Page 75 of AJ’s Fire

“We'll see you both on Easter?” Mr. Dorso asked before Jackson could respond.

Jackson looked close to tears as he nodded at his parents.

“Come on, Mandy. Let's give these boys some privacy. We’ll talk to them more next week. Maybe convince Jackson that a seat on the board of trustees wouldn’t be too much of a commitment.” Mr. Dorso wrapped his hands around Jackson’s forearms and looked at him before pulling him in for a hug.

Mrs. Dorso offered her hand to me and I enveloped it in both of mine.. “It is lovely to finally meet you, AJ. Jackson really has told us so much about you over the years. Your stepmother is Natalie Marchetti-Gordon?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mrs. Dorso’s face truly relaxed for the first time. “We read one of her works recently in my women’s reading group.” Mrs. Dorso’s tone softened as she dropped my hand and wrapped her arms around her son. “We’ll see you boys next weekend.”

We walked the couple to the front door. Jackson closed the door on his parents and slumped against it, heaving a sigh of relief.

“You might as well tell me now.” He smirked at me, his hands behind his back, gripping the doorknob as if he was worried his parents might barge back in.

“Tell you what?”

“My parents are going to do a full background check on you. Skeletons in your closet? Secretly divorced? Filed for bankruptcy? I’ll know it all in a week.”

I walked to him and put my hands on his hips. “Well, there is the one secret.”

His eyes went wide. “What’s that?”

“I’ve been secretly in the closet and banging my best friend for the past eleven weeks and six days.”

He ran a hand down my arm, smiling softly as he did so, a look of love causing the color in his eyes to pop in new and remarkable ways. His hand traveled to meet mine at my hip, and he walked us back toward the bedroom.

“Making love, not banging. And I can’t believe you counted.”

“I think I’m right,” I muttered. “Might be off by a couple of days. So do we pull off the bandage and talk to my family tomorrow?”

Jackson flopped on the bed as he whined, “No!” He sat up and looked at me. “Oh god, I mean, you should come out on your own time. I support you fully.” I could practically hear the words “blah, blah, blah” at the end of that sentence. “But I don’t think I can go through this again so soon. Can we stick to the very excellent plan where we hide from your family until after Easter and then go up to Hampstead and tell them?”

I pushed Jackson back down on the bed and straddled him. “’Course, cariño. Let’s stick to the plan.”

We rolled around on the bed until we were both sweaty and coming over Jackson’s hand, a stress relief we both needed. I thought I heard a text come through somewhere mid-romp, but I ignored my phone until the next morning.

I woke up with Jackson wrapped around me and had difficulty extricating myself. “Don’t wake up. Just running to the bathroom.”

I propped myself up in bed when I returned and spent a few minutes lost in looking at Jackson sleeping peacefully next to me. It may not have gone according to plan, but Jackson was out to his parents. I hoped that meant he’d find some peace.

I finally grabbed my phone from the nightstand that I’d come to think of as mine and discovered a text that had come in from Nat the night before.

Nat: Everything ok with you and Jackson? You didn’t seem quite as in sync as you always do. Jamie said an old girlfriend of his moved to town. Are you both finally settling down?

Nat was so obviously fishing. Ignoring all that, I texted Jamie instead.

AJ: Skipping brunch. Love to the fam. Congrats on coming out.

Jamie: No! Who will save me from making a fool of myself at brunch with Dev?

“It’s Dev now,” I whispered out loud. Jackson stirred, adorably, but didn’t wake.

AJ: Shit going on. All good. Can we talk this week?

Jamie: Busy pre-Easter week. After dance on Thursday?

I looked at Jackson, who had been joining me for dance lessons of late, and decided that would be the perfect time for the two of us to fill Jamie in on our shockingly similar secret.