Beards

by Serena J Bishop

  “I haven’t talked to Mom or Dad about it yet. It’s embarrassing.” Stevie returned to watching the movie, at least now he knew why there was a pie in the title. “I wonder if Mom and Dad had sex to make me?” Stevie shook his head to get that incredibly gross thought out of his head. “Never mind. Forget I said that.”

  Devin was in no way forgetting. “You don’t know how you were made?”

  “No.”

  “You should ask. Maybe they went to a doctor and made you with science? They do that, you know.”

  “Maybe.” This conversation was just getting weirder and weirder.

  Devin felt that he finally understood what his mother meant by deeper conversation and went with it. “Do you ever get mad that you have to keep it a secret that your Mom and Dad are gay?” Stevie turned and met his inquisitive blue eyes. “I only ask because sometimes I get picked on because my Mom and Gretchen are together, but at least people know and I don’t have to pretend.”

  Stevie shrugged. “I stopped thinking about it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They told me when I was super young that we were different and people might not understand, so it would be best if we kept things a secret. I didn’t get it, but I did what they asked. And then, I don’t know...It’s like the older I get, the more I see how not different we are from other families. Does that make sense?”

  Devin shook his shaggy blond head. “Totally. It’s like all the other kids at school complain about chores and getting grounded and other stuff, but so do we.”

  “Right. I knew you’d get it.” The late-night talk was surprisingly deep for Stevie and reminded him of time he used to spend with Patrick. “Let’s watch the movie. Oh, but remind me to turn it to Nick or something before we go to sleep. That way Gina will think we were watching cartoons or something when she turns the TV back on.”

  Devin smiled. “Good plan.”

  ***

  The sun peeked through the curtains and seeped through the thin skin of Early’s eyelids. His brown eyes fluttered open. He followed a wide yawn with a stretch that caused him to accidentally kick a muscular calf. Luckily, Steven didn’t wake. A smile tugged at his lips as he thought that Steven would probably sleep past ten today. After a long shift and a raucous party, his body would crave rest.

  Early kissed Steven’s temple and got up to start his day. Fortunately for him, the most important meal was already taken care of for him. “Look at you, being all Martha Stewart,” he said to Roni.

  Roni had taken it upon herself to make omelets and hash browns for the three of them. “I got up early and thought I’d make breakfast. Is Steven still sleeping?”

  Early rubbed at the overnight growth on his face and sat in a kitchen chair. He felt the substantial subtle and realized he could probably grow a fine goatee. “Sleeping like a baby, but we can put everything on warm for him in the oven. He needs to rest.”

  Roni smiled at the love in Early’s voice. “You take such good care of him.”

  “He takes care of me so I do the same. It’s a good system.” Roni placed the steaming breakfast in front of him and she joined him at the table. “Thank you. So, did you have fun last night with Car-la?”

  Roni grinned. “May-be. But I don’t think we had as much fun as she would have liked.”

  “Always leave them wanting more.” It was true with drag. It was true with dating. “Do you think you’ll be giving her the opportunity for more?”

  Roni thought about it briefly while she sipped her coffee. “I don’t know. I could tell she was a little put off by my resistance to...”

  “Put out.”

  “Exactly. I’m just not drawn to her that way, like Becky and Gretchen are drawn to each other.”

  Or you were drawn to Gina. “Those two are still pretty hot for each other,” Early commented and sampled his eggs. “I would say they took advantage of Devin not being home to the highest degree.”

  Roni smirked, “Agreed. I hope Gina was okay with both boys.”

  ***

  Gina answered the door with mussed hair, bags under her eyes, and a cup of coffee in her hand. “It’s not funny,” Gina stated and walked back inside. Roni followed her into the kitchen, quietly laughing along the way, trying not to wake the boys who were still sprawled out in sleeping bags on the floor. Gina poured Roni a cup of coffee, added milk and one sugar—just how she liked it.

