Chapter Twenty-Six
IT’S OBVIOUS from the moment Lewis comes groggily awake with his hand wrapped around Tad’s very erect cock and Tad sleepily thrusting into his fist that getting to Weehawken by ten is way too ambitious. Tad’s half-asleep moans and whimpers are worth all the disapproval his family can throw at him.
They thrust and rub against each other slowly, then with increasing urgency, and since it’s a day for giving thanks, Lewis gives thanks for how fucking hot Tad is when he comes, and the fact that Lewis is the one that got to make it happen.
The lazy making out afterward can’t be interrupted either, so when Lewis finally checks the time, he grimaces. It’s after ten, and he has so many texts from Mom that his phone is asking him if he wants to temporarily mute notifications.
Tad kisses the back of his neck and runs a hand over Lewis’s shoulder before leaning against him, chest to back, and propping his chin on Lewis. “Do you have to go?” he asks.
Lewis weighs whether he can mitigate the damage by texting Mom back right now—but no, he’s in for it no matter what. Rolling onto his back so he can loop his arms around Tad, he asks, “My mom’s not texting you too, is she?”
Tad snorts with laughter. “Would she do that if she had my number?”
“Um, yes. She’d be telling you to get your boyfriend’s ass over to his parents’ house so he can help with the yams.”
Tad’s face lights up. “Boyfriend,” he repeats softly. “I like that.”
Lewis bites his lip against the huge smile fighting to split his face. “Me too.”
They lose themselves in another languid kiss, but then Lewis’s phone, no longer on Do Not Disturb, buzzes. With a sigh, Lewis says, “I have to go. I was supposed to be at my parents’ like fifteen minutes ago.”
“Oh!” Tad looks guilty. “Shit. Sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I had a very good reason to be late.” Lewis takes him in. Tad Pierce, his boyfriend. He’s giddy. The constellations of freckles sprayed across Tad’s chest and shoulders are like a mirror of the constellations wheeling inside Lewis right now.
Mom texts again: Taylor says you have a new boyfriend—bring him too if that’s why you’re late!
He groans. Taylor and her inability to mind her own business. No way is he inviting Tad over for a Pierce Thanksgiving, especially now that he knows Tad’s shy. Talk about traumatic.
His phone buzzes again, and Tad laughs. “You better go.”
With a louder groan, Lewis climbs out of bed. Before he heads to the bathroom to take a much needed shower, he stops to admire Tad one more time. Weak November sunlight filters through the room and gilds him. “When can I see you again?” he asks.
The question looks like it takes Tad by surprise, but then a smile creeps across his face—radiant and shy and gorgeous.
“I’M HERE!” Lewis shouts as he opens the door to his parents’ house in Weehawken. It’s the house he grew up in, a brick multi-family home that his parents have long since bought in its entirety. They rent out the upper apartment on Airbnb. His mother is very proud of their impeccable reviews.
“LEWIS, I NEED YOU TO brING ME THE CRANBERRIES FROM THE BASEMENT FRIDGE!” Mom yells from the kitchen.
Dad comes thundering down the stairs with an armful of linens. “Oh, Lewis, you’re here! Did you bring your boyfriend?”
“We’re barely even official, so no, I definitely did not.” Lewis takes some of the linens before Dad drops them. “I guess I have to have the boundaries talk with Taylor again?”
“Oh, umm, I don’t think it was Taylor who said anything.” Dad looks guilty, which is an automatic giveaway that he’s lying, and also there’s literally no one but Taylor who could have told him.
“Yeah right.” Lewis gives Dad the best hug he can with both of them holding a bunch of towels, cloth napkins, and at least three table runners. Mom can never choose which one she wants to use until the last second, which always makes Lewis roll his eyes and smile. It’s not like any of them are even nice—they’re all homemade by Lewis and Taylor. One of them is this macaroni and macrame monstrosity that he made in sixth grade when it was absolutely Not Cool to make runners for your mom. Every year they lose some of the macaroni, but the next time it comes out, the holes have been patched.
Lewis kisses Dad’s cheek. “I gotta get the cranberries.”
“Downstairs fridge,” Dad says. “Happy Thanksgiving, Lew!”
Once he’s retrieved the cranberries—and Christ, every year there are more, are they really going to eat ten bags of cranberries?—he goes to the kitchen, where his family is congregated. Mom squeals and rushes him, throwing her arms around him. Lewis grins and hugs her back tightly, though no one gives tighter hugs than his mom.
“You didn’t bring your boyfriend!” Mom admonishes. She looks fierce, but it’s hard to be too scared of her when she’s got her thick mane of dark hair tied back in a high ponytail and a sweatband in the trans pride colors around her forehead. Mom isn’t trans, but one of Lewis’s cousins is, and Lewis’s parents are nothing if not allies.
“Why does everyone know about my boyfriend?” Lewis asks.
From the counter where she’s eating a waffle, Taylor throws her hand in the air. “Figured if you didn’t get your shit together with him, we could pressure you into it.”
