“Can I?” says Mabel, who’s barely touched her strawberry.
I thrust the phone back at Theo, as if it’s about to blow up.
“No,” answers Theo. “No one’s seeing it. Cal, I want you to delete these videos immediately.”
He gives the phone back to Callum.
“My pleasure,” says Callum. “They’re gross!”
As he goes through his phone deleting the GIFs, Theo questions him and it turns out that several of his friends have been tormenting him about having a gay dad, saying that it runs in the family so he must be gay, too.
“But I’m not,” he stresses. “I’m not gay.”
I’m taken aback by how keen he is to make this point.
“Yes,” says Theo. “Don’t worry.”
“But it would be fine if you were,” I want to add. I tell myself now’s not the moment.
Thankfully, Theo says, “But I’d love you whatever your sexuality. And I know your mum would, too.”
Callum twists his face in disgust. “As if I could ever do that kind of thing. It’s proper minging.”
“You’re a shit-stabber,” I hear a boy on the school bus shout at me. “A fudge-packer. A Marmite miner.”
Even though we’re sitting in the shade, I swear it’s getting hotter. I feel sweat collecting under my arms and on my forehead. I take my hat off and use it to fan myself.
“Cal, we’ll talk about this later,” Theo says, gesturing to Archie.
He cracks a smile. “How’s your ice cream, squirt?”
“The best ever!”
“Superb!” Theo turns back to Callum. “And when we get home I’m going to speak to the boys concerned. And their parents, too, for that matter.”
“But Dad,” Callum protests, tugging at his fringe wildly, “it’s only bants.”
“Really, Cal? It didn’t look like you were enjoying it to me.”
“Can’t you take a joke?” I remember one of the boys at school saying, after he’d spread a rumor that I’d been caught masturbating with a cucumber. I feel a trickle of sweat run down my back.
“Dad!” Callum howls. “It’s bad enough having you at my school without you laying into my mates!”
Mabel pipes up, “You’ve no idea how cringe it is to have a gay dad!”
Out of nowhere, I feel a surge of sympathy for the kids. But I can also tell how much Theo’s hurting: from the look on his face, he’s crushed.
It was bad enough for me, thinking my dad was ashamed of me. I can only imagine how awful it must be for Theo to hear his kids actually telling him they’re ashamed of him. I inch closer to him and rest my hand on his knee.
“Dad, if you have a go at them it’ll only make things worse,” Callum argues. “I can handle it, honestly.”
Theo runs a hand across his eyes. “Well, if it happens again—if it happens in term time—I’m going to intervene.”
Callum screws his empty tub into a ball and tosses it in the bin.
“What I don’t understand is,” I say, throwing my ice cream after it, “why’s this suddenly happened now?”
Callum sneers. “They saw your Insta post, Adam. That pic you posted of you and Dad.”
