“Why? You’ve been criticizing everything about my life since I got here. My degree, my career, my choices. What else is there to say?”
Dad’s jaw tightened. “I’m trying to help you avoid making a mistake you’ll regret.”
“You mean a mistake you’ll regret. This has never been about me. It’s about you being embarrassed that your son isn’t following the prescribed path.”
“That’s not?—”
“It is.” I stood, the chair scraping against the hardwood. “You want me to be someone I’m not. And when I refuse, you make it about practicality or maturity or whatever other excuse lets you avoid admitting you just don’t like who I actually am.”
The silence that followed was arctic. Dad stared at me with an expression I couldn’t read—anger maybe, or disappointment so deep it had calcified into something harder.
“Get out,” he said quietly.
“Gladly.”
I left the study, my hands shaking, and nearly ran into Mom in the hallway. From her expression, she’d heard everything.
“Seth—”
“I’m fine.” I pushed past her toward the stairs. “I just need a minute.”
In my room, I grabbed my phone and called the one person I knew would understand. Well, one of two, but no way in hell was I going to ruin Tanner’s day. It was going to be hard enough for him to celebrate when there was a gaping hole at the table and in their hearts.
Hunter answered on the second ring. “Happy Thanksgiving. How bad is it?”
“On a scale of one to ten? Fifteen.”
He laughed, sympathetic. “That good, huh?”
“He just told me I’m throwing my life away on a juvenile fantasy. Direct quote.”
“Jesus. What did you say?”
“I told him he just wants me to be someone I’m not.” I sat on the edge of the bed, phone pressed hard against my ear. “Which went over about as well as you’d expect.”
“I’m sorry, man. That’s rough.”
“The best part? I’m pretty sure my mom knows something. I have no fucking clue how, but last night she gave me theyou can talk to me about anythingspeech.”
Hunter was quiet for a beat. “And you didn’t tell her.”
“No.”
“Seth—”
“I know. I’m a coward. You don’t have to say it.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.” His voice gentled. “I was going to say it’s hard. Coming out is always hard, and doing it to people who’ve never been supportive is harder.”
“Tanner told his mom. About us.”
“Good for him.”
“He’s braver than I am.”
“He’s not braver. He’s just had different circumstances.” Hunter paused. “How are things with you two, anyway? You sounded off last time we talked.”
“We’re… I don’t know. Trying.” I rubbed my eyes. “He’s scared I’m going to change my mind about football. I’m scared I’m going to screw this up. We’re both bad at talking about it.”
