Chapter One
The dining table groaned under the weight of all the food Robin’s mom had prepared for Thanksgiving. Now the hard work was over she was all smiles. His dad was on his second glass of wine, and his twin brother Ryan wasn’t throwing shade like he usually did.
If ever there was a perfect time to come out, this was it. The only problem was how.
Robin Davis wanted to be different, dammit.
He’d gone over this moment in his head countless times, and nothing he came up with sounded quite right. Well, he wasn’t going to say a word until he was sure he’d nailed it.
Mom passed him the bowl of mashed potatoes. “Thank you for making an effort, by the way.”
Robin blinked. “Er, you’re welcome?” He held the bowl away from Ryan’s grabby hands. “She gave them to me. Wait your turn.”
“‘Wait your turn’,” Ryan mimicked in a high voice.
Robin glared at him. “Hey, it’s Thanksgiving. Quit being a jerk and have a day off.”
“Boys?” There was a warning note in his dad’s voice that Robin recognized instantly. The one that said, ‘Not today or I’m gonna bust heads.’
As if his dad would do that. Dad was a pussycat, not a hardass, but they let him have his delusions.
“I’m talking about your clothes,” Mom continued. “You didn’t come to the dinner table in those jeans you’re so fond of. You know, the ones with the rips?” That upward lift of her eyebrows was definitely a comment on the rips.
Ohhh. He gave a shrug. “Well, it is Thanksgiving, right?” And besides, his favorite jeans were in the laundry hamper. Robin did have some standards. Never mind that if he hadn’t put them in the hamper, they might have walked there under their own steam.
Dad let out a wry chuckle. “Too bad you couldn’t do something about your hair. The way it sticks up like that on top.”
It was on the tip of Robin’s tongue to inform his dad of exactly how long he’d spent in front of a mirror, getting his hair to do exactly what it was doing, when he realized what Dad had handed him.
The perfect opportunity.
“Yeah,” he said as casually as he could manage, his heart banging like a drum. “Let’s face it. My hair is never gonna be straight. Rather like me.” And with that, he attempted to eat some more turkey only his throat had seized up.
Crickets.
Robin swallowed as best he could, waiting for the next words out of their mouths.
Dad looked straight at Mom, and beamed. “I win.” He sat back with a smug expression.
What the fuck?
Mom glared at Robin. “Why couldn’t you have come out on your birthday? I’d have won twenty dollars.”
Robin’s jaw dropped. “You bet on when I’d come out?” Then it hit him. “Wait—you already know I’m gay?”
Mom shrugged. “Gay, bi, we knew it was one or the other.” She stared at him. “What—you thought we didn’t know?” She regarded his dad with a wide grin. “Aw, how cute is that?”
Ryan guffawed. “Yeah, like anyone would think you’re straight. Why’d you think I’m always calling you gay?”
Robin rubbed his chin. “Because you have a limited vocabulary? Because you think calling me gay is an insult? Because you’re a moron?”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Mom sounded a little pissed. She gave them a hard stare. “This will be one meal without you two at each other’s throats.”
Robin glanced at Ryan, catching a flicker of a smile. For one moment they were united. Mom didn’t get it. Bitching at each other was part of what being a twin was all about.
“So, Robin.” Mom’s eyes sparkled. “Are we hearing this now because you have a boyfriend? Is that it? You have a…bae?” She uttered the word cautiously, as if she was tasting it for the first time.
Robin’s face was on fire. Oh God. Kill me now.
“What’s a bae?” Dad inquired. Ryan snorted.
Before Robin could reply, Mom got in there first. “It’s a word for a boyfriend or girlfriend. I read it someplace. And if Robin has a boyfriend, I think that’s… totes awesome.”
“Mom… please, don’t? That’s really cringey.” Hearing this from the lips of his forty-year-old mom was plain wrong. “And no, I don’t, okay? So let’s drop it.”
“Petra, leave him be.” Dad’s eyes were warm. “He just came out. I think that’s a big enough step for one day, don’t you?”
Robin forgot all about his embarrassment as his chest swelled with love for his parents. He’d suspected deep down that they’d be cool with his announcement, but witnessing this confirmation of his faith in them served to remind him how lucky he was.
A sideways glance at Ryan shocked him into stillness. Ryan wasn’t grinning or making stupid faces like he always did when he figured Mom wasn’t looking, or any of the usual shit he pulled. In fact, he was eyeing Robin with what looked like respect.
Respect? From Ryan?
It was official. The world had come to an end.
No one brought up the topic for the rest of the meal, and Robin’s cheeks lost their heat. He didn’t want to think about a future where his mom was forever trying to prove she was cool. What occupied his mind was the prospect of finding a boyfriend.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t considered the idea a million times. The problem? Lake Placid, a village with about two-and-a-half thousand inhabitants, wasn’t teeming with gay guys, as far as Robin’s limited knowledge could ascertain. There’d been no one at high school that he could point to as definitely being gay or bi.
Maybe their camouflage was better than mine.
And that had been the real shocker of the day. Have I been that obvious? Did everyone know back in high school? Because that made the situation much worse. If they thought I was gay, and yet no one made a move on me? Well fuck.
Maybe Robin wasn’t as cute and adorable as he hoped he was.
Hey, at least my mom thinks I’m cute.
Yeah. That wasn’t helping.
Robin flopped onto his bed, feeling as stuffed as the turkey he’d eaten way too much of. Not that they’d gotten close to demolishing it. A lot of turkey loomed in his immediate future: turkey dinners, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey omelets, turkey pizza… Hell, one year, they were still eating his mom’s turkey soup a week before Christmas.
Oh God. Please don’t let her make that turkey sushi again.
This was his favorite time of year. The holidays loomed closer than ever, and Christmas Eve was within sight. That had always been Robin’s best day of the year. Christmas Day was usually an anticlimax, but the anticipation leading up to it? Watching the lights go up in the village, hearing Christmas songs everywhere, seeing everything covered in a blanket of snow…
Magical.
Of course, what would make it perfect this year would be if he had someone to kiss under the mistletoe. He could only imagine the look on his mom’s face if she peeked through the window when he was kissing a guy on the porch.
Well, Robin sure wasn’t gonna kiss him in the house.
A loud rap on his door made him jump. “Busy here, Ryan,” he called out. Not that he was remotely busy, but he’d had to suffer dinner with the guy. That right there practically qualified him for sainthood.