Chapter Twenty-One #2
“Who?” Colton tracks my line of vision out to Gordy, then turns back to me with a shit-eating grin. “Oh man. Are you for fuckin’ real right now?” He chuckles. “That’s not what I needed to talk to you about at all, but we are most definitely circling back around to that in a minute.”
“Wait, what?” Ohhh shit. Me and my big, dumb fuckin’ mouth.
“I wanted to come to you for advice about, like… parenting.”
It takes a hot minute before my mouth forms a perfect O. Colton and his boyfriend have been seeing each other since—Christ, I don’t even know. A long ass time. “You and Petro? Daddies?”
He nods. “I know Dad’s gonna tweak when we break the news to him, because he wants me to be, like, done with school and settled and what-not. Not like he was when he and Mom had me when they were so young.”
I gasp, hauling him in for a hug. “I friggin’ knew something was up between you two at Christmas! He was all about them taters, and you were telling him to keep quiet. He’s pregnant?! How far along?”
“Just passed the first trimester.” Colton beams. “We wanted to make sure he wasn’t at risk of losing the baby before we told anyone.
But, like, we also didn’t want to wait until we were both out of school or anything either.
Petro wants bottom surgery eventually, so we kinda wanted to get the ball rolling on a family. ”
Back when Colton came out as pansexual, years ago, Petro was pretty open with the entire family about his trans identity too.
Blatant transphobia, apparently, was what sparked Taryn and Colton’s feud—Taryn was giving Petro shit about it.
Gordy put the kibosh on that, however, and straightened Taryn’s ass out.
Now I get it. Gordy didn’t want Taryn perpetuating a culture of intolerance.
“Do you know what you’re having yet?” I ask.
He looks at me, dumbfounded. “Yeah, dude. A baby.”
I snicker. “Smartass. Boy or girl?”
He grins, his lip-piercing glinting under the lights. “We can get the blood test done in a couple of weeks. The gender is kinda arbitrary to both Petro and I, though. We’re only going to do it so Morgan can plan a gender reveal. You know how she is; she likes having excuses to get us all together.”
“I’m happy for you, kid,” I tell him, bringing him in for another hug. “So, you came to your ol’ Uncle Gan for a little parenting advice?”
“Yeah, I mean, you’re doing a hell of a job with Tati and Terra.”
I blink at him, stunned. “You mean that?”
“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I?”
“Sarah would beg to differ…”
“She’s your ex, of course she’s going to differ. But anyone with a set of eyes could tell you my cousins think you’re Dad of the Year, though.”
My heart fills with pride, hearing that. “And you’re looking to strip me of my title?”
“Oh god, please don’t strip. No, Petro and I just want to learn from one of the best,” he says, nudging my shoulder.
I snort. “Tell you what, ink me up, and I’ll give you some of my best advice.”
“You want me to give you your first tattoo?” he asks, arching an eyebrow up at me. It’s barely visible under his shaggy, bright purple hair, however.
“It’d be my honor to get a Colton Waters tattoo.”
“Right on! Any idea what you want?”
“The girls’ names, right above my heart.”
He nods over to the chair. “Go take a seat then. Should still be warm from your ‘I don’t know what we are yet’s’ ass.”
“You tell your father, and I will give you the biggest friggin’ wedgie, kid.”
“I won’t, but I haven’t forgotten the whole Pride cake thing you pulled with my dad at his and Brooks’ coming out barbeque. Once you and Gordy figure out what you’ve got going on, I’ll preheat the oven.”
I get seated in the chair while Colton lines up fresh supplies.
He looks as giddy as an emo-grunge kid can get, all because I told him he could take whatever creative liberties he wanted, just as long as it included the girls’ names.
I trust him, and I’m so epically honored that he came to me, me, looking for parenting advice first, out of anyone in our family.
Christ, that’ll make the ol’ peepers moister than an oyster.
“You wanna hold my hand?” I tease Gordy as he wanders around the parlor, studying all the samples of work they’ve done.
Colton snorts.
Gordy shoots me a withering glare. “Keep dreaming, Wee-Waters.”
“What’d you end up getting?” I ask him. Whatever it was, he got it on a patch of blank canvas on his ribs, but he’s been super secretive about it.
He lifts his arm and flips me the bird right over the covered tattoo. Colton chuckles, and I narrow my eyes at him. “What’d he get?”
Colt’s eyes flit up to Gordy, who is shaking his head, then back at me. “Yeah, that’s gonna be a ‘no’ from me, dawg. I’m kinda counting on him to leave me a good review.”
“Smart kid,” Gordy grunts.
Colton smirks. “You say that now, like I totally wasn’t the little shit that keyed up your car back when I was in high school.”
