DURING THE BRIEF RIDE HOME SKYLER COULD BARELY contain his anger. He gripped the steering wheel so tightly he was afraid to crack it and eased off.
But when he parked in front of the old Victorian he called home, he simply sat there. He hadn’t even been allowed to be at the graveside. He felt humiliated at the scene he had made, and for what? He had fallen right into Ethan’s hands, letting him escalate the situation until Jerome had had no choice. But now Ethan was threatening Keith’s very livelihood. What the hell was he going to do?
He got out his phone and dialed Sidney but he got her voicemail. She was probably out of town with Mike. He didn’t want to bother her and so he didn’t leave a message. Should he call Jamie? Rodolfo? Jamie at least knew the situation but he didn’t feel like talking to him about it.
He stared out his windshield a few moments more before he unbuckled the seatbelt and slithered out of the car.
He had barely gotten to the sidewalk when another car pulled up. Great. His mom and his dad.
He took off his jacket as they parked and got out.
“Skyler, I want to talk to you.” His mother marched up to him and crossed her arms over her chest. She was in that immovable posture he knew all too well and he sighed wearily. This was going to take a while.
“Yes, Mother.”
“Your father just told me what you said to him. Honestly! You are just going to have to get over it.”
“Mom, do we have to have this discussion right now…”
“Yes. Your father is now back in my life. I know that this may be difficult for you. You spent most of your childhood and adulthood taking care of me, seeing that I had enough money and love, and you did a splendid job. Maybe I let you do too much, and that’s my fault. But I can do this on my own.”
“But you’re not. You’re leaning on Dad again.”
“I’m not leaning on anyone. Dammit, Skyler!”
“Mom!” His mother never swore. He looked around. “Can’t we take this inside instead of airing our dirty laundry on the street?”
“No we will not. I don’t care who knows.” She turned to face different directions and announced, “I’m shacking up with my ex-husband! And we aren’t even married! Did you all hear that?”
Skyler froze, shocked.
Dale was blushing and he gently laid his hands on Cynthia’s shoulders. “Cyn, maybe we should take it inside.”
“Is every family member a wimp? The two of you! Look, I’m together. I’ve got this. I’m free as a bird and I choose to live with your father. And I don’t want you bad-mouthing him anymore or trying to talk me out of it, is that clear, mister?”
Skyler nodded, feeling properly disciplined. “Yes, Mom.”
“Good! That's all we came to say.” She turned but then came back. “You look very nice in that suit. I take it you just came from poor Mr. Huxley’s funeral.”
“Yes.”
“Well…” She patted his chest before taking him into a hug. It felt good. He hadn’t realized under all the rage how forlorn he had been under the skin. He inhaled her perfume, felt her strong arms around him, and sank into it. She pulled back, kissed his cheek, and nodded. “Come on, Dale.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered. He gave Skyler a look that seemed to say, “You don’t have to worry about your mother.” And for once, Skyler agreed.
She was as good as her word and got back into the driver seat of the car. Maybe his mom was the driver now. He had a whole new admiration for her.
He watched them drive off, flung the suit jacket over his shoulder, and trudged up the stairs.
Keith was there, and he turned when Skyler opened the door.
“I didn’t expect you back for a while.” He was switching off his phone. No doubt the asshat Ethan had given him an update.
“My visit there was cut unexpectedly short. Ethan was there.”
Keith rose. “What did he say to you?”
“He riled me up. I was kicked out.”
“Skyler…”
“I’m all right. Just… And then my mom and dad confronted me outside.”
Keith looked toward the door. “Are they coming in?”
“No. They just came over to tell me to get over myself. And I think…I have. My mom can take care of things.”
“Oh.” Keith stood uncomfortably. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.” He plopped down to the sofa, slapping his jacket over the back. “Why is it all so hard? No one tells you it’s going to be so hard.”
“What is, sweetheart?” Keith sank to the sofa beside him.
“Life! Relationships. Someone needs to offer a class.”
“No kidding. But if it’s any consolation, we’re all in the same boat. No one’s mastered it yet.”
“I’m not even close to mastering it.”
He leaned in to Skyler and kissed his head. “All I know is that I love you and I’d do anything for you.”
Skyler looked up. Keith wore a tender expression, and despite the secrets they still kept hidden from one another, Skyler was never in doubt of those sentiments. “Me, too,” he said softly.
They sat quietly for some time. Amazingly, Skyler felt more relaxed in Keith’s presence. The man did that to him. Made him feel…at home.
Keith smiled. “Looks like your folks are making a fresh start. What about you? Where do you want to be in five years?”
Skyler chuckled. “What is this, an interview?”
“No. But like them, we’re still learning about one another and I wondered…”
“Well okay.” Skyler laid his head back against the sofa’s warm leather. “In five years, I expect to be Teacher of the Year—several years running and oh-so-very-tenured that I won’t have to worry about those damned pink slips. They can’t get rid of me until they pry my Folger’s edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare from my cold dead hands.”
Keith chuckled. “Well…actually, I was thinking more about…us.”
