32. Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter thirty-two
B rennan
I sat in the office with the patio door open watching Frisco run around in the backyard.
It hadn’t taken him but about a week to settle in.
He would run outside and pounce on a leaf, then rush back to me and look up at me, waiting for me to tell him he did a good job.
I had no idea that having a puppy would be so entertaining, but I loved it.
I was finishing up the week’s invoices while we played and thinking about how perfect things were. I hadn’t spent a single night at Keegan’s since we brought Frisco home, and more and more of my clothes had migrated from his house to Ryder’s.
Travis and I were taking bets the other day about how long it would take before he realized I was basically living here.
We were supposed to meet for lunch today, and I was about to text him and let him know I was ready, but before I had a chance, my phone rang.
I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was my mother.
I was tempted to ignore her call. I was having such a great day, the last thing I wanted was to listen to all the reasons I should move back home, but I knew I would feel guilty if I didn’t answer, so I took a deep breath and pushed the button.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, Brennan, guess what?”
“Umm, what?”
“We’re coming to see you.”
“Really. When?” They never traveled, so I couldn’t imagine they were coming here.
“Well, according to the GPS on my phone, in about twenty minutes.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yeah, we’re going to Austin for a quilt show. I’m so excited. But anyway, we thought we’d stop and see you on our way through.”
“Mom, I’m at work. You should have called first. I could have taken the day off. Why don’t you go on to the hotel, and I’ll come and see you this weekend?”
“Nonsense. We’re almost there.”
“How do you know where here is?”
“You told me the name of the company. I know how to use the computer, you know. The only thing is this looks like a residential neighborhood.”
“It is, Mom. My car’s parked in front of the garage,” I said with a sigh.
This should be fun. I thought about running to the bathroom and removing the nail polish I got at the spa.
I knew my father would hate it, but I loved it.
No, I decided. I wasn’t going to change anything for them.
Thanks to Travis’s friendship and my Daddy’s support, I was finally learning who I was, and I liked that person a lot.
I sent a text to Travis letting him know I had to bail on lunch and sent Ryder a text letting him know they were coming. I don’t know what I thought he could do about it, but I needed a pep talk or something, and he always said I should let him know when something was wrong.
Me: My parents are coming here.
Ryder: When?
Me: Like now. No warning, just a call saying they were only a few minutes away .
Ryder: I’m on my way home .
Me: You don’t have to do that .
Ryder: Angel. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.
I took a deep breath and scooped up Frisco cuddling him close. Just knowing Daddy was on his way made me feel better. Not that he could do anything about how difficult my parents were, but he could hold me after they were gone, and that would help.
It didn’t take them long to get there, and I opened the door to let them in. My mother hugged me and followed me inside. My father trailed behind us, a scowl on his face.
“I thought this was a construction company,” he said.
“It’s a home remodeling business.”
“No, it’s a house.”
“It’s a business that the owner runs out of his house,” I said calmly. “Come this way, and I’ll show you my office.”
They followed me through the living room into the office. I took a minute and looked at my space, trying to see it through their eyes instead of mine. It did look like a home office, but it was definitely an office.
I watched as my father slowly took it all in.
He stepped over near the desk and looked at the corkboard that hung above it.
Just a couple days ago, I’d placed a picture front and center of me and Ryder out on the patio.
We were laying on the lounge chair with Frisco, and there was no doubt we were a couple.
Travis had snapped it last weekend when he and Max had come by for us to go riding.
He’d texted me the picture, and I knew I had to print it out. We looked so happy.
My father didn’t say anything, just turned and looked at me. “So this is it? This is the fabulous job you’ve settled for?” He motioned around the office. “I would have thought you’d have learned your lesson with that other guy, but apparently not.”
“What?” I asked, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
“You have to learn to stand on your own two feet, Brennan. We didn’t pay for you to go to school so you could answer phones in someone’s house. You need to come back to Tyler. I can get you a job at your Uncle Preston’s business.”
“I don’t want to come back to Tyler, and I don’t want to work for Uncle Preston. I like it here. I like my job, and—”
“This isn’t about what you want, Brennan. This is about your future, and there’s no future for you answering phones here in this rinky-dink little business.”
“This is nothing rinky-dink about it. Ryder does amazing work. He has a wonderful reputation, and Davis Construction and Remodeling is a very successful business.”
He walked over to the corkboard and thrust his finger out, pointing at the picture of me and Ryder. “Right. And let me guess. This is the owner of Davis Construction and Remodeling.”
“So what if it is?”
“Like I said, you need to learn to stand on your own two feet instead of depending on someone else to support you.”
I tensed up at that, and I must have squeezed Frisco because he made a distressed sound and both my parents looked at him, noticing him for the first time. I murmured apologies to him, and he settled right back into the crook of my arm.
“What’s that you’re holding?” my mother asked, like my father hadn’t just been talking to me like I was a child.
She’d always done that. She never told him he should stop or took up for me, but she did try to redirect the conversation.
