You Are the Reason (30 page)

It is decidedly so.

I could feel the grin spreading across my face. I
would
be getting the good stuff that night. I snuck a look at Lee, expecting to find him smiling with mockery or maybe anticipation, only to find him with a look that I couldn’t quite decipher. He was looking at me like he wanted to analyze me. It was like I was a puzzle that he couldn’t
quite
figure out.

I threw Mr. Magic 8 Ball on the bed and grabbed some clothes. “So, what do you want for breakfast?” I asked, trying to change the subject. “Cereal? Eggs? Toast?” We agreed on my super-duper scrambled eggs again and got dressed.

I rang Mum after breakfast while Lee was in the shower.

“Hello?” she said as she answered the phone.

“Hi, Mum. It’s Dave.”

“Hi, love,” she answered, pleasure entering her voice. “I was just thinking about you. I’ve finished the baby’s present, and I wanted you to come over and have a look.”

I smiled as I remembered Mum saying she was going to make something for Maxine. “That would be great, Mum. Listen—we were thinking of coming over this morning for coffee? That is, if you’re home?”

“We?” she questioned.

“Well… uhh….” I hesitated over what to say. I swallowed. “I wanted to introduce you to someone, Mum. He’s… uhh…. Well, he’s my boyfriend.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. I waited for a few seconds, then checked my phone to make sure we were still connected.

“Mum?” I queried, thinking I’d either dropped out, or she’d dropped dead. With shock.

She finally answered, her voice hushed with wonder and surprise. “Boyfriend?”

I laughed self-consciously. My parents had only been asking me to bring someone home for them to meet for twelve years. It wasn’t like I’d been keeping them hanging or anything.

“Yeah, Ma. His name’s Lee, and I was hoping to bring him around this morning? That is, if you’re not doing anything?”

I had to wait again for my mother to speak. I heard her clear her throat. Then she croaked, “Sure. Come on over.” Then she began to fire rapid questions at me. “What’s Lee’s favorite cake? I’ll make it for him. What about drinks? Does he drink something special? Or maybe he’s one of those vegan dieters. Oh my gosh. Maybe your father can run to the store for me and—”

“Mum,” I interrupted. “Lee’s cool. We’re coming for coffee and a biscuit. There’s no need to bake a cake for him. Would you like us to stop in at the store and pick up one?”

“Of course not, love,” she cried. “No, I’ll….” She trailed off, and I knew that she was going to do something elaborate. “Just you and him will be fine. No need to bring anything else. What time will you be over?”

I glanced at the clock. It was scarcely after eight. “I’m taking Lee down to Bunnings so he can help me pick out some garden edging. Remember I told you I’d dug up my backyard? So now I need to put in some garden beds or something. I guess we’ll be around to you at about ten? Ten thirty maybe?”

“Okay, love,” she agreed. I could tell by the distracted tone of her voice that she was already mentally planning something. I hoped Lee liked cake because I had a feeling he was about to get some. She rang off, and I grinned, wondering what my mother would think of my boyfriend.

I hope she loved him.

Because I had a feeling I did.

W
E
WENT
to Bunnings, and I spent my entire pay packet there. Lee told me he’d only been to Bunnings a couple of times, and my jaw dropped.

“I can end up here three times in one day,” I declared. Then I set about introducing him to the wonder of hardware stores. And his eyes only glazed over twice that I noticed. He helped me pick out some decorative garden edging, all the equipment needed to install a small pond in the corner of my yard, and some lighting to go in too. I grabbed fertilizer, soil conditioner, and wetting agents, but declared that the plants would have to wait another week (or month, since my bank balance was puffing). I told Lee he could help me do that, and he grinned excitedly.

But after standing and watching me sort through sprinkler parts, joiners, and pipes for five minutes, he declared he was going for a coffee.

I grunted. Bunnings had completely capitalized on the fact that men often got lost in the great wonder of the place, and the bored wives needed something to do. So they’d installed cafés in their stores, along with seating and children’s playgrounds. I usually ignored those places, too anxious to get my new toys home and play with them. Installing a reticulated sprinkler system was just like Lego for grownups.

Finally I had all the things I thought I needed and went looking for my wayward boyfriend. I found him, coffee in hand, chatting with a woman on the bench seat outside the playground area. A variety of kids screamed with laughter as they climbed the giant slides. I wondered how old Maxine would have to be before she could go on them.

He looked up and saw me, smiled as he got to his feet, and said to his new friend, “Here he finally is. We were thinking of sending out a search party.”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t lost.”

The woman looked around. “Well, my husband certainly is. You didn’t happen to see a good looking guy with a green shirt, did you?”

“Ah, no.” Why would I be looking at other guys when I had Lee?

She shrugged, and Lee waved good-bye. He looked at my full trolley and said, “Do you think you have everything we need?”

I headed toward the checkout. “No. But that’s half the fun. Coming back later to grab some more.”

I ignored his groan and began to pile my items on the checkout desk.

“A
RE
YOU
sure she knows you’re gay?” Lee whispered to me as we were pulling into the driveway.

I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “They all know. I told them when I was fifteen.”

I was nervous and trying not to show it. Lee was supernervous and trying to be brave. I got out of the car, but he didn’t move, forcing me to go around his side and open the door. He looked at me with an imploring face. “Any last words of wisdom?”

I chuckled and yanked him out of the car. I considered kissing him until he stopped stressing, but it was possible my dad was spying on us. “Be yourself. They’ll love you.”

We linked hands as we walked around the side of the house to enter through the sliding glass door. I was right about Mum. She’d baked two cakes and was pulling pumpkin scones out of the oven. She looked up from her baking as we came in, and a smile instantly transformed her face. Her eyes darted quickly to the side of me and landed on Lee who was twitching with nerves. Mum’s face lit up even further.

