“Three?” She really couldn’t seem to movepast that since it didn’t involve a religion somehow.
Andwhathad she been watching thathad gay polygamists in it? Cults didn’t mean a nice normal ménagerelationship.
“Yes.” I figured since I’d already blownher mind there was no reason to hold back. “I’m dating Scott and a guy namedDare.”
That had her immediately switching gears.“But you’re living together.”
And that meant we shouldn’t date?
“Yes, we’re taking it slow.” Kind of.
“What happens…well, if you break up?” Dadseemed glad to have something practical to focus on. “We’re all the family hehas.”
I was glad my dad still thought of him as familyafter my announcement, but I didn’t want them to worry. “I’m not sure that’s anissue. We’re going to be looking at a bigger place soon.”
Then a thought occurred to me. “Our neighborhoodis kind of going downhill. Where do you think we should look for a new place?”
Dad was thrilled to move past therelationship stuff. He’d gotten used to Scott and me being roommates, so thatpart of the conversation was easy. He immediately started going through areasof town and talking about buying versus renting and things like that. Mom justwatched, alternating between shaking her head and looking confused.
She finally seemed to come to some kind ofconclusion in her head because she walked over to the couch and sat down besideDad. “No, don’t tell him to live over there. I’ve heard terrible things abouthow dirty the grocery stores are in that part of town. He needs to live someplacenicer.”
Mom hated our apartment and had for years.We’d just made a deal that she didn’t come over and she’d stopped nagging.Deciding to test the waters, I took a deep breath. “Dare thinks the place we’rein is dangerous and it’s driving him crazy, so Scott and I agreed to look forsomething new.”
Mom sat there stiffly for a moment beforegiving me a smile and patting Dad’s leg. “I’m glad someone could talk somesense into you boys. That place is frightening.”
Something eased inside of me. I had a feelingDare had just moved up the acceptance ladder. As they continued to lecture andgive advice, I could finally see Dare and Scott there with me as my parentsawkwardly rambled. It would be tense and not the easiest meet-the-parentsexperience, but I knew we’d get there eventually.
Chapter 12
Dare
Ryan looked tired as he walked in the door.Scott and I were curled up on the couch waiting for him, but from the startthat ran through Scott, he didn’t like what he saw coming from Ryan. Iuntangled myself from Scott and stood as Ryan came over.
Some of Scott’s nerves must have faded ashe focused on Ryan because he immediately reached out and pulled Ryan down ontothe couch. As Scott curled into him, I stretched out over them both because thecouch was a good size but not three-men-cuddling sized.
They both reached out to hold me tight, andI twisted a bit so I could press a quick kiss to Ryan’s lips. “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged, but his arms tightened, sendingmixed signals. “I told my parents about us.”
Well, that wasn’t what I’d been expecting.
Scott seemed to be holding his breath, andI realized some of his tension wasn’t just his concern for Ryan. Ryan’s parentswere the closest thing he had to family. He might have thought that was selfishor he might have just been in shock because he didn’t say anything.
Since figuring out what had happened seemedto be up to me, I focused on Ryan for the time being. “How did they take it?”
And whatexactlyhad he said?
Ryan shrugged again, which wasn’t helpful.He seemed to realize that because he took a deep breath and continued. “Theythought it was…odd, maybe. They weren’t angry or anything. It was kind of hardto read, actually.”
From what he’d said, his parents wereaccepting but had no idea how to talk to him aboutanything. “How did itcome up?”
I couldn’t imagine him randomlyvolunteering the information.
His body tensed and I could almost see theshrug coming, but he stopped just in time. Almost smiling, he started strokingmy back. “My mother thought I was too distracted, and she didn’t buy my excusefor not visiting enough that I’d just been busy.”
Yeah, he wasn’t the best liar, so I couldsee how that hadn’t worked.
“So she cornered you?” I was still tryingto piece together what had happened, and I had a feeling Scott was stillworried because he hadn’t started moving yet.
