“Coffee would be great.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Is Maddy home?”
“No, Maddy’s out.” She’s took two mugs from the cupboard and then turned to the fridge to get the milk. “She’s gone to the library to do some research for an assignment due next week. I don’t expect her home for a few hours. Perhaps you can come for dinner during the week and see her then? I know she’d love to see you. I’ll do a lamb roast.”
“Sure, Mum, that sounds great.” Even to his own ears, his voice sounded flat. It was so hard to muster enthusiasm for anything at the moment, even his mum’s famous roast dinner, and his mum picked up on his mood.
She placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of him. “What’s troubling you, darling?” she asked, diving straight in. “You haven’t sounded yourself all week. Are you having trouble with Suzie?”
He wasn’t really sure what to say and twisted the mug around while he summoned the courage to tell her the truth about what was actually bothering him. Hell, he had quite a list to choose from. He could tell her about Suzie and her big announcement, he could tell her about his feelings for Spence, or maybe they could have another discussion about his abusive father.Oh, where to start?
Taking a breath, he decided that the best place to begin was with Suzie. His mum deserved to know the truth, particularly considering all her dreams for him—dreams that were about to be shattered. He wondered about her thoughts on pregnancy before marriage and raising a baby without a father in the picture. His parents had strong views on what was right and wrong, which had driven their own direction in life and was why Ben himself was in such a state about admitting his own sexuality to them—it went against all their values. Shame those same values didn’t apply to the way his dad treated his mum.
Ben raised his eyes and looked at his mum.Will she think any less of Suzie?Ben knew that Suzie wasn’t ready for the world to know of her impending motherhood and didn’t want to be the one to start spreading the news. But he’d already made the mistake of not telling Spence, and he wasn’t letting Suzie’s pregnancy have any more of an impact on his own life than it already had.Yes,I definitely have to talk to Mum about this, no matter how painful. At least it will be one less thing to have to worry about.
“Well, about Suzie, Mum. She’s having a baby.” Now he’d decided to say something, he took a leaf out of his mum’s book and didn’t pull any punches.
His mother looked at him in surprise before a joyous smile lit up her face. However, the smile soon faded as he started to fill her in on the conversation he’d had with Suzie.
* * *
The soundof the hammer hitting metal was loud. With no furniture to muffle the sound, every repetitive strike echoed in the room. Each nail received a pounding that was totally unnecessary to achieving the goal of securing the loose floorboards. Ben wielded the hammer like a weapon, taking his aggression out on the strips of wood. Over and over, and over again.
“Hey, mate, take it easy. You’re going to put dents all over the floor at that rate,” Cameron said. “Better off to use less force if you don’t want the floorboards damaged.”
When Ben didn’t stop hammering, Cameron walked over to Ben and made a grab for the hammer on the upswing. He took the tool from Ben’s hand.
Ben looked up in surprise. “Give that back! What do you think you’re doing? We’ll never get the floor finished at this rate!” He reached for the hammer, but Cameron took a step back.
“Whoa, Ben. Calm down. I just don’t want you to ruin the floor. We’ll never be able to sand the dents out if you keep that up, not without sanding away half the floorboards at least.”
Ben realised he was overreacting and put his hand back down to his side. But damn, he’d been in the zone and it’d felt great to let off some of the tension that had built up over the course of the week.
“Maybe we should finish up for the day?” suggested Cameron. “We can always do the rest tomorrow.”
Ben nodded reluctantly, but it wasn’t like the floor wouldn’t be there tomorrow for him to finish, and Cameron was right—no matter how frustrated he was, it wasn’t worth fucking the job up. He sighed and got to his feet. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea. I’ll grab us a beer.”
Ben headed to the kitchen to get two of the bottles he put on ice earlier, bringing the cold beer back to the living room.
They sat on the sofa side by side, feet on the coffee table, sipping, or in Cameron’s case, slugging their beers. “Man, I needed that.” Cameron groaned as he took a long swallow and placed the now half-empty bottle on the table. “Nothing like a cold beer after some hard labour.” He leaned his head on the sofa back and groaned again.
Ben sipped his beer, enjoying the sensation of the cold ale cleansing his throat. He wished he felt the same satisfaction. They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Cameron finally spoke.
“Okay, bud. Let’s have it. You’ve been moping around for days now. What gives?” He picked up his beer and took another long swallow while he waited for Ben to respond.
Ben met his gaze.Fuck it.After only a second of hesitation, he blurted out, “I’m in love with Spence.”
“Holy shit!” Cameron sat up like someone had lit a rocket under him, feet hitting the floor as he turned in his seat to face Ben, eyes wide. “I don’t believe it. I can’t believe what I’m hearing after all this time!”
Ben drew back in shock. He’d known it would be something that Cameron wouldn’t be expecting to hear, but he was surprised at the level of passion in Cameron’s response.
“Cam—”
“Holy shit!” Cameron said again and followed it by bursting into hysterical laughter.
Ben looked at him in confusion, trying to read Cameron’s reaction. Surprised? Shocked? Appalled?And why the hell is he laughing?
Eventually, Cameron looked up, gasping for air, and groped for Ben, dragging him into his strong arms for a hug. It was a real hug, not that thing men did with a quick grip and a pat on the back, but arealhug, like he meant it.I guess he’s not disgusted then.
After a minute or so, he pulled back and looked Ben in the eye. “You owe me, mate! I had a twenty riding on you holding out for a bit longer. Mel’s never going to let me hear the end of this.” He started laughing again.
