“Nash!”
I turned around to see Tanya walking to me.
“Hey,” I said, reminding myself to smile.
“You can keep these sunglasses and a few other pairs I left in your room,” she said with a faint blush on her face. “If we could have a shout out, maybe a few Instagram posts and?—”
“They need to be worn out in public.” I finished her sentence. “I gotcha.”
“Great, and if you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to call me,” she said, biting her plush bottom lip.
“Jo has your number, thanks,” I said, tipping my hat at her, walking back to my broom closet.
It was supposed to be my day off, but a last-minute brand deal had me bending over backwards. I needed all the money I could get for the upcoming rodeo season and further on. Anything would help to secure my future apart from my family and finally do things on my own.
My phone rang when I arrived at my hole in the wall to change. “Hello, Jo.”
“How did it go?” she asked.
“Good, not bad, I got to keep the glasses, and she went over my part again at the end,” I said, undressing.
“Great, I had hoped it would be smooth,” she said. “Do you like puppies?”
“Who doesn’t?” I scoffed.
“A lot of people,” she deadpanned.
“Oh god, Jo, please tell me you’re not one ofthosepeople,” I said grimacing.
“And if I am?”
“I don’t know if we can continue working together,” I said, wondering how serious I was about our working relationship. “People who don’t like puppies are probably serial killers.”
“Well, no one wanted to take your ass as a client. Puppies are like babies, cute from afar,” she said, and I couldn’t blame her for that line of thought. “Plus, how would it look if I didn’t help my pathetic best friend out?”
“Ouch, that was fucking harsh, Jo, and your fee still hurts too,” I said, putting my shirt on.
“Hey, you said to still charge you, and that isn’t even my full fee,” she said as the sound of traffic grew louder in the background.
I flinched, not wanting to find out what her regular fee was.
“And I love you for that,” I said, packing my things, keeping my shades on.
“Yeah, yeah, well if you can, there is a fundraiser here sponsored by Love4All in two months, and it’s laid back with puppies that I think would do wonders for your image,” she said. “Love4All is also a nonprofit for the LGBTQ?—”
“So, we think that this is the route we want to go?” I bristled, hating that my sexuality was always the first topic that came up anywhere.
When I was caught drinking and driving, pieces of my life were dug up and lo and behold, photos of me kissing men and women circulated. Apparently, that was more scandalous than my DWI. Now Jo wanted to lean into my ambiguous sexuality, but it wasn’t only that that worried me. I might have left out that I had gotten married last year.
Thankfully, I had kept that quiet. Getting married in Lubbock had helped and that my wife was some mousy woman who lived and worked in a small town, god only knows where.
“Everyone already knows, so why hide it?” she said. “The gays, theys, bis and women love you, and at this point you might as well get all the people you can in your corner.”
“Ok, I trust you—” My phone beeped, alerting me to another call. When I saw my father’s name, I rolled my eyes. “You know I trust you. I’m just hesitant about my sexuality, especially how I got outed.”
“I know, it was shitty. I wished you had let me help you out,” she said.
“I couldn’t afford you,” I sighed. “Especially after the brand deals I had had to pull out of.”