“What do you mean? Where do you expect to be in five years…except five times CIF champions?”
“That, too. But, well, for one, I expect to be…married.”
Skyler shot upright. “Married? To whom?”
“To you, you little idiot.”
Skyler stopped thinking altogether. And, apparently, breathing.
“Breathe, Skyler,” said Keith. He lost that tender expression, replaced by one of hurt. “It’s not an unreasonable expectation, you know. I mean, I know that we sort of rushed things in the beginning. That’s on me, I’m afraid. I just…get attached very quickly. We haven’t been together quite a year yet and now we live together. That’s a little accelerated even for me. But I would hope…” He looked at Skyler and took his hand. Skyler knew that his hand was clammy and hoped Keith didn’t notice. “I would hope,” Keith went on, “that after five years together you might think you can spend the rest of your life…with me.”
Was Keith proposing? Skyler tried to slow his breathing, his heartbeat. No, no. He thought back over Keith’s words. He seemed to be just speculating. But it also seemed as if he was giving Skyler the heads up…or was it more of an ultimatum?
Skyler slowly took back his hand. “It’s…it’s not that. I just…I don’t know that I even want to get married. I know I said I wasn’t against it but I just don’t think it’s for me. I mean look at my parents. They tried it once. It didn’t work. Now they’re back together and my mother doesn’t want anything to do with it. Some people aren’t designed for that kind of emotional commitment. And then finances get tangled together and people argue over money and how it should be spent and then they get hurt.”
“Like your folks,” said Keith.
Skyler brooded for a moment before he blurted, “My dad told me I have an Oedipus complex. You don’t think that’s it, do you?”
“Well…”
“Oh my God, you do!”
“I don’t know if you do or you don’t. But it was just you and your mom for a long time and you did take care of her and here is your dad suddenly showing up supplanting you… It could be something like that.”
“Oh Jesus. I do, don’t I? Isn’t that just another swell thing in the Life of Skyler Foxe.”
“Skyler, it’s a good thing that you care about your mother. You should. But it’s also a good thing to maybe give your dad a break. Let them work it out. See what happens. It doesn’t have to end in disaster.” His eyes darted earnestly back and forth across Skyler’s face. “I know when you think of marriage you envision your parents. But when I think of marriage, I see mine. Happy together for over forty years. I want that. It took a while for your dad to come around. Maybe they’ll have that. And I’m hoping that with time, you’ll change your mind and we can, too.”
“And…if I don’t?”
“Well…we’ll play it by ear. Things, circumstances change. You never thought you’d have a boyfriend, after all. But I will always love you…even if your love fades.”
He scooted to the edge of the sofa. “It won’t fade! I never meant that. Keith, I love you. I really do. I never said that to any man before and I can’t see saying it to any other man ever. I love you. I promise I do.”
“’I promise I do.’ And that’s what a wedding is, my friend.” He touched Skyler on the tip of his nose to punctuate it. He started walking toward the kitchen when Skyler called after him.
“Keith, can’t we just go on like this? What’s wrong with what we’ve got now?”
Keith stopped and took a deep breath. Without turning, he replied, “Nothing. Nothing at all, Skyler.”
Skyler watched him go with trepidation. What was all this out of the blue? Oh God, did Keith want to propose because he did have a kid?
* * *
It seemed like a very long weekend. Keith acted perfectly normal…on the outside, but there was still some kind of shadow on the inside. Was it because of the child issue or because of the marrying issue? Skyler didn’t know and now he didn’t want to ask. Why was he so squeamish about getting married? He approved of it in general. Especially for his parents. And why was he being such a prude about that? They were married once. But now they weren’t. It just didn’t seem right when it was his own parents. His dad was right, though. He was a hypocrite. Yet it seemed different for him, “catting” around as his father put it. He wasn’t married… And then it all rolled around back to Keith again.
Skyler was twenty-six years old. He was too young for such a thing. Of course, Keith was now thirty-six. Maybe he was feeling that time was a-wastin’.
He wanted to put it out of his mind. He tried to concentrate on his lesson plans, adding Post-It Notes to flag some rough patches. He even sat on the floor, surrounded by the books he was going to teach from this year. He picked up one paperback after the other, going over the Post-Its colorfully arrayed in his copies. He thought he was finally making some headway when Keith appeared in front of him.
“Feel like breaking for dinner? I was going to ask an hour ago but you looked so deeply into it.”
“Oh.” Skyler glanced at the clock. Eight o’clock on a Sunday night. It was one more week before school. One more week of the museum. One more week to find a killer. “I guess this is as good a time as any.”
Keith offered him a hand to help him up. He took it and stood next to him. There was nothing wrong with Keith. He was everything Skyler thought of as the ideal man; strong, sophisticated, a fantastic lover…though maybe a wee bit needy emotionally.
Skyler smiled. “What did you have in mind for dinner?”
A knock on the door, followed by someone jabbing the doorbell. He exchanged glances with Keith and went to the door. Looking through the keyhole he smiled and threw it open. “Hey Sidney, Mike.”
Sidney bounded in. He’d never seen her so energetic