Chapter Twenty-Four

“YOUR PARENTSare coming.”

Dylan’s eyes brightened. “Kevin and Carl? They didn’t say anything.”

Ryan shook his head sadly, hating the way the light in Dylan’s eyes dimmed.

“Oh.” Dylan’s shoulders slumped.

“I didn’t know. Stephanie invited them. I don’t want them here, but what can I do?”

Dylan looked so small and forlorn. Ryan went over and put his arms around him. “It will be okay.”

“I can’t stay here with them. I… I can’t. I should be brave. I know I have the right to be here, but….” He closed his eyes and shuddered.

Ryan kissed his temple. “It’s okay. I figured you’d feel that way. I thought you could stay at the apartment.”

Dylan nodded and sniffed. “I suppose so. Maybe I should go back to LA?”

Panic swept through him. Ryan grasped Dylan’s shoulders. “No, no you can’t. Leo needs you. Please, I need you to stay. I’m going to need to know you’ll be here when they go. It’s only a few days. We can make it work.”

Dylan nodded mutely. Ryan lifted his chin with his finger and pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “Stay,” he whispered.

They kissed and whispered promises they would stay for each other.

“When do they get here?” Dylan asked.

“Day after tomorrow. They get in Thursday morning and leave on Monday.”

“What are we going to say to Leo?”

Ryan sighed. “I don’t know.”

“We… we could tell him I had to go back to LA for a few days.”

“I hate making you hide away.”

“I think it would be worse being here with them.”

Dylan was right. Ryan knew in his gut his in-laws would do their best to make Dylan uncomfortable during their visit. And what would Arlene and Clay say if they knew their son-in-law was gay?

“Ryan, what’s going on?”

Dylan was looking at him anxiously. He shook his head. “Nothing. I was trying to figure everything out.”

“Is there something else you need me to do?”

Ryan snaked his arm around Dylan’s waist and planted a brief, firm kiss on his lips. “You just did it.”

“This is only a short-term solution, you know that, right? What happens when the summer’s over?”

“We’ll figure it out. I know you need to get back to your students, and I wouldn’t ask you to leave them. I know how much you love your job. Leo and I could fly down on the weekends, or you could come up, and we can spend vacations and the holidays together. Maybe rent a cabin in the mountains for the holidays. We could invite Kevin and Carl.” He nuzzled Dylan’s temple, his voice dripping in a low, husky tone. “We could get cozy by the fire.”

“Ryan,” Dylan whispered his name.

“Let’s watch a movie tonight.”

Dylan smiled. “The last time we watched a movie, we didn’t.”

“Exactly,” Ryan replied with a wink.

The brave face he put on for Dylan fell as soon as he was alone. Ryan felt nothing but dread at the thought of Arlene and Clay coming to visit. The last time he saw them was at Lindsay’s funeral, where they tearfully accepted the condolences for the loss of another child. Only it was a lie. They weren’t childless; they had a beautiful, warm, loving son who they’d rejected, who they’d rather pretend was dead than accept him for who he was. Ryan would never put conditions on his love for Leo. But wasn’t that exactly what his parents had done to him? Marry the right woman, entertain clients, make more money, live in the right house, drive the right car. What was right? What did right really mean?

The one thing he knew with absolute certainty was how right he felt when he held Dylan in his arms.

They came together in the theater room with a frenzy that night, with sloppy kisses, their hands everywhere, touching every inch of each other’s bodies. The next morning, Dylan told Leo that he had to go to LA for a few days, promising he’d come back as soon as he could. Ryan watched Dylan say goodbye with tears in his eyes as he hugged Leo with a heavy heart. Nothing about this felt right, but putting up a fight would cause more trouble. This was the easiest solution that would cause the least amount of inconvenience for everyone. Except for Dylan and him.

“What’s wrong with you?” Stephanie whispered, elbowing him at dinner.

They were eating in the dining room that had been unused since Lindsay died. His parents insisted. How quickly he’d given in, slipping into the habit of going along, thinking it was easier than fighting.

With his in-laws there, they had to say grace at dinner, and they’d asked if Mrs. Lieu could prepare a traditional meal since they weren’t used to ethnic foods. He’d have to give Mrs. Lieu another raise for maintaining her composure despite the anger he saw flash in her eyes. Ryan didn’t blame her. The one thing he’d put his foot down on was when they tried to insist Leo sit at the table and use his “best manners.” He would not make his son sit through dinner being corrected on his manners. Leo, Rebecca, and Mrs. Lieu ate at the kitchen island, and Ryan wished he were with them.

“Ryan, Leo is looking so much better. I told you prayer works,” Arlene said.

He’d been half listening to the conversation until then. He set the glass of wine in his hand down. “I think your son has more to do with Leo’s recovery than prayer,” he said in a steely tone.

His mother-in-law flinched, pressing her mouth into a thin line.

“Well, now that he’s getting better, there’s a Pee Wee football camp that I thought would be good for the boy.”

Ryan couldn’t believe what his father-in-law was suggesting. “Leo is recovering, but he’s nowhere near being able to play Pee Wee football. I’m pretty sure when you asked him what he liked to play, I heard him tell you he’d like to play soccer.”

“Leo’s too young to know what he likes,” his father-in-law said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “He needs guidance.”

Ryan looked around the table, seeing his parents and sister nodding in agreement. Now that he knew Dylan, he had a new perspective on his in-laws’ behavior. His heart hurt picturing Dylan as a little boy being told his choices weren’t right.

“Yes, he does. I’m his father, so I think I should be the one who provides that guidance. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Ryan enjoyed watching his father-in-law squirm in his seat. They spent the rest of the dinner in an uncomfortable silence while his parents and Stephanie tried to fill in the gap with mindless small talk.

Thank God Arlene and Clay weren’t night owls. They didn’t stay up to visit late into the evening, usually in bed by nine. Still, it took all of Ryan’s self-discipline to play nice during the time he had to entertain them. His in-laws had an opinion about everything, and they were always rooted in their southern faith-based values. How could Ryan live in a state that legalized marijuana? Wouldn’t that be bad for Leo? Seattle had too many electric cars. When would Ryan join a church and enroll Leo in Sunday school? The list was endless and exhausting. The conversation about Leo’s schooling triggered memories of one of the last arguments Ryan had with Lindsay. She wanted to enroll Leo in a private Christian school. It was one of the few times Ryan put his foot down and refused to budge. Reading about the school, he’d been disgusted by the conservative values listed in their code of conduct. They were anti-gay, anti-trans and preached traditional roles for male and female students. Lindsay’s choice of school made sense now. Of course she wanted to reinforce stereotypes of what a man was supposed to be. He wondered what would have happened if Lindsay were alive when Leo’s leukemia was diagnosed. Would she have told him about Dylan? Would she risk the life of her son the same way her parents put their grandson’s life in danger?

Late that night he walked into the apartment and into Dylan’s arms. It crushed him to hear Dylan ask about his parents, his voice shaking, the pain visible in his eyes.

It broke his heart to untangle himself from Dylan’s arms later, knowing he’d wake up in bed alone. As he drove across the bridge, he saw a faint glimmer of light appear on the horizon. Ryan vowed to make it up to Dylan. He couldn’t undo the pain Dylan’s parents caused him, but he could do everything possible to make sure he never felt unwanted or unloved again.