Page 294 of A Matter of Time

She laughed, because she knew I was teasing her. “Jory, ohmygod, could Mikey like you any more? Could any of them? My goodness, it’s like Christmas around here right now.”

“That’s because⁠—”

“I had no idea Sam was gay,” she said in a low voice. “Nobody tells me anything.”

“Well, he’s not gay, he’s actually⁠—”

“Holy crap,” she said softly as she glanced warily around the room. I put an arm around her shoulders. “There are a lot of people here.”

And I realized that, to her, we were just talking. She didn’t care for a second that I was gay or that Sam was bi. It was a tiny detail to her, a momentary “huh,” merely something she hadn’t known or considered. In her universe, where Michael was the center, the situation with Sam and me was meaningless. I loved the fact that no one cared at all.

“Beverly.”

She turned to look at my face.

“Everything’s gonna be all right. It must be a good sign that the extended family was summoned over here to meet you.”

“I guess.” She was unsure, and it was clear from her voice.

“No, I’m sure it was.”

“Oh God.” She grimaced, glancing around, appearing uncertain.

I smiled tenderly. “It’s okay. You must always tell yourself: the more the merrier.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, are you guys getting engaged?”

“Oh, don’t I wish,” she replied honestly, and I doubted she even realized what she’d said. “No, it’s just he wanted me to meet his whole family, and so did his mom, which is nice, I guess, but… I mean, I’ve been here a few times before, met his folks of course, and Sam and his sisters, but not…everyone.”

“It’ll be okay,” I told her, patting her shoulder.

She whimpered.

“Why don’t you come into the kitchen and help Regina and me?”

“Are you sure that’s the right thing to do? I mean, I want her to like me, but I don’t want to push.”

“Believe me, that’s the way to do it. I’ll help you clean the kitchen after the meal is set out. That’s a step in the right direction, big-time.”

She grabbed my arm. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea how crazy I am about this man. I have to make his family love me.”

“It’s easy.” I smiled warmly, speaking from experience. “Just be yourself.”

“Were you yourself?”

I thought about it a minute. “Yeah, I was.”

“Did you know you wanted to be with Sam from the moment you laid eyes on him?”

“I don’t know if⁠—”

“Me too.” She jumped to the conclusion even after cutting me off. “I want to marry Mikey,” she confessed. “I’m in way over my head, Jory.”

I tightened my arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently. “Well, I think he’d be lucky to have you,” I said supportively, realizing I meant it. This was a really nice girl. I hoped Michael was smart enough to realize what he had.

Beverly Stiles was just a little shorter than me, so just under five-nine, with shoulder-length brown hair and big cornflower-blue eyes. She did her makeup with the heavy black eyeliner on top that made your eyes look like a cat’s. The lipstick was pale and lined dark, and she had an amazing tan. I was thinking at least two trips a week to the tanning salon.