“Hi.” She rushed around the edge of the bench to greet us but realized halfway that she was still wearing her oven mitts and apron. So she backtracked to get them off. Lee shut the door before she approached and gave me a hug, kissing my cheek as usual. “Hello, son. I thought you’d joined the army or something.”

I clutched her in relief, returning the hug. “Not this week.”

We pulled back, and she looked expectedly at my boyfriend. So I made the introductions.

“Mum, this is Lee. Lee, this is my mother.”

Lee smiled and waved his hand. “Hi, Mrs. Pederson.”

Mum clasped her hands in front of her and admonished him. “None of that formal stuff. You can call me Irene. Oh, look at you. You’re the first Dave’s brought to meet me. I think that I—”

She had a gushy smile on her face, and I knew what was coming. I tried to stop it. “No, Mum—”

But it was too late. My mother heaved a sigh then grasped Lee in her arms and hauled him in for a big mum hug, complete with a kiss on his cheek. Lee looked shocked as my mother hugged him tight. He waved his hands around in the air, clearly unsure what to do. She squished him one more time and stepped back.

The three of us stood in silence. Me mortified. Lee shocked. Mum so exultant that her cheeks were blooming, and I had a feeling she was on the verge of happy tears.

“Coffee?” I croaked hopefully.

Mum nodded and bustled into the kitchen, content as a pig in mud. Her oldest had a boyfriend. Life was good. I wondered why I hadn’t brought home anyone before if this was how good it felt.

Dad entered the room behind us, and he’d obviously been working in the yard. His knees were dirty, and there was an oil stain across his belly. I did the introductions again, and Lee and Dad were discussing Lee’s position at the Drop-In when Cole wandered out of his bedroom, and I introduced Lee for a third time.

When Cole found out what Lee did for a living, he bombarded the poor guy for specifics of a dental drill for his latest Robotic Wars invention. Under my bemused gaze, Cole hauled Lee down the hallway to Cole’s bedroom. I sipped my coffee with a satisfied smile on my face. Then I realized there was silence in the room. I looked up to see my parents sharing a particular look between them. They both grinned at me.

“What?” I asked them defensively.

“Nothing,” Mum trilled innocently while I frowned at her in consternation. Then she elbowed my father in the ribs. He flinched.

“Nothing, son,” he assured me. “We just like him.”

I fought the blush and lost.

Mum brought the cakes forward and sliced them in readiness for Lee’s approval—which he wholeheartedly gave while gobbling them down.

Finally coffee was over, and Dad said, “C’mon, boys. I need some help with this fence.”

Cole pulled out his usual excuse. “I’ve got homework to do.” He disappeared before I could protest. So Lee and I gave Dad a hand to finish placing the fence in the right spot. Or rather, I helped Dad, and Lee simply held whatever we told him to.

“Lee? Can you go and ask Irene to come out here and give her approval?” Dad asked when we were nearly finished. Lee agreed and disappeared inside the house. Dad gave me a long look. “He doesn’t know much about DIY, does he?”

I rolled my eyes as I lined up the last series of holes for Dad to drill. “I took him to Bunnings this morning, and he wandered off and bought coffee.”

We looked at each other and burst into laughter. But even though we were laughing at Lee, I knew that Dad liked him. Okay, so he wasn’t handy with a hammer and didn’t know what a plumb line was, but that was okay.

He was handy with other things that I had no intention of discussing with my dad, and he made me feel good—both in and out of bed. He made me feel things I’d never experienced before. He made me want to be a better person. A better man. A better lover. A better partner.

He’d helped me discover some things about myself that I didn’t like and was working on changing. He’d helped me grow.

He made me think about more than just the next few minutes with a man. He made me think about the next hour. The next dinner date. The next month. The next year.

He made me think that perhaps I would willingly do the vacuuming and put out the rubbish bin. He made me think the big
L
word.

T
HE
FOLLOWING
weekend I drove to Lee’s house to pick him up. Thor and his current girlfriend were having a barbecue with a few friends, so we drove out to his place for lunch. I attended the barbecue reluctantly since I hadn’t really cottoned on to Thor’s girlfriend, Cynthia. From the grumbling and mumblings of my friends, they didn’t like her much either. I found her cold and unappealing, despite her supposed good looks and well-kept appearance. Originally I had thought my distaste for her was due to my homosexuality, but as time went on, each of my friends voiced their dislike for her too. Although I couldn’t pin down what each man detested about her. They were all rather tight-lipped, as if something had happened to each of them they didn’t wish to discuss.

It made me extremely wary.

But the friendship that Thor and I had forged in high school was stronger than the blinkers Thor obviously had on when it came to his girlfriend. So I dragged Lee along, knowing I could sit in a corner and chat with him if things went south at the party.

Like it had other times.

There were a couple of cars in Lee’s driveway when I pulled up, and I wondered who had the visitors.

I also wondered how long I would have to wait for Lee to be ready. And whether I should’ve lied and told him to be ready twenty minutes early.

I rang the doorbell and waited patiently until Charlotte answered.

“Dave. How wonderful to see you. Come on in and meet the others. As I’m sure you know, Lee will be a while.”

I mentally cringed at “the others” because I didn’t want to wear out my socializing patience before I got to Thor’s house. But what could I do? I followed Charlotte to the back patio and put on my best salesman persona.

There were several people standing and sitting around the pool, glasses of wine in their hands. A few turned to me with pleasant smiles. There was some sort of easy-listening jazz coming from hidden speakers, dips were artfully arranged on the low tables, and Howard was grilling something on the barbecue. Charlotte steered me toward two elegantly clad women seated on a lounger.