“Left isn’t really the right word.” Katie tried to explain. “She visits, and she takes me shopping, and I call her with girly questions. She’s more like a favorite aunt than a mother.”
“We have to enlist her help occasionally.” Adam motioned from him to Dan and back. “We don’t know shit about tampons and stuff, since neither one of us has ever been near a vagina.”
Katie’s cheeks flamed red again.
“You’re gay,” I suddenly blurted out.
“He’s a smart one, isn’t he?” Dan winked.
“Shut it,” Adam barked, pointing a spoon at Dan. “Yes, we are gay. Does that bother you?”
“No sir,” I said, and I sat down on a stool, accepted my bowl of ice cream, and shoveled a spoonful into my mouth.
“Good boy,” Dan said as he patted my head like I was a puppy.
Katie sat down beside me and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Are you sure you’re okay with it? Some people aren’t.”
I shoveled the last bite of ice cream into my mouth and Dan put a new scoop in my bowl. I ate it to keep from answering.
Katie heaved a sigh. She began to nervously shake her legs, and her knee jumped so hard I was afraid she’d vibrate the stool she was sitting on right out the door. I finished my ice cream while they all chit-chatted about the cold water we fell into, and Katie explained why she was wearing my clothes. Adam and Dan ribbed one another.
“I should go,” I said. “My dad will be worried.” I took my empty bowl to the sink and rinsed it out.
“Damn, Old Mr. Jacobson raised a son with manners,” Dan said.
“You know my dad?”
They both grinned. “He caught us kissing when we were about your age,” said Adam. “We were taking a walk down by the shore. In the moonlight.”
Dan dropped his voice down to a gruff growl. “‘You boys need to get a room,’ he said to us.”
“We quickly found out that he said that to all the straight kids, too.” Adam laughed, then sobered. “I was really sorry to hear about your mom.”
I nodded. I didn’t like to talk about my mother. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to walk Jake to the door,” Katie said.
“You mean you’re going to kiss his face off,” Dan said. He glared at Katie. “No.” He pointed to the door. “Good night, Jake.”
“Good night, sir,” I said.
I walked all the way to the door without looking back. “Thank you for the ice cream,” I said as I slipped outside. Then quickly I
poked my head back in again. “Can I come and visit Katie tomorrow?”
The corners of her lips tipped up.
Dan looked at me and shrugged. “That’s up to Katie.”
Katie smiled at me and nodded her head. “I’d like that.”
As I walked away from the cabin, I could hear Adam inside, taunting playfully. “Jake and Katie sittin’ in a tree…”
Then I ran all the way home to tell my dad about Katie’s oddly intriguing family. And he said I made him proud, although I couldn’t figure out why accepting someone’s sexuality was something to be proud of. It was kind of like him being proud of me if I said I liked blue eyes.
“I’m going to see her again tomorrow,” I told my dad.
He went to his room and came back with a small box of condoms. He threw the box at my face, and I caught it, juggling.