Lewis rolls his eyes. “Boundaries.”
Dad adjusts his glasses. “Boundaries? Never heard of them.”
Mom elbows him, even though she’s just as bad as Taylor. “Tell us everything.”
“Mom,” Lewis groans, but he’s secretly thrilled. Maybe not-so-secretly. He’s grinning. He thinks he might actually be glowing.
Taylor pops the rest of her waffle in her mouth and wanders over to give Lewis a hug. When she lets him go, her eyes drop to his hand, and she laughs, “Are you wearing a wedding ring?”
“Um.”
With that one syllable, he unleashes chaos. Taylor cackles, Mom shrieks, Dad hollers, “Lewis Stephen Mancini-Sommer, we are not an elopement family!” and though it actually has nothing to do with him opening his mouth, the stock pot on the stove boils over right at that moment, which makes Mom shriek again.
Lewis dives for the stove to turn the burner down. When he turns around, his family is staring. “If I find out you robbed me of planning a ridiculously over-the-top wedding with too many rainbows, it’s not too late to write you out of the will,” Mom says, a hand on her heart.
“Too many rainbows by whose standards, yours or mine?” Lewis checks once more that the potatoes are at a reasonable boil. “Long story short, I met him in Vegas at Stace’s bachelorette party. We, uh, overindulged and got married.”
“And they say romance is dead,” Taylor says.
The playfulness has fallen off his parents’ faces. Lewis feels like a shithead. “You really got married?” Mom asks in the same tone you’d say, How many months do you have left?
“No. I mean, yeah, technically. But we’re getting divorced.”
“I need some chocolate for this conversation,” Dad says. “I think we all need some chocolate for this conversation.” No one disagrees, and Dad duly doles out leftover Reese’s from Halloween. As he hands one to Lewis, he says, “I thought you weren’t dating for a while, Lew?”
Hm, maybe if Lewis wants boundaries, he shouldn’t tell his family everything. Now that he’s thinking about it, they probably didn’t need to be in on the particulars of the Dating Break. “Well, I wasn’t.” He looks down at the wedding ring, which makes him think of Tad, which makes him smile softly. His chest feels warm.
Mom takes a deep breath and checks the stove, the oven, and something in the refrigerator. She glances at the pile of cranberries on the counter and waves dismissively before taking Lewis’s hand and leading him into the living room.
Lewis loves his parents’ living room. It’s an insane riot of color—band posters from the 70s and 80s, paintings they’ve picked up on their travels or at art festivals, old art projects of Lewis’s and Taylor’s, pins and buttons from all the activism his parents have been involved in. One of Lewis’s favorite things is an old flyer for an ACT UP! die-in. Mom and Dad participated in a lot of them in the 80s and 90s and helped organize some. Mom always says she’s white and straight and she’s going to use her powers for good.
It was funny, though, when he came out to them, he was still nervous. And then he was nervous because he thought they’d make fun of him for being nervous. After coming out went predictably well and he confessed to the nerves, Mom hugged him tight and said they would never ever laugh at him for being himself.
Yeah, his parents are pretty cool. Even if they don’t have good boundaries.
Which is why it feels so shitty that—yeah, he did get married, and they weren’t there, and they’re only finding out about it now. Plus he’s doing a horrible job of explaining everything.
Lewis flops down on the sofa and Mom does the same, slouching into the worn cushions. “What’s his name?” Mom asks in the kind of voice that says I already love him.
“Tad.” There’s a stupid smile on Lewis’s face. “He came camping with me. We were just going to be friends, not anything more, because….” Because why? It’s hard to remember because from where he’s standing, his feelings for Tad have always been obvious, even if they weren’t smart. “Anyway, I guess we became official last night? Because the whole just-being-friends thing didn’t really take.”
“That’s amazing,” Mom says, wrapping him up in another hug. “You look happy, and I’ve really missed you looking happy.”
Dad has a goofy smile on his face too. His parents are nothing if not romantics. “I second that.”
“So what’s with the divorce?” Taylor asks.
“Well….” Well , he shouldn’t really talk about this with his family, because he hasn’t talked to Tad about how their official coupledom changes or doesn’t change their plan. “TBD. We haven’t exactly talked logistics. We were, um, celebrating.”
“When was the last time you were tested?” Mom asks.
“After Jonah, don’t worry. More than once. And Tad’s been tested too.”
“Good kid,” Dad says. “Both of you. So since we get to skip the safer sex reminders—are you going to tell us about him or what?”
His phone buzzes and Lewis slips it out of his pocket to glance at it.
Hey boyfriend, hope you got to your parents’ ok
The smile on Lewis’s face has reached new heights of stupidity as he texts back, Hey boyfriend, I’m in picturesque Weehawken. Hope you and Hetty are having a good day
He sticks his phone back in his pocket and looks up to see his parents beaming at him. Is he going to tell them about Tad?
Yes. He totally is.
So he does.