Chapter 37 #3
“It’s Taylor,” Jude whispers. “My cousin. She’s never called me before. I should probably take this.”
I nod. “Want me to come with you?”
Jude hesitates. “Would you?”
“Of course.”
We excuse ourselves and step into the laundry room, where Jude calls Taylor back. She puts the call on speaker phone.
“Hey, cousin,” Taylor answers.
Jude’s brow furrows at the greeting. “Hey, Taylor, sorry I missed your call. I was at lunch. What’s going on?”
There’s a sigh at the other end. “First and foremost, are you okay? I know yesterday was a lot, and after you fainted, you disappeared, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Oh,” Jude says. “Yeah, I’m okay now. I think it was from anxiety and low blood sugar. Once I got some water and food in my system, I was fine. Thank you for asking.”
“Good,” Taylor says. “I’m so glad. Danny and I were worried. The kids were, too. Liam, Emma, and Brooke all asked about you.”
I smile. Of course they did.
Jude exhales a soft laugh. “That’s sweet. Well, tell them I’m okay now.”
“Next, I want to say that I’m so sorry,” Taylor continues. “Danny and I both are. We’re so sorry we’ve been misgendering and deadnaming you for so long. We had no idea.”
Jude blinks, staring at the phone with disbelief. “Oh, it’s—it’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“And I’m so sorry that you felt like you couldn’t tell us.”
Jude shakes their head. “Hey, don’t be sorry. I didn’t tell anyone but my parents at the time. They’re the ones who…who kind of told everyone else.”
“That’s awful,” Taylor laments. “I will say, though, no one told Danny or me. If they had, I would have approached you and asked you myself.”
“It’s okay,” Jude says. “I appreciate that.”
“So, is Jude your true name?”
Jude’s breath catches. “Y-Yes.”
“And you use ‘they/them’ pronouns?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, then that’s what Danny and I will call you from now on.”
“You…you don’t have to—”
“It’s no trouble at all, Jude. Promise.”
Jude exhales a shaky breath. “Okay. Thank you.”
“Next on the agenda…have you talked to your parents since yesterday?”
Jude’s anxiety returns. “No.”
“Well, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that after you fainted, there was…a disagreement about who was at fault. Some truths came out, and Danny and I were furious with your parents and siblings. We’re actually headed to the airport right now, as a matter of fact.”
Oh, shit.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jude mutters.
“Oh, Jude, please don’t be sorry,” Taylor insists. “Their behavior was unacceptable.” She pauses. “I don’t want to alarm you, but something came up about your parents paying your tuition.”
Jude swallows hard, and I immediately rub soothing circles on their back. “Yeah, they…they’re financially supporting me so that I can get my MSW in six years without having to get a job. At least…they were.”
There’s another pause. “Is that why you haven’t been able to come out as queer? Because you’re worried they’ll stop supporting you?”
Jude nods, then remembers they’re on a phone call. “Yeah, basically.”
“We thought so,” Taylor replies, her voice low and angry. “That’s horrible, Jude. I’m so sorry they’ve treated you like this for so long.”
Jude doesn’t answer.
Taylor continues: “But listen. Danny and I talked about this for a long time last night, and we would like to help you if you’ll let us.”
Jude’s eyes widen, as do mine.
“As you know, Danny’s a senior developer at his tech company, and, to be frank, we’re doing remarkably well financially for our age.”
Jude slowly sinks to the floor, and I join them. “Okay,” they mutter.
“If your parents decide to cut you off financially for being your authentic self, Danny and I would like to offer you our support instead. Obviously, we’d need to sit down and go over the numbers to see how much we could afford, but I think we could at least make it so you don’t have to take on crippling student debt. ”
I squeeze Jude’s forearm excitedly. Holy shit, holy shit. I knew Taylor and Danny were good people, I knew it!
Jude is a statue, barely even breathing.
“Jude, did I lose you?”
When Jude doesn’t reply, I clear my throat. “Hey, Taylor. It’s Oliver. We’re still here. Jude’s processing.”
“Oh, hi, Oliver!” Taylor exclaims. “It’s so good to know Jude’s not alone right now.”
“Never,” I reply, rubbing their arms.
“Taylor, you guys don’t have to do that,” Jude finally speaks. “I—I couldn’t possibly—”
“Jude, we want to,” Taylor insists. “Danny and I love you, and we’ve always seen how ambitious and passionate you are about making a positive change in the world.
You’re going to school to become a social worker, which, like teaching, is a thankless job that requires incredible courage and heart.
We believe in you, and we’ve been blessed enough to extend those blessings to you. ”
Jude chokes on a sob. “Are…are you sure?”
“We’re so sure, Jude. We can talk more about it later, but I wanted to let you know sooner rather than later.”
“Thank you,” Jude cries. “I don’t even know what more I can say.”
“You’re welcome,” Taylor says. “Now, go back to enjoying your lunch. We’ll talk again soon, okay?”
Jude ends the call, and I wrap them in a tight hug. Jude shakes their head. “I just…I can’t believe it.”
“I can. You deserve this, Jude,” I remind them. “You’re so amazing, and Taylor and Danny see it, too.”
Jude sniffles. “We should get back to your family.”
“Take your time, love. They’re not going anywhere, and neither am I.”
Jude takes a deep breath, then gazes at me with those gorgeous sea glass eyes. “I love you so much.”
I reach my hand across the space between us, delicately gliding my fingers along their cheek, then cradling their jaw. “And I love you.”