  Roni accepted the cup that warmed her hands. “Thank you. I’m sorry for laughing.” She sipped and leaned against the counter. Roni tried to focus on the coffee and not the fact that Gina was obviously cold from the Arctic blast that hit her when she opened the door. Gina’s Go Army sleep shirt lived up to its name—her nipples were standing at attention. “I’m guessing they stayed up past the point you would have liked them to.” Gina slowly nodded as Roni continued to smile. “Did you have a good time?”

  “I did. I think they did too. Man, they can eat a lot.”

  “Tell me about it. I let them talk me into having a buffalo wing eating contest once. Never again.”

  Gina sipped her coffee and noticed that Roni looked fantastic. She was well rested, had a healthy glow to her skin, and was wearing the black leggings she loved so much. “How about you? Was the party fun?”

  “It had its fun moments. Gretchen and Becky got completely loaded, but of the two, Gretchen was the most entertaining. She challenged Early to a dance-off. That did not end well for her.” She sipped her coffee again. It was surprisingly good. “Is there cinnamon in this?”

  “Yeah,” Gina nodded with a smile. “I’ve been tinkering with spices and recipes.”

  “I’m impressed.” And she was. Gina’s condo was clean despite hosting two ten-year-old boys and now she was cooking food other than Italian classics. “I told Early this morning that we should host next year. Do an alternating thing.”

  “That’s a good idea. Takes the pressure off of one group hosting. And speaking of ideas, I was hoping that maybe Stevie and I could do a movie at the theater maybe every other week? He could invite a friend along too since I know he’s old enough now to have a social calendar.”

  “I think that’d be very nice of you. Going to the movies is easier now that he wants to see things that aren’t entirely animated. His fondness for Adam Sandler is still an issue though.”

  “Mom?” A sleepy voice asked.

  “In here,” Roni said louder than she had been speaking before. “He’s growing up so fast, but sometimes he still sounds like a baby to me.”

  “I heard that.” Stevie rubbed his bleary green eyes and leaned into Roni. She pulled him in closer and kissed his forehead. It amazed her that now she hardly had to bend down to do that. He was already five feet tall. “I’m not a baby. I’m ten and a half.”

  “I am very aware of that. Is Devin up yet?”

  “No. Why?” he asked with another yawn.

  “I was thinking that before I take him home, you’d like to go out for breakfast.” She figured that Becky and Gretchen would appreciate another hour of recovery time.

  Stevie’s eye’s lit up. He wasn’t tired anymore. He left the kitchen and yelled, “Devin, get up!”

  Gina thought of the pizza and the empty bag of cookies. “Again with all the eating.”

  “Growing boys, what can I tell you?” Roni took in Gina’s sleepy appearance once more and felt bad for the night and morning that she endured. Actually, she felt bad for the last few months Gina had weathered. “Why don’t you come to breakfast with us? My treat.”

  “You don’t think Carla would mind?” Gina asked with a slight smile. Police, probation, and parole ran in very similar circles.

  Roni returned the look and tone, “We’re not at the stage where I care if she minds. But if you come along, you’ll need to change your shirt...you have a little bit of an issue.” Roni smirked, “Two of them, actually.”

  Gina looked down and saw what she was referring to. “Oh! Sorry, I’ll go change.”

 
; Roni snickered and when Gina was out of range added, “No need to apologize for that.”

  ***

  “What was wrong with Devin’s moms?” Stevie asked. He had helped Devin by carrying his sleeping bag back inside their house, a house that had yet to be cleaned from the party.

  “They have what’s called a hangover. It’s what happens when someone drinks too much alcohol.”

  Stevie thought both of them looked like they had the flu for a week. “I never want one of those.”

  “I’m going to remember that you said that. Did you have a good time with Gina and Devin last night?”

  “Yeah. We hung out, ate, and watched movies. It was really cool that you invited Gina to breakfast. Do you think we could do that again sometime?”

  Roni had to admit she was also glad that she invited Gina. There was an unspoken boundary between the two so they could get together in small groups and carry on like they used to. “Yeah, I think we could do that. And Gina mentioned that she’d like to take you to the movies, you and a friend, on a regular basis. Who knows, maybe sometime I could come along too?”

