“Oh. Yeah, probably the imaginary cat wouldn’t want to be part of it. But what about Calvin? I guess guys probably don’t get ‘given away’ at their weddings, huh? You maybe gay, but you’re still not repressed by the women-as-property aspect of the patriarchy.”
The screen door to the patio slid open then, and Seth stepped outside, a towel-bundled and sleepy Tamara in his arms. “I’m here in time for talking about the patriarchy,” he said. “Excellent. Glad I didn’t miss it.”
“Don’t sit,” Ben said quickly. “I need another beer.”
“You see me carrying this child,don’t you?”
Ben turned to Dinah. “Typical man. Thinks carrying a child is all he has to do—no multitasking, no recognition of the generation after generation of women who’vecombinedchildcare with all the other jobs in their lives. He probably says it’s ‘babysitting’ when he takes care of his own child.”
“I’m not sure you can really bugmeabout multitasking, son, not when you were unable tocombine the tasks of ‘seeing an old boyfriend’ and ‘avoiding the parked cop car.’”
“Give me Tamara,” Ben ordered. “You’re holding her wrong—her feet are going to get cold. Then go get us beers.”
“Yeah, beers,” Dinah said. “Let’s talk aboutthat. You guys can just sit there swilling alcohol and I’m stuck with stupid lemonade. Where’s the justice in that?”
“Well, that’s not the patriarchy, hon,that’s just reality. If I were able to gestate for you, part-time, I would absolutely give serious thought to maybe babysitting the fetus for up to two weekends per month. But I can’t do it, so—” Seth smiled widely as he settled Tamara on Ben’s lap. “Beers for me and my man-friend.”
He headed for the kitchen, and Ben kissed the top of Tamara’s head. “No beers for you and Mommy. Beers are formen.”
“For me,” she murmured sleepily, and twisted her head to peer up at him. “Juice?”
“Too close to dinner,” Ben answered. He knew the drill, and so did Tamara. “Water?”
“Okay.”
“Ahem.”
She roused herself enough to grin, then obediently said, “Yes, please.”
“Garçon?” Ben called. “Your finest clear beverage for Lady Tamara, if you please.”
She snuggled back against him, and Ben lookedover to find Dinah watching them. “You and Kevin might have been talking about kids,” she said softly. “You both like them. You’d be good dads.”
“Damn. When you play the what-if game you don’t mess around.”
“Did you guys ever talk about it?”
“In loose general terms, I guess. But nothing specific, no.”
“And your loose general terms were… pro kid?”
“Sure. When you’re done with this currentone, I’m planning to ask you to be a surrogate for me and my imaginary boyfriend. Sound okay?”
“Your boyfriend doesn’t have to be imaginary, though. Not if you don’t want him to be.” She sipped her lemonade. “I see him pretty often, you know. We’re on that primary education panel together. He’s still single. I get the feeling he’d be interested, if you gave him a call.”
Kevin. She was talkingabout Kevin, not—not anyone else. “We broke up for good reasons.”
“I thought you broke up because you weren’t ready to commit.”
“That’s a good reason.”
“Is it?”
“Um—yes? I think so, yes.”
“But… is itreallya good reason?”
“You’re annoying when you do that. I know you think you’re cute, but actually it’s just annoying.”
