While trying to eat dinner and iron his shirt, he’d written an email. One he’d dreamed about for years, ever since he’d worked up the courage to ask Aunt Brenda for the address, but then had been too scared to write.
Dear Mom,
I hope you’re well. Uncle Theo says he doesn’t talk to you very often, but that you and Dad are in good health.
I am doing very well. I’ll be taking over Uncle Theo’s firm. My very own company. I’ll be a business owner. Respectable. Just like you always wanted.
I have a boyfriend. His name is Lincoln. He is a firefighter. I’m telling you this not because I think you’ll be happy for me, but because I want you to know that I was right. I am gay, and nothing you could have done could have stopped or prevented that from happening.
I also want you to know I don’t forgive you. I was your son, and you were supposed to love me and look after me, no matter what. I am sorry, though, for you and Dad, that you didn’t know how.
I am not your son anymore. I am Theo and Brenda’s, and they love me very much.
I wish you a good life.
I already have one.
Avery
On the stage, another smattering of applause sounded as a gavel banged down.
Avery hadn’t sent the email. He’d thought about it, but he’d left it in his drafts, so he could read it sometimes and remind himself he was more than his parents and his history. His mother wouldn’t care if he sent it, just like she hadn’t cared in all the years without so much as a birthday card. He missed her, but he didn’t owe her any more explanations.
He was going to build a life here. With Linc. With Theo and Brenda. And yeah, it would be quieter, smaller, maybe less exciting than it would have been in Atlanta, but it would be his, and that would be enough. He’d have other chances for adventure someday.
“Avery?”
He was on his feet before Penny could tell him it was his turn. Itwashis turn. He was going to take the stage. Maybe the fire department would whistle for him. Linc would. The heat in his eyes as he’d kissed Avery goodbye that morning said he’d do just about anything Avery wanted.
He lifted the curtain and stepped under the lights. The auctioneer said his name, and the sound of it made Avery puff out his chest. Somewhere beyond the lights, Linc was watching him and thinking what a goofball he was. Avery was Linc’s goofball now.
He squinted out into the room. Aunt Brenda was there, with Uncle Theo next to her. Avery had to force his hands to his sides to keep from waving like a first grader at a school play. He strolled the edge of the stage as the auctioneer talked about the firm—soon to beAvery’sfirm—and the services it offered. He scanned the crowd, looking for the familiar sandy head. He caught sight of Wanda first, the rhinestones of her glasses twinkling in the dark. Then Vasquez, sitting to Wanda’s left.
“The bidding for this fine young gentleman will begin at fifty dollars.”
The seat next to Vasquez’s was empty, then after that was an older man in an official looking uniform shirt. Than a woman, and another man, then—
“Do I hear fifty dollars?”
Avery’s eyes slid over the faces of so many people he knew. People he’d known for years, who knew him and—
“Everyone can use a financial checkup.”
Something cool poured over the back of Avery’s shoulders, prickling and sharp, before it wrapped around his ribs and dug its claws in. His knees went rubbery as his toes pinched uncomfortably in his shoes.
“Do I hear—”
His desperate gaze swung back to Vasquez, then to the one empty chair.
I’ll be there. Everyone will know who you’re with.
Once again, Avery was alone.