Kind of like their acceptance of the fact that I was gay but not of who I was as a person.
It was both better than nothing, and at the same time, nowhere near enough.
“This is Frisco,” I answered, playing along like always. What I wanted to do was tell my father he didn’t know anything about me or my life or my job. But it was easier to just avoid the fight.
“Is he your dog?” my mother asked.
“He belongs to both of us,” a deep voice said from the doorway. I turned and looked at Ryder standing in the doorway glaring at my father, and I knew my mother’s distraction wasn’t going to prevent what was coming next. “You really don’t know your son at all, do you?”
“Excuse me?” my father asked, pushing his chest out like pissed-off rooster.
“Your son doesn’t need to learn to stand on his own two feet, and not because I’m willing to take care of him— although I am more than happy to do that— but because he already knows how.
He’s one of the most independent, strong men I know, and he has single-handedly doubled my business since he took this job.
I’m damn lucky to have him working here, and even luckier to have him in my life. ”
I smiled at him because it was amazing to have him stick up for me like that. No one had ever done that before. He held out his hand to me, and I switched Frisco to my other arm and took it. He pulled me to his side and kissed my temple, then turned his attention back to my father.
“You’re standing here in the home that I share with Brennan and making assumptions about things you know nothing about, and I won’t stand here and listen while you do it. So you can either treat him with respect or you can leave.”
I chuckled, and everyone turned to look at me. I knew it was an odd time for me to laugh, but still, I couldn’t help myself. “Sorry,” I said, trying to swallow down my laugh. “It’s just that we were taking bets on whether or not you’d notice I’d moved in.”
“Oh, believe me, I noticed.”
I smiled at him ignoring my parents entirely. “Whoever won was supposed to buy drinks on our next spa day.”
My father cleared his throat, and I looked over at him.
I handed Frisco over to Ryder and turned to face my father.
“Look, I’m aware that this job is not what you had in mind for me, and I know you don’t understand my choices, but I’m happy here.
I love my job.” I glanced over at Ryder and then went for it.
“And I love Ryder. This is my home, and I would love for you guys to be able to come to visit. But if you can’t keep your criticism to yourself, it isn’t going to work. ”
My father looked at me. I mean, really looked at me for the first time I could remember.
“I just worry. I always have. But obviously you’re doing just fine.
Why don’t you tell me about the things you’ve done to single-handedly double this business you’re running here?
” For just a second, I thought maybe he was mocking me, but when I looked at him, I didn’t see anything but honest interest.
“I don’t know that I actually doubled it. But let me show you what I’ve done.”
Ryder
“Mrs. Taylor, why don’t you let me show you the house while they talk business,” I said, smiling at Brennan’s mother.
“Please, call me Margaret,” she said. “And I would love to see it. I love old houses like this. They have so much character.”
She went with me, and I led her up the stairs.
As soon as we were up there, she let out a long sigh.
“I never thought I would see the day. Those two have been at odds since the day Brennan came out. Not that we cared that he was gay, we’d always suspected as much.
But because Ted worried that Brennan would be treated poorly. ”
“I know homophobia is a worry for most parents when their child comes out.”
“Oh no, that wasn’t what Ted worried about. Well, I mean, of course we were concerned, but what Ted worried about was that he would find himself in a situation where he was taken advantage of.”
“What do you mean?”
“Brennan was always more sensitive than the other boys his age. He cared so deeply and always wore his heart on his sleeve. Ted worried that if he couldn’t take care of himself, he would fall prey to a man who would take advantage of that.”
“Really?”
“He said men are assholes…pardon my language…and that Brennan would be an easy mark.”
“Well, I can’t really argue with him there. Men can be assholes,” I said with a shrug.
She chuckled and then nodded. “But not you?”
“I try not to be. Especially where your son is concerned. I do love him. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and not just because of what he’s done for my business.”
“Okay, that’s good enough for me. Now, why don’t you show me the rest of this magnificent house.”
Margaret and Ted didn’t stay long. They needed to get on to the hotel, and they were meeting friends there for dinner and didn’t want to be late. They agreed to meet up again later in the weekend and went on their way.
As soon as they left, I sat down on the couch and motioned for Brennan to join me. I expected him to sit beside me, but instead, he crawled into my lap. I let out a contented sigh and wrapped my arms around him.
“Are you okay, Angel?”
“I don’t know. That was weird and stressful. There’s a reason why I came here to stay with Keegan instead of going home when Patrick left. They love me, I know they do, but that doesn’t mean they understand me.”
He laid his head on my chest, and we just sat there like that for a minute. Then he raised his head and looked at me. “Thank you, Daddy. No one has ever stood up for me like that. I don’t think I have ever had anyone believe in me the way you do.”
“Anytime, Angel. I mean that. I’ll always have your back, and I meant every word of it. You’re everything to me, and I love you.”
He smiled at me and put his head back down. “I love you, too.”