  Stevie smiled. “I’d like that a lot. It’s cool how you two are friends now.”

  “It is, isn’t it? There was a lot of healing that needed to be done before we could do that.”

  Stevie tried not to roll his eyes. That would definitely lead to being grounded. He was happy his mother’s therapy helped her, but he could go the rest of his life without hearing the word “healing” again. “You know, Gina isn’t dating Wendy anymore.”

  “I know.”

  “Oh, okay. Just so you know.”

  Roni could tell he was trying to plant seeds in her head. Becky told her to expect that and it was natural, but the most important thing was that she didn’t get Stevie’s hopes up. “Stevie, I think it’s important that you know that I’ve been dating.”

  “Why?” He understood that people did, but she was his mother. She didn’t need that.

  “The same reason other people date. I’d like to meet someone I can connect with on a more meaningful level. It’s called intimacy.” When she looked over to see Stevie staring out the window again she figured she had answered his question sufficiently. “So, what did you and Devin do all night to keep Gina awake?”

  “We were just talking. But I have a question and Devin made it sound kind of weird that I didn’t know the answer.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Did you and Dad have sex to make me?”

  Roni almost drove off the road. You knew he was going to ask someday. Honesty. It’s all about being honest. “No. We didn’t have sex.”

  “Oh,” Stevie responded as if that answered everything, but still explained nothing. “I was made by a scientist and put inside you to grow?”

  “Well, no.” Despite the freezing temperature outside Roni had an urge to crack a window to remove the heat she was feeling.

  If it wasn’t sex or science, then he was out of ideas. “How then?”

  Roni gathered her courage and after briefly summarizing what he had learned in health class regarding reproduction, she told her son the process of his conception. She concluded by saying, “So, Gina took your Dad’s sperm and used a special tube to fertilize one of my eggs.”

  “That’s...” Stevie’s mind was blown.

  “Strange?”

  “Definitely. And gross. But it’s also kind of neat. You must have wanted me really bad to do all of that.”

  Roni smiled sweetly at her son. “We did.”

  Stevie smiled back. Devin was right. This was no big deal. It was a little uncomfortable at first to talk about, but it wasn’t terrible.

  “Do you have any other questions?” Roni asked patiently. “It’s good that you’re asking me. I want us to have good communication when you have questions like this.”

  He nodded slightly and paused before asking, “What are the different intercourses?”

  “Um,” Roni weighed answering that versus him looking up the answers on the Internet, “let’s talk about that one when we get home.”

  ONE YEAR LATER, NEW YEAR'S 2007

  2006 WAS TERRIBLE.

  EARLY WAS hospitalized when his diabetes added complications to the flu he caught. Finley was suspended for punching Underwood, which left Steven worried about being given a new partner. Stevie broke his collarbone. Gina was asked to do extensive undercover work, but the assignment was a definite résumé builder—anything with multiple millions of dollars at stake was. Then, there were the complete romantic duds of Roni’s life.

  Hopefully, 2007 would bring better luck.

  ***

  Steven handed his son a soda and opened a beer for himself. “To the New Year.”

  Stevie clinked his can against his father’s and they toasted the holiday. “What takes Early and Mom so long to get ready?”

  “For Early, I think shaving takes up most of his time. He has to get his goatee just right. And your mom—”

  “I couldn’t decide if I wanted my hair up or down. Up won,” Roni answered coming down the stairs.

  Steven whistled at the leggy blonde in the shapely green dress.

  “Woah!” Mothers, especially Stevie’s mother, weren’t supposed to look like that.

  “Look at you, dressed to impress,” Steven said with a smile. “Now, correct my memory, but isn’t that Gina’s favorite dress?”

  Roni finished her descent of the stairs. “It is, but that’s not why I’m wearing it.”

  “Why are you wearing it then?” Steven teased and glanced over at his son, only to see that his jaw was still open from his mother’s appearance.

  “It matches my new earrings. Becky and Gretchen set the bar high for style last year.” She noticed the beer can in his hand. “You’re drinking already?”

  “We’re not driving.”

