Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(9)

Wasn’t his first rodeo with the child.

He’d had a couple of private sessions with the counselor, covering this exact scenario, but he’d hoped it’d be a while before he had to deal with it.

“Well, sweetheart, people are all different. Some people are attracted to people of the opposite gender, and some—”

“I saw on the news gay marriage is legal now. Are you going to get married? Can I be your flower girl?”

Leo had never been shocked into silence before. But as he stood there, staring at his child and with his mouth agape, he realized he had been utterly blindsided by her yet again.

If she’s this smart now, we are in a shitload of trouble when she’s older.

“Um…what?”

“Mommy had the news on one day and I saw a story about it. It was at the courthouse, and there were women marrying women and men marrying men. It looked like they were really happy. Will Mommy marry a woman even though she’s had boyfriends?”

They were far down the rabbit hole. “Um…no. I…doubt it.” He needed to get control of this, and fast, before it spun into something he couldn’t deal with. “Sweetheart, look. Your mom and I will always love you and get along for you. I want your mom to be happy, and she wants me to be happy. Love takes a lot of forms—”

“George Takei says it’s okay to be gay. I saw him on TV, too. He’s that guy from Star Trek. He looks a lot older now than he does on the show. Why is that?”

Nope. Blindsided again.

His mouth snapped shut on what he’d been about to say. One of the things he’d introduced Laurel to that Eva never had enjoyed was the original Star Trek TV show. As Laurel grew older, he planned on introducing his daughter to more TV shows he enjoyed in the sci-fi genre, but some of them were still a little too old for her to watch, even though when he did the math he’d been watching them at her age.

Ah, the perspective that comes from parenting.

He obviously wasn’t winning this conversation, no matter how he tried. She was like a greased pig cranked up on meth, and he was a one-armed, drunk redneck with a wooden leg and an eyepatch and stumbling around in a dark forest, trying to catch her.

At least, that was what it felt like.

“Yes, I’m gay,” he finally said. “That means I’m attracted to men instead of women. No, I’m not dating anyone right now, so it’s way too soon to be talking about marriage.”

“Okay.” She went back to carefully placing each piece of vegetable in the baking dish.

He waited, but…

Apparently, that was it. She was satisfied now that she’d dropped him into a mental blender and hit puree.

Frequently, he wondered if Laurel was smarter than him and Eva put together. He couldn’t help but suspect that sometimes Laurel brought up topics of conversation just to see what would happen.

Like pulling a pin on a strange canister and lobbing it out into the middle of a field to see if it would smoke or explode.

We are in sooo much trouble when she gets older.

“Is the oven preheating, Daddy?”

That shook him out of his spell. He checked. “Yes. It’s ready.”

She smiled up at him. “I love helping you cook, Daddy.”

“I love having you help me cook.”

Although the conversation tonight had left him feeling shaken, not stirred.





It wasn’t until after Laurel was safely in bed and asleep later that night that he collapsed on the couch in front of the dark TV and contemplated their earlier conversation.

Laurel hadn’t brought it up again.

He still felt pissed off that Eva had been discussing his personal life—what little she knew of it—with one of her boyfriends. Especially around Laurel.

And especially with a boyfriend she hadn’t even bothered to mention to Leo.

Despite knowing this wasn’t a good idea, he picked up his cell phone and dialed Eva.

She answered on the second ring. “What’s up, Leo?”

He bit back his first scathing response in lieu of, “Can we talk for a minute?”

“Sure.” In the background on her end, he heard the TV mute. “What’s up?”

“Are you alone?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I want this discussion to be private between us.”

She started to say something, sighed, then said, “I’m alone.” A resigned, sad tone.

The kind of tone that made him hate himself for what he’d had to do to their family.

Especially to Eva.

He forced himself to remain quiet and gentle. “Laurel and I were talking while we cooked dinner.” He related the whole conversation, including Laurel overhearing Mark.

When Eva finally responded, the rest of his ire faded. He also knew that tone quite well.

“Leo, I’m really sorry. I didn’t think she heard him, and what she didn’t hear or see was me stomping on his foot and leaning in to whisper that it was not a topic of conversation I wanted to discuss, especially not with Laurel there. I’m so sorry.”

Eva had never lied to him, that he was aware of. Not anything more serious than hiding birthday presents or spending a few dollars more on shopping than she’d meant to. Especially when he thought about the things she’d told him that she’d told no one else.