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“I’m just making the point that men who’re attracted to women need them for more than just emotional support. Of course, that’s incredibly important, but—”
“Okay, okay,” he whines, reaching down to pick his backpack up from the floor and swinging it over his shoulder. “I get the picture.”
“Good.” I move to grab an iced coffee from the fridge. I usually like to make it at home, less wasteful, but there’s no time left to do that.
“Now, let’s get you off to camp while I get to go to work to pay for said camp.”
“Hey,” Dylan protests. “I said that if you couldn’t afford it, I didn’t have to go.”
I mess his hair up and then put my arm around his shoulder. What did I do to get so lucky with him? “Don’t worry, kid. We can afford it. I’m just messing with you.”
***
“How’s Dylan doing?” Coral asks, as I walk to my office.
“Um, I think he’s all right. We had another good talk this morning.” I stop at Coral’s desk, and she hands me a pile of messages I need to look at. “Thank you, by the way, for your help last night.”
“No problem.”
“I really appreciate it when you jump in and help to fill that ‘maternal’ role in his life. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t tell you how big a role you play in our lives.”
“Well, I have more than enough practice with my brood. And I’m happy to do it.” Coral smiles at me and waves me into my office. She follows me in and sits in the leather chair across from my desk. I roll my eyes at her.
“What?” she asks. “Now we can at least pretend like we’re working.”
“So, what did you two talk about today? You and Dyl, I mean.”
I turn on my computer and pull my files from my briefcase.
“I just kind of reiterated what you said last night, and then I reminded him that men like us need the company of women for other things than simply talking. For risk of getting a sexual harassment warning, I’ll spare you the details.”
“That ship sailed a long time ago, buddy.” Coral laughs. “Right after that raunchy wedding gift you got for us.”
I smile. “Oh, yeah. That’s right. I totally forgot about that.”
“Anyway—”
“Right,” I cut Coral off. “That was about it. Oh, and I used you and Seamus as an example of a healthy, albeit not perfect, couple.”
“I’m glad you said that last part. We certainly aren’t perfect.” Her dopey smile contradicts her words.
I lean back in my chair. It’s a dark leather one imported from Italy, and I love it. “If you were,” I say, “or at least thought you were, you wouldn’t be living in reality. And that’s what I told him. Then, I brought up the fact that for the short amount of time that we stayed with you, you two were always cordial and respectful of each other despite the fact that you had a newborn at home.”
“That’s right. It was right around the time Maxine was born.”
“Mhm.”
“Boy,” Coral laughs. “Did I want to smack Seamus upside the head every time I had to get up instead of him in the night because I was breastfeeding.”
“Exactly,” I point out. “But you never actually did.”
“No. But I wanted to.”
“And that’s the difference between being a good human with occasional unreasonable thoughts and a bad person that actually acts out on them.” My computer is finally on, and I log on to my accounts. There are almost a hundred unread emails in my inbox, and I groan.
“I suppose,” Coral agrees. “Have you thought any more about asking Mae out?”
“Uh—no.” And it’s not just because Dylan doesn’t like it. It’s a bad idea. The thought of her breaking my heart, or me breaking hers, has my hand curling into a fist. “Like I said, I don’t think it’s such a good idea with the condo deal and everything.”
