Reemerging from our room in a perfect boyfriend outfit of jeans, a button-up, and a sweater, Hudson came to my side and gave me a little squeeze around the middle. His firm touch brought me back to earth.
“You really should,” Mom continued. “It’s so bad for your mental health. And dirt and crumbs can build up, you know, which could tank the resale value. Not that you’ll be selling, of course. I’m sure you want to keep that little job of yours for as long as humanly possible—”
“Carol,” my dad muttered. “You haven’t even said hello.”
She hugged me. As always, it was bony and angular. Like she’d somehow missed every session inhow to have human contactclass. “Hello, dear.”
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.”
I hugged him, too. He was marginally better at it, but not much.
It then occurred to me how little physical contact I’d ever had. My parents were emphaticallynothuggers. I didn’t have boyfriends or partners or even casual hookups.
Hudson was the only person who’d ever held me.
Dad must have picked up on how quickly I returned to Hudson’s side, because he gestured at my general state of undress. “I see you’re keeping busy. Research for your work?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, trying to ignore the disdain dripping from Dad’s tone when describing sex toys asmy work. “A little. It’s not a big deal, though. It’s just—uh, this is…”
“Hudson Bailey. Her boyfriend.”
Matching his perfectmeet the parentsoutfit, Hudson flashed them both a winning smile, took one bold step forward, and extended his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Boyfriend,” my mom repeated, sounding as skeptical as I felt.
He didn’t let his demeanor falter, not even for a second. “It’s sort of new.”
You can say that again.
Neither of them stepped forward to accept his handshake, and I wanted to melt from embarrassment. He inched backward, away from the wall of indifference they jointly projected. “But yeah. It’s great to meet you. Scout talks about you both all the time.”
My mother turned on me, the wall of indifference crumbling like rubbled fallout all around my head. “You didn’t tell us about this, Scout.”
“You didn’t tell me you were going to be in town. If you’d toldme, I would have filled you in,” I replied in what I thought was a mild tone. I should have known better.
Dad lashed out. “You’re talking to your mother that way?”
“I’m sorry. I’m still a little groggy after, uh—”
“You just woke up?” Mom crowed. “It’s nearly eight o’clock.”
“I know.”Get control of this situation. You do it with awry experiments and tests all the time. Get control of your variables.Taking a cue from Hudson, I slapped on a smile, pretending that I was excited to see them. “But what are you two doing in town? I didn’t think I would see you until OFest in New York later this year.”
Mom and Dad looked each other.
“Well.”
“Well.”
And then I knew. This was about fucking Lloyd Exeter. God damn him.
“Your father and I saw some chatter online. About you-know-who. We worried.”
“That’s so sweet of you…” I said through my clenched jaw. I didn’t believe them. I just needed a way to get my parents out of here. “But I’mreallydoing fine. You didn’t have to come all this way—”
“You’ve always been our first priority. Your mother and I know that this is a real ground shift. You need us.”
“We kept it to ourselves because you would have told us to stay home,” Mom explained.
