy and at peace.
“I love you, Frankie. I ain’t never said that to no one but you. But being here, it seems right. This house got me feeling all kinds of special ways.” His luminous smile made my heart beat faster.
“It’s a special kind of house. Mynonnaalways said: ‘Magic, Frankie. Magic happens here.’” His voice took on a singsong quality repeating her words. “And maybe she was right, ’cause you make me feel like I can do anything. Be anyone.”
“As long as you’re mine. You are, right?” My eyes searched his anxiously. “Is it too soon? You don’t gotta say it, but—”
