Last Screw Before I Do Read Free Page B

lifetime
of happiness and joy. To loving one another always. And to
fidelity—it's about time!” He winked exaggeratedly. We laughed, but
I noticed my brother shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Had he
told Dad about Marc's affairs? Or was Dad just goofing, recalling a
time when my newly-out brother had slept his way through the
clubs?
    My glass was
still half-full of Mom's strawberry wine, and I drank deeply to
honour the toast, nearly choking when Marc's foot raised the hem of
my skirt. I hurriedly set my glass down before I dumped it
everywhere and shot a look at my brother's lover. Marc was smiling
at my Dad, thanking him for the kind words. He didn't let on that
anything was up under the table.
    I suspected
that at least one thing was up, if you
catch my drift.
    Lucas reached
over and grabbed Marc's hand as Mom spoke about how glad she was
that they were getting married. “Committed, I mean...no, wait, that
sounds like you're going to a mental institution...I mean...” We
laughed again. It hadn't been that long ago that Mom had had
problems coming to terms with Luke being gay. She'd spent a few
years grieving the loss of grandchildren from him. She'd come a
long way towards acceptance, though at times like this it was
obvious that she was out of her element. It was a sign of her
growth when she started getting excited about the commitment
ceremony. Lucas was the first of us to get married, and once she
got going on the decorations and such there was no stopping
her.
    I looked at my
brother, so full of love, and joy, and I found myself smiling. He
was a good guy, and I was truly happy to see him in love.
    I looked at my brother, but Marc looked at me. His fingers
twined with Lucas's, but his toes slid up the inside of my thigh.
He was deliberate about it; there was no mistake. I clamped my legs
shut and shot him a look— What are you
DOING? —but he didn't stop. His other foot
found mine and rubbed. When he swallowed, he swallowed
hard.
    I shoved back
from the table abruptly, my chair scraping the worn linoleum of Mom
and Dad's kitchen. Mom stopped mid-sentence: “Dear, are you
alright?” I just nodded and mumbled “Excuse me.”
    I fled the
room, and hurried down the hall to my old bedroom. Dad used it as
an office now, but the decor was untouched. Little pink carousel
horses trotted around the tops of the walls. I'd hated them as a
teenager, but being back here now they comforted me.
    I flung myself
into Dad's creaky desk chair and thought. There had to be some kind
of misunderstanding in there. Had it been a joke of some kind? Some
kind of test? What on earth was Marc thinking? He was gay. He was
marrying my brother. It made no sense at all for him to be flirting
with me.
    Dad poked his
head into the room. “You okay in here?”
    “ Yeah, Daddy. I'm fine. I just...I needed a
minute.”
    He perched on
the corner of the desk. “Are you having trouble with this whole
thing? Your mother wasn't okay with it at first, either. It's okay
to be uncomfortable, but he's still your brother and you need to
support him.”
    “ Oh! No! No, it's nothing like that. It's just...being back
here. It's been a while since we've all been together and I got a
little emotional. Nothing to worry about.” I stood and gave him a
hug, breathing in the spicy smell of his tobacco. “Thanks for
checking on me, though.”
    He squeezed me
back. “You bet, sweetheart. You take a minute, if you need it, but
come back soon. Your mother is putting us all to work after dinner
making a billion little paper flowers. And if I have to suffer, you
have to, too.”
    He left me to
join the chaos unfolding in the kitchen, and I took a deep breath
and followed.
     
    My sisters had
cleared away the dishes and Mom was spreading craft supplies all
over the table. “It's a neat little trick I saw on the Internet,”
Mom said. “All you need are coffee filters and glue.”
    Lucas was
beaming. He'd always been a Mama's boy, and having her finally
accept