“I don’t know why he’s like that, I’ve sure as fuck never asked. Maybe it’s the gay thing, or the fact that I have no interest in being part of the ‘Archer Dynasty,’” he said, using air quotes for the last two words.

“I don’t know, but whenever he sees I’ve found something that makes me happy, that I care about, he wants to ruin it. That whole time they were talking I realized I was afraid that they’d say something that would taint things between us. That if spoke I’d make it worse. I don’t want to hurt you with my words or with my silence, Patrice, and I’m still working on that.” His eyes pleaded with me as I stood there trying to process what he’d said.

I went from annoyed, to mad, to feeling like all the anger had seeped out of me in the span of a few seconds. When I locked eyes with Easton I felt that once again he was letting me see everything. That I was being given something that I should not squander. He looked alone and miserable, and I could either let his father’s disgusting behavior be an excuse for letting him down, or I could step up.

“All I’ve ever wanted was for you to see me, just me. The thing is that I come with a history that I can’t, that I won’t shed.” I pointed to the restaurant. “Your parents are not the only people that see me and create some story in their heads of how I got here, like something from a movie. And honestly I don’t care if they do, but with you, I need you to see all of it, and fuck, sometimes wish it didn’t even matter, but it does.”

“Of course it matters. I don’t want pieces of you, I want all of it and it should not be on you to have to spoon feed it all to me. I have to learn so that when I come to you, I have clarity of exactly how fucking lucky I am to be with a man like you.”

I pulled him to me until I had him up against the icy side of the building.

“You can’t just let me be mad for a minute can you? I’m sorry that your parents make you feel like that. It’s not fair that you need to run interference for their rudeness,” I said with my mouth so close to his ear my lips kept pushing into it. “And don’t think I don’t have reason to feel lucky too.”