Wordlessly, he opened the front door and reached around until he found the doorbell. The chime sounded up the hall. “Hello? Anybody home?”
Dinner was awkward. The worst, actually. The brittle corners of Aunt Brenda’s smile were painfully obvious and made his eyes sting. But nevertheless, she asked all sorts of questions about his job interview and what the company did, responding with, “Oh, that sounds exciting. Doesn’t that sound exciting, Theo? I’m going to download the app and see how it works.”
Uncle Theo mostly grunted and nodded and said she had all kinds of cookbooks in the kitchen, so what would they need an app for?
That dismissal made Avery clamp his jaw shut on any apologies. This wholesale refusal to understand the evolution of the world in general—and their customers specifically— was how they’d gotten to this point. So, instead, he’d pasted on a smile as bright and fake as Aunt Brenda’s and told her all about the company like he was about to land his dream job.
“So what else is new?” Aunt Brenda asked when they’d exhausted the topic. Avery almost blurted out he had a boyfriend, because she’d be so happy for him. But he caught himself, because she’d want to know everything, and that meanteverything. How did they meet? What was he like? Where had they gone on dates? When would he be coming for supper?
And that last one was the hardest to answer. What if Linc didn’t want to come for supper? Or would come, but only as Avery’s friend, not his boyfriend? Linc said he was going to try, but Avery couldn’t push him. Unfortunately, once Aunt Brenda knew about Avery and Linc’s upgraded relationship status, she’d be unavoidable.
“Nothing much.” His smile was tight. He wanted to see Linc’s face again and make sure this was really real before inflicting his family drama on him.
His aunt hugged him hard at the front door. “You call me as soon as your interview is over and let me know how it went.”
“I will.” He felt like ducking behind one of her carefully trimmed decorative shrubs and throwing up. They had never kept anything from each other, and now they were all walking on eggshells. Avery glanced over his aunt’s shoulder to his uncle. His mouth was set, and he was wiping his glasses on the hem of his shirt with more focus than was strictly necessary.
“Uncle Theo,” Avery said.
His uncle glanced up, squinting because his glasses were still pinched between his finger and his shirt. “Yes?”
He sighed. The single word held too much expectation, like Uncle Theo was waiting for an apology. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Oh. Were you planning on coming to work?”
Aunt Brenda made a strangled noise, but the color was high on her cheeks and the glare she sent her husband was murderous.
“Of course,” Avery said quickly, wanting to escape any more awkwardness as fast as possible.
Back in his apartment, everything was still too quiet, but at least the added discomfort of dinnertime tension wasn’t trying to suffocate him.
On a whim, he fired up the Xbox.GatorAbe24was in theWinterlandslobby.
“Hey, Red,” he said, and tension eased out of Avery’s shoulders.
“Hi, Abe.”
“You know you could have just called me.” Linc laughed. The sound was still distorted enoughthat Avery could believe he hadn’t recognized his voice.
“You’re the one who was hanging out in an anonymous gaming lounge hoping I might show up.”
“I wasn’t hoping. I was—”
“Waiting for someone else?”
“No, I—” Linc sighed. “I figured if your dinner went well, you’d call and maybe I could come over.”
Avery froze, staring at the hulking warrior on the screen. “And if it didn’t go well?”
“Then you’d probably go home and lick your wounds in private, and I thought if I was online, we could at least catch up here.”
Avery slumped back on the couch. “It was a disaster. I don’t know how to fix this without hurting them or starting a fight.”
“Why does it have to be you that fixes it?”
Avery blinked, staring at the ceiling. “You sound like my aunt. She and my uncle were arguing when I got there. She blames him for being a stubborn bastard.”
“And is he?”
