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Something warm and soft slips between my fingers, and I look down to see pale brown flesh interlocking with mine as the door slides shut behind us.
“I’m proud of you,” Deb says, grinning ear to ear. “They would be too.”
I know exactly who she’s referring to.
“You don’t have to come with me, you know.”
I squeeze her hand, letting her know it’s okay to go back.
“The only reason I’ve stayed this long is for you,” she admits, leading us towards the elevator.
The door opens behind us again, and I hear yelling before it shuts without a sound.
“Remi,” Daniel implores from behind me. I stop and wait for the older man to catch up. He’s breathing hard, though there really isn’t any reason for it.
“Come back, please. We can make this work. You’re an integral part of this company. We don’t want to lose you.”
Nausea bubbles under the surface again at how similar he sounds to Justin pleading for me to come home. I take a calming breath before turning to face the older man.
“That’s nice of you to say, Dan. Honestly. But we both know that’s not true. The Dragon would rather watch me burn on the stake than show a little acceptance and love towards his son.”
I see the truth of my words reflected back at me from Daniel’s eyes.
“That may be true, but he’s only one man.”
I give him a disbelieving look.
“You’re willing to publicly support my interracial, bisexual, triad marriage?” I ask in a dry voice.
Daniel swallows thickly, then pulls his shoulders back to stand at his full height. He played college football in his youth, something he mentions as often as possible, and never lost that thick chested posture from it, even rounding seventy.
“My daughter is gay,” he tells me, and I start at the admittance.
“I didn’t know,” I say, and he smiles softly at me.
“She and her wife went through a lot to get where they are. I marched with them, during the protests for equal rights for same-sex marriage. Who are we to judge? I’m not saying it would be easy, but there are ways to let you keep a leadership role inside the company and for you to still have a private life. Look at movie stars! Not all of them have their lives splashed across the tabloids. There are Oscar winners who you don’t even know if they have spouses and children.”
Deb makes an encouraging sound, but I shake my head no.
“Thank you, Daniel. Truly. It means a lot to me. But I don’t want to be here anymore.” I offer him my hand, and he shakes it with a frown on his face. “If you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere more important to be.”
Deb hisses “yesssss,” under her breath, bouncing up and down on her toes.
“You know this means you’re unemployed too?” I ask her playfully as we head the few floors back to our office.
“Worth it,” she says with a smile. “Make sure you tell JJ I said hello.”
* * *
I’m stillacross the street when I see them leave their building. They may be bundled up for the cold, but their frames are unmistakable. I could pick them out of a crowd at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, like a Where’s Waldo painting.
I bring my hands to my mouth to amplify my voice, but something in their interactions brings me to a stop.
Justin pulls Julia to a halt, their hands linked together. She smiles at him like he hung the moon. Like he is her entire world. He kisses her, out in the open, right there on the sidewalk. Kisses her until I can’t tell where she starts and he begins.
Then they take off down the sidewalk again, lost in a happiness of their own making.
I sway on my feet, the hope and need that had been buoying me since I left the office flushing from my body with such speed it makes me sick.
