“I’ve got stuff in the oven,” she protested.
“Mind if I turn it off?”
“Not at all.” She smiled tightly. “Tenner, I feel like crap. The things they’ve been saying about you—”
He twisted his mouth. “You knew they were like that.”
“Yeah.” She let out a big breath. “But for the first time it hit me, why you might want to try to be… be what they wanted. Instead of who you are.”
His own eyes burned. “I keep telling you—”
“It wasn’t to hurt me.” She let out a short laugh. “You know me when I’m mad, Ten. I don’t listen to reason.”
“And when you’re hurt, it lasts a really long time,” he murmured, remembering the one time he’d tried to break up with her when they’d been dating.
She nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. Me and Piper’ll take off. Meet at the usual?”
“The usual” was a chain restaurant they’d eaten at every Friday night for Piper’s first four years. It had been a break from cooking, for both of them, and a chance to go out as a family. It wasn’t fancy, wasn’t perfect, but it held good memories for the three of them. They’d gone there for Piper’s birthday since the divorce, and maybe it would make the disappointment of what Tenner was about to do easier for Piper to bear.
“See you there,” he said. “I’ll lock up.”
He turned back toward the living room and stalked right past his parents and into the kitchen. “In here,” he muttered, making sure they both followed him. Aw, damn. Nina had made her chicken bake recipe in an attempt to make nice with his parents, and he sort of liked that one. He made a big production out of checking it to make sure it was done, and it was, which was good because she and Piper could have leftovers for the next week. Then he took it out of the oven and clicked the dial to Off before turning around and looking his parents in the eyes.
“No,” he said pleasantly. “Timothy, Edith, no. You’re not getting custody of our daughter. There’s no judge in California who would allow it. It’s ridiculous.”
“But you—” his father began.
Tenner held up his hands. “It’s not illegal to be gay. It’s not illegal to be divorced. And it’s not illegal to be gay, divorced, and a parent. The world is all sorts of complicated these days—you should turn on a TV sometime. And you know what? Even if I was the scum of the earth you want me to be—”
“We never said that!” his mother protested, but Tenner wasn’t going that way either.
“Even if I was, Nina is a good mom. Our custody agreement is between the both of us. Whatever we do to it, that’s us. It has nothing to do with your disapproval of me, or your prejudice, or whatever is driving you. You disowned me, remember? Nina asks you here literally out of the goodness of her fucking heart, and you bring this bullshit into her house?”
“You don’t even like women!” His father looked legitimately baffled. “How can you defend her? She’d rather go off and be Ms. Bigshot than take care of her own kid—”
“I don’t like them to sleep with!” Tenner crossed his eyes, because laughter was all he had at this point. “That doesn’t mean I hate women as a rule.”
“Don’t be crude, son.”
“I’m not your son, Tim. Not anymore. Nina’s a good mother, and she’s good at her job. If we were still married, it would be my job to support her. She’s the mother of a child we both love, so it’s still my job. And she supports me. I get my softball team, she gets her business trips, we both communicate when we get the chance. And yeah, Piper has a nanny sometimes when Nina’s gone, but I also get to come get her if my schedule allows. She’s not neglected—”
“You don’t even take that girl to church,” Edith sniffed.
“Because one way or another, you’d make her hate God, herself, and other people,” Tenner muttered, and then held up his hand. “At least the way you guys do it. I’ve been there, remember? I want something better for her. You guys—you need to leave.”
They both started at the abrupt change of subject.
“I’m sorry?” Timothy said.
Tenner double-checked the oven and reached into the drawer for some foil to put on top of the casserole. “Piper’s not here anymore. She and Nina left before we really started to go at it. I heard the door slam. We’re done here. You lost out on the chance to see your grandchild, and this is not your house.”
They gaped at him.
“I’m done,” he said. “You and I are already estranged, and we’ll keep it that way. But now you and Piper are officially estranged as well. You won’t be able to see her unless you sign something that says you’ll never try this crap again.” He had no idea if Nina’s lawyer could do that or not, but then, maybe like with him, just the threat alone would do it. He was surprised at how many people wet themselves and forgot what facts and the truth were when people said the word lawyer.
“But… but, son….” Timothy James Gibson looked legitimately shaken. “I don’t see how—”
“I will seriously call the cops,” Tenner said, and he realized that the ball of ice in his chest, the one that Ross had worked so hard at defrosting over the last few weeks, was frozen in his core again. He shuddered and wished hard for Ross.
“Fine,” his mother said, tugging at his father’s shirtsleeves again. “But we’ll be back.”
“Then we’ll get a restraining order.”
And that shocked them both.
“Tenner—”
He squeezed his eyes shut, that ice core taking the vitality from his bones. “You could have had Piper’s love,” he said, wondering where that lost note came from. “You could have had a good dinner tonight. But… but you had to ruin it. Like you ruin everything. You ruined falling in love for me—the first time. I was in love. I came out to you and said I had a boyfriend, and… and you froze me out. And now you’re trying to ruin Piper. But I won’t let you. Nina and I have our differences, but Piper is our strength. Just go.”
And a miracle happened. They did exactly that.
“Fine,” his father mumbled. “But we won’t be held accountable for what happens to that child—”
“That’s fine, Tim. Nina and I are doing a pretty good job at accountability. Now shoo. You guys leave first. I’m locking up.”
He followed them outside, making sure the doors were locked and Nina’s alarm set. He had keys to her house, as she did to his, because it only made sense.
They were, for better or worse, going to be in each other’s lives until death did they disentwine.
But Nina wasn’t who Tenner was thinking about as he got into his CR-V and waited for his parents’ rental to take off. He pulled out his phone to see Ross had texted him sometime while he’d been inside.
You surviving?
And, like his parents hadn’t been able to do, the simple concern made his eyes burn.
No. Kicked parents out of Nina’s house. Am meeting Nina and Piper for dinner. God, what a clusterfuck.