  “Good point,” she surmised and left to make her New Year’s cocktail, a fuzzy mimo—half fuzzy navel, half mimosa. It was Early’s brainchild and she loved him even more for it.

  “Dad?” Stevie whispered once his mother was in the kitchen. “I think Gina’s going to freak out when she sees Mom.”

  Steven smiled and chuckled. “I think so too. I just hope their dates don’t mind.”

  ***

  “Oh my God,” Gina mumbled under her breath when she saw Roni from across the crowded room.

  Debbie, Gina’s very waif-like date, followed her line of sight and saw an elegant blonde engaged in a friendly conversation with a married couple and a man with an absolutely perfect goatee. “Who’s that?”

  “Um,” Gina swallowed nervously, “that’s Roni.”

  “She’s pretty,” Debbie commented, hoping to get the response of “not as pretty as you”.

  “She sure is,” Gina agreed, while never taking her eyes of off the neck or legs that lead out of that green dress.

  Across the house, where Roni was speaking to a few friends, the identity of one of the other guests was called into question. “Is that Gina?” Paul asked and pushed up his wire-rimmed glasses to get a better look. This woman had a cool confidence that he didn’t remember.

  “That’s trouble,” Allison said with a grin.

  Roni turned too, only to have her breath momentarily taken from her. Gina was in her usual Johnny Cash-esque formal attire, but this time she had missed about three buttons when she dressed. “Holy shit,” she mumbled and drank the rest of her fuzzy mimo.

  Roni’s date, Tammy, glanced over her sturdy, square shoulder to see what had caused her host and date to become so randomly profane and thirsty. “Who’s that?” she asked, echoing Paul’s earlier question.

  Early smiled a Cheshire cat-like grin. “Oh, that’s Gina.” He clapped his hands together in anticipation of his favorite Spanish soap opera Roni y Gina: El Pasión. He waved Gina and her date over.

  Gina saw the wave and headed over to the group where her ex-husband was at the center. “Hello, everyone,” Gina said diplomatically. “I’d like y
ou to meet Debbie.”

  “Welcome, Debbie,” Early greeted and introduced the circle. “Gina, I think you remember Allison and Paul. This handsome woman is Tammy and,” he chuckled, “of course, you know Roni.”

  “How do you two know each other?” Debbie asked and Tammy’s ears perked to learn the answer to that question too.

  Gina looked to Roni who appeared to be just as speechless. “Well...”

  “We were together.”

  “But now we’re friends,” Gina tried to convince Debbie.

  “Yeah. Friends,” Roni assured Tammy.

  ***

  An hour later, Becky, Gretchen, and Devin arrived once the party was in full swing. The conversations were louder, the physical contact between couples was enhanced, and laughter carried throughout the suburban home.

  Devin scanned the crowd and saw many people he didn’t know. He was mostly concerned with two details, the location of the snacks and his best friend. “Can I go find Stevie now?”

  “By all means, mingle,” Gretchen said joyfully and watched Devin scamper away.

  “May I take your coats?” Steven, in his suave attire of a dark slate suit, asked the ladies.

  “Aren’t you a handsome and polite gentleman,” Becky said and handed him their coats.

  “Early made me wear a suit,” Steven said, slightly defeated.

  “Hey, speaking of Early,” Becky said, “is he on his best behavior with Gina and Roni?”

  “Define ‘best’?”

  “Ladies, I’m so glad you’re here,” Early said in a rush and with a slight bounce to his step. “I’m starting to take bets on the evening. Who’s in?”

  ***

  While Early collected bets, Devin and Stevie made themselves comfortable and watched the adults from the food area. There was so much of it. They didn’t even know where to begin to eat. “Is it weird seeing your mom and Gina on dates?”

  “Yeah.” Stevie ate another meatball. “I just don’t get why Mom and Gina aren’t back together if they’re friends now.”

  Devin chuckled. “I don’t think friends are supposed to stare at each other like they are right now. But your Mom does look pretty hot.” Stevie turned and punched his arm. “Ow! So, why aren’t they together?” he asked and rubbed his bruised shoulder, remembering to keep comments like that to himself from now on.