We have. I wonder, though…was it always easy for you? I may be way off the mark here, but you dont seem to wear your sexuality on your sleeve. You keep it private. Its like youre accustomed to it, like youre comfortable in it. Has it always been like that?

A look came over DeMarcos face that Kate thought might be one of appreciation. And as she began to speak, it again made Kate wonder how DeMarco viewed her. As only a co-worker? As a friend? Maybe as a secondary kind of mother-figure? Or all of the above?

For the next several minutes, DeMarco told a large part of her story. How she discovered she was homosexual the first time she kissed a boy, in some lazy form of Seven Minutes in Heaven when she was fourteen. Shed wasted no time telling her parents, instantly going to them for advice. She detailed a few awkward months as her parents came to terms with it, wrapping up with a touching moment at her high school graduation and the first time she ever brought a girl home to meet her parents as a sophomore in college.

Kate enjoyed hearing the story, not only because it was DeMarcos way of opening up but because it reminded her of Melissas childhood, how they had struggled during the pre-teen years, come close to a best friends kind of relationship, which then again became strained and distant as high school kicked in and Kates career started to take control of her life.

When DeMarco was done, they took a moment to let the day dwindle away around them in silence. Kate watched the patrons come and go. There werent many, as she assumed there were other more appropriate water holes elsewhere in town. But even the people who came into the seedy little motel bar looked lost and out of place. Not that they did not belong in Deton, but that their lives were stuck in some sort of limbo.

This town, she said. Ive seen dozens of similar ones. The people are close and everyone knows one another but there are secrets. Sometimes I dont think the residents even realize theyre keeping secrets. Its just…part of the lifestyle. Shit happens, you handle it, you move on. That sort of thing. It creates a very distant sort of feeling between just about everyone in town.

DeMarco slid her now-empty beer glass to the side of the table. I can sense it, too. Even with Barnes. But I wont lie…its not a very cheery outlook.

Kate knew it wasnt. And she hated to think in such stereotypical ways. But sometimes, in her estimation, proven history turned stereotypes into solid facts. And based on her history with places like Deton, she couldnt help but feel that whether it was intentional or not, she and DeMarco were not getting the entire story.

***