“Now, hang on there,” Uncle Robert said. “There’s nothing wrong with being a tradesman.”

Dad jumped in again, “There is when your parents paid for you to go to college, and you threw it all away.”

“You didn’t pay for me to go,” Zack snapped before he could stop himself. “My college fund might have paid for my tuition, but I had to take out loans for room and board and books and everything else. I contributed just as much as you did.”

Dad’s eyes narrowed. “Then you can very well pay us back for the one year you managed to get through, since it was apparently such a pittance.”

“Boys,” Mom said in a warning tone that even Zack’s father couldn’t ignore. “Stop it.”

They both fell silent. Zack peeked across the table and saw that Bianca was trying to catch his eye. As soon as she did, she shook her head no. She wanted him to stop talking back. Zack sighed and nodded minutely.

“Zack,” Mom began, “sweetie, you have got to stop being so hostile. I know no one likes being interrogated, but you never tell us what’s going on with you. How are we supposed to know if we don’t ask? It’d be one thing if you were in school and getting good grades and dating a nice girl—” She stopped abruptly.

A dark, seething emotion welled up inside of Zack.

Mom scrambled to cover her misstep. “If we knew what your plans were, we wouldn’t have to worry so much. You’re not making things easy for us.”

Zack’s self-restraint shattered.

“So,” he said in an eerily serene tone, “what would make things easier for you, Mom? If I got a degree I don’t want? Or a job I don’t care about? Or I stopped being gay?”

His question was answered by absolute silence. Zack almost relished the discomfort in the room. Sam and Uncle Robert were staring at their plates while Bianca fiddled with her hair.

Mom pressed her mouth into a thin line. “No, Zack, you know we don’t care about that. You’re our son, and we love you.”

Dad started to say something, but Zack cut him off, directing his comment at his mom, “And I am grateful for that, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not going to give you a parenting award for tolerating me. Because let’s be real: that’s what you’re doing. You don’t trust me to make my own decisions, you think I’m screwing up my life, and the gay thing is just another way I’ve disappointed you. I don’t need you to remind me that you don’t think my choices are good enough, okay? I see it on your faces every week.”

It was Mom’s turn to get spoken over as Dad said, “It would help if we understood what was going on with you. Why did you flunk out of school?”

“I didn’t flunk out,” Zack corrected. “My grades were fine. I took a semester off for personal reasons.”