Planting flowers turned out to be a lot easier than digging up the yard. And faster. What took them three hours to dig only took an hour to plant. When they were done, Nick couldn’t stop his pride at what they had managed to do. “Looks pretty good.”
“I guess.”
That was as good as it was going to get.
They went inside. Nick poured them a couple glasses of water, and they sat at the table, slipping back toward awkward silence. “How are your hands?”
Hayden flexed his fingers. “Fine.”
The old house creaked, and the sink dripped.
“Do you . . .” Nick squinted down the hall. “Do you want to talk about last night?”
“No.” Hayden’s glass hit the table hard.
“You seemed pretty upset.”
“You didn’t seem too worried about upsetting me when you were sucking on your boyfriend’s face.”
Nick bit the inside of his lip to keep from speaking too quickly. The spot he’d bitten the night before was tender and metallic-tasting under his tongue. “You met Oliver at the market, the last time your mom dropped you off for community service. Do you remember?”
Hayden shrugged.
“He runs a store downtown. He makes juices and does workshops about healthy living.”
“And he’s gay.”
“That doesn’t really have anything to do with his business.”
“But heisgay.” Hayden crossed his arms over his chest.
“He is.”
“And so are you.”
“No. I’m bi.”
“Whatever. You’re still with him.”
I love him.“Yes.”
“You’re dating a man.”
“Is this about your mom?” Nick’s skin crawled at the way Hayden was staring at him. “Because she’s known about Oliver since that morning you guys met him at the market and—”
“Why do you keep talking about the market? I don’t remember him, okay? Was I supposed to notice you guys eye-fucking and figure out my dad is queer?”
Considering Oliver had nearly broken off their agreement that day, there hadn’t been much eye-fucking.
“Does it bother you that he came over?”
“Gee, Dad. Does it bother me that you’ve been lying to me about your sexuality for my whole life? What do you think?”
“I didn’t—” Nick’s resolve threatened to break. Hayden was trying to get a rise out of him, make him yell again. “You’re currently under house arrest for bullying a gay classmate. So I think it’s only fair that we talk about—”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“About Oliver? Why does it matter?”
