Finding Family 02 - The Family We Make by Kaje Harper

Author:Kaje Harper [Harper, Kaje]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Sam pulled up in front of a suburban house like all the rest on the block. He checked the number on the mailbox, left the truck in park but running, and headed up the walk. As he was about to knock, the front door opened and a woman in a long coat stepped out, looking down at the small boy she was holding by the hand. She almost ran into Sam.

He caught her elbow for a second to steady her, and she stared at him. “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to give Travis a lift to work.”

“Who are you? You’re not sixty. Or eighteen.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Sam Albright, ma’am. I work for Jeff & Joe’s. Travis is doing Jeff’s filing.”

She looked him up and down, her suspicion not fading. “I don’t know. He might be staying home today.”

From behind her, Travis said, “No, Mom, I’m not. Hey, Sam, thanks for coming. I was expecting Rick.”

“He called in sick to work. I told him if he was too sick to shovel snow, he wasn’t going to drive and puke in my truck.” He’d had a strong suspicion the stomach flu was a lie, but at least he’d forced the kid to make it consistent. And truthfully, once Rick told him that Travis was dealing with his own coming out drama, Sam hadn’t wanted his kid here in the middle of it. Rick had enough parental shit of his own to deal with, without adding Travis’s.

Travis’s mom looked down at the little boy beside her, then clicked a key fob and said, “Go get in, Mason. You get an extra ten minutes of TV tonight if your seatbelt is buckled when I get there.” The boy let go of her hand and scampered toward the familiar minivan parked in the drive.

As soon as the kid was inside it, Travis’s mom turned to Sam. “Who’s Rick?”

Travis said, “My boyfriend,” at the same moment as Sam said, “My brother.” So Sam added, “And his boyfriend,” just to show he knew and was fine with it. “But he wasn’t feeling up to the drive, so I offered.”

Travis’s mom lowered her voice. “You know about them? Being… like that?”

“Sure.” He matched her quiet tone. “They’re pretty cute together.”

Travis said, “Ew.” He pushed past his mother gently, zipping up his coat. “Did you call us cute? Seriously?”

Sam gave him a little jab in the ribs. “It’s the big goo-goo eyes. If you have what you need, go on and get in the truck. It should be warm.”

Travis hesitated, looking back and forth between his mom and Sam. Sam gave him a meaningful nod toward the pickup, and after a second, he headed down the steps. His mother watched him go. When he was out of earshot she looked back at Sam, and said, “Are you a gay too?”

“No, ma’am. I’m a Marine. Or was. And my girlfriend is in the Army. It’s my brother who’s gay.”

“How can you just say it like that?”

He blinked, pretending not to understand.

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