“Is Dad home?”
“He’s in his office with your uncles. Are you sure everything is okay? You sound distracted.”
“I kinda have something I need to tell you,” I say as I kick my feet up on the stool in front of my chair.
“Is something wrong?” she presses. “Do you need me to get your father?”
“Not yet. I need to tell you first, then I’ll talk to Dad and the others.”
“Okay,” she says, drawing the word out curiously. “What’s going on?”
My mother and I have always been close, and I’m not worried about how she’ll react to the news that I’m dating a guy. I’m not even worried about how my dad or the rest of the family will react, considering how easily they accepted my cousins and their male partners.
The problem isn’t that Damon is a guy, it’s that he’s a Keeper.
“There’s really no way to ease you into this,” I say with a soft laugh. “But I’m seeing someone.”
“Oh?” she asks, her tone careful. “You are?”
“Yeah.”
“And is this a new thing?” she asks after a beat of silence.
I’ve never been shy about telling my mom, and every other member of my family, that I have no interest in dating anyone, so it’s no wonder she’s surprised.
“Relatively new. It started over winter break, but it was about another month before things got serious.”
“Winter break?” she asks, and I can practically hear her cycling through her memories to try and place who I could be talking about. “Is she someone we know?”
“I’m not sure,” I tell her honestly. “But there’s a catch.”
“What is it?”
“That it’s not a she.”
A few beats of silence pass while she processes what I just said. “You’re dating a man?” she asks cautiously.
“Yes.”
She falls silent again.
“Mom?”
Is it possible I misjudged things and she’s not okay with it?
“How long have you known you like men?” she asks quietly.
“I didn’t. Not until we got together.”
“So this is new?” I can practically hear the hope in her voice. “You haven’t been keeping this secret for years or anything?”
“No. I had no clue until we hooked up. And he’s the only guy who does it for me, so to speak.”
“Oh, thank god,” she says, breathing out an enormous sigh of relief. “I was so worried that you’ve been keeping this to yourself and that I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me?—”
“No, Mom,” I cut her off. “It’s nothing like that. And you’ve never made me feel like it would be a problem. I just didn’t tell you before now because things are complicated between us. It had nothing to do with not feeling like I could be honest with you.”
“I’m so glad,” she says, and the relief in her voice is palpable. “And you know I love you, right? There’s nothing that could ever make me love you any less.”