Gordy glances down at his covered ribs. “You’ve gotten better with your art skills over the years.”
“Thank you,” Colt says earnestly. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Gordy scoffs. “Taryn ended up with that car anyway, so it kind of came full circle. He had a hell of a time down at the body shop learning how to buff it out and repaint it himself. Besides, y’all managed to grow up and wise up.”
Colton nods, readying his tattoo pen at my chest. He peeks up at me from his stool. “You ready?”
“Is it going to hurt?”
Gordy laughs. “Pussy.”
My nephew grins. “Some learn how to block it out. Some like the pain. All depends, I guess.”
I suck in a deep breath. “Just do it.”
An hour of me participating in a new class I’ve dubbed creative curse generating—and, yes, some parenting advice accompanied by some hand-holding—later, and Colton swipes a damp cloth down over my new tattoo.
He passes me a mirror, and what I see makes it all worth it.
A plaid pink bow with Tatiana Raelynn Waters’ name, written in dainty script, underneath; and a blue baseball cap with Terra Ridley Waters’ name in a bubbly font.
"Two halves of my whole heart," etched underneath both images.
“I love it,” I rasp, noting how he took into consideration the very essence of their differing personalities, and letting the accuracy of those words beneath sink in. “Thank you, Colt.”
He smiles. “No problem, Uncle Gan. I’d give you the same spiel about aftercare, but”—he spares a glance at Gordy, who still has my other hand clasped in his—“I think he’s got you covered. So I’ll just get you all wrapped up, and you’ll be good to go.”
“I’m gonna go let Twinkie out to go water some fire hydrants while you do that,” Gordy says.
Colton chuckles. “Damn, I thought for a second there you were gonna forget about him, and we’d have a new shop dog. He’s been such a good little dude hanging out in the back all day.”
“He is a splendid wiener, isn’t he?” I hum proudly.
Colt snorts. “That’s why you got him, isn’t it? The wiener innuendos…”
“Don’t I know it,” Gordy mutters, leashing Twink to go outside.
Once he’s out of earshot, Colton leans in while covering my ink with plastic wrap. “How long are you planning on keeping this from Dad?”
“Honestly? I have no idea. I’m scared as fuck for him to find out.
I know things are better between him and Gordy, but—” I sigh.
The history is still there. All the betrayal and hurt.
Evan and Gordy haven’t really spoken too much since that barbeque three years ago, and the times they have, they’ve both glossed right over it.
Colton nods. “I get that. I was the same way, really. I kinda chickened out in the end, and it was Brook’s mum who let it slip that Petro and I were more than just friends. Dad was kinda pissed at first that it wasn’t me who told him; he got a little offended, you know?”
“I can see that. Evan really struggled when you were going through your rebellious phase, thinking he was a bad father. It probably hurt him to think you didn’t trust him enough to confide in him about your sexuality.”
“Yeah, but to be fair, I really thought he wouldn’t be accepting. Turns out, he got it one-hundred percent. He hid a lot from me too. Stuff he didn’t think I could handle…”
“You think he’d handle me coming out alright?
” I ask. “I mean, I can see where he’d lash out and just call me dumb and impulsive, tell me I’m just experimenting or whatever.
He always used to make a big deal about me copying him when we were kids, but isn’t imitation the most sincere form of flattery? ”
Colton cocks an eyebrow up at me. “Is that what this is? You copycatting him?”
I shake my head. “No. I genuinely care for Gordy. Even before anything else happened between us, we were friends… I think. Just in our own fucked up way.”
Colton grins. “Well, you know me, man. I’ve always had a strong belief that love should be about hearts, not parts.
I think sexuality is a fluid thing, as is who you’re romantically attracted to.
I think what will be hardest for Dad to wrap his head around is whether or not Gordy is just using you.
You know, ‘cuz whatever they’ve had going on hasn’t really been resolved or whatever. ”
“That’s not what’s happening,” I quickly snap. “I can tell he’s invested, I just think he’s a little too used to being hurt to really make the full commitment of putting a label on it. Hence, we’re taking things day-by-day.”
“Whoa, slow down Mr. Defensive,” Colton balks. “I know that, but you know how Dad can be. Very black and white, that one.”
I snort. “Nailed that one right into the hammer.”
Colton’s brows zip together. “I don’t think that’s how the saying goes…” he hums at the same time Gordy pokes his head back into the shop.
“Are we going or what? How long does it take to wrap a tattoo?” he mutters. “Your damn dog is having a field day out here with all the pigeons, and I’m sick of getting my ass hauled around Congress Street by your little wiener.”
I chuckle. I’m so rubbing off on that crusty fucker I affectionately call Croot—literally and figuratively.