Page 40 of Mine

I took off my cap and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

Her breath caught as she let go of her son and walked over to me, her arms open as she moved. “Trevan,” she gasped. “Please, call me Cece.”

Whatever I had expected, the reception she gave me was not it. The woman was on me, arms around my neck, kissing my cheek, pressed tight to me, thanking me over and over for coming because she knew sure as she was standing there that without me there was no hope.

“He would have never come without you,” she told me, her breath shaky as I heard the tears. “Oh darling, thank you… thank you so much.”

My eyes flicked to Landry as he walked over to us, putting his hand on the back of my neck, squeezing, massaging.

She let me go, stepping back to look at us, taking us in. “Well, don’t you two make a beautiful pair.”

Landry’s smile was instantly brilliant, all there, animating his features. She gasped, the understanding hitting her. Compliment me, make her son deliciously happy. She was observant, and that lesson was an easy one to learn.

“Come see everybody,” she commanded, taking Landry’s hand, tugging him after her.

He let go of my neck and grabbed my hand, and I took hold of it and held on so his mother ended up pulling a chain, first him, then me.

“Landry.”

His father, Neil Carter, held out his arms, and it was obvious that Landry was supposed to go to him, not the other way around. He moved after a second and they did the guy clench, but that was it. I was surprised at his father’s lack of emotion and warmth, but at least it was real. The handshake the man gave me, with the added squeeze of my bicep, seemed friendlier. At least it wasn’t just pleasant. He was really very pleased to meet me.

Landry’s brother Scott stepped in beside his father and gave Landry the same greeting, but the handshake I got could barely be called one. He didn’t want to touch me at all.

Jocelyn, Landry’s sister, was next, a female version of him, but smaller boned, like a bird, with flawless skin and sharp-angled model features. Her husband, Hugh, looked like he belonged in a magazine with her with his perfect smile, perfect hair, and perfect suit. She hugged her brother tight, leaned on him, and told him how much he’d been missed. Hugh shook his hand and told him how pleased he was to finally meet him. It didn’t feel real to me, but I was used to my loud “grab you tight and steal your breath” family.

When my father passed away, at the funeral, his parents, my grandparents, walked right up to my mother and begged her not to disappear from their lives. They wanted to make sure, even though my father was the youngest of six and they had plenty of other grandkids, that my sister and I would still be around. They didn’t want to miss out on seeing us grow up. My mother started bawling, and my grandfather wrapped her up in his strong arms. I wasn’t sure, but I thought maybe some of my mother’s hesitancy about waiting so long to date stemmed from how close she still was to my father’s family. It had been a blessing for me and my sister having so much family, so many people who kept tabs on us and cared. And we knew we were loved.

Either side you chose, my mom’s Cuban contingent or my dad’s African American camp, everybody hugged and kissed and force-fed you and held your hand and got up in your face if they had a question. I was loved, I knew I was, and there was no way to miss it. Seeing how quiet everyone was at Landry’s home, how subdued, I didn’t wonder why he so adored my family. The level of “showing” that Landry required, the physical demonstration, the verbal assurances, the ordering for him to come and sit his ass down and eat and talk—he knew he was loved to pieces in my world; he had to have floundered in his.

“I’d like you to meet my boyfriend,” he told his sister.

I leaned forward and shook her hand, shook Hugh’s, and smiled.

“Will,” Landry said then, and I realized that he was talking to the guy standing behind his sister.

“Your folks thought it would be nice for you to see an old friend,” he told him, walking forward, arms out. “And I was thrilled to hear that you were finally coming home.”

Landry took a step back and offered Will his hand instead of the hug the other man had obviously been expecting. “Thank you.”

Will was hurt; it was in his eyes even as he tried to smile and shook the hand that had been thrust at him. “I can’t wait for you to meet my family; I’m bringing them with me tonight to your welcome home party.”

Landry withdrew his hand. “Your family?”

“Yes, my wife and children.”

“You’re married?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

Landry nodded and reached for me.

I took the questing hand in mine and squeezed tight.

“This is my boyfriend, Trevan Bean. Trev, this is my old friend Will.”

“Oh.” He was very surprised, downright stunned to be looking at me. “Your boyfriend?”

“Yes,” was all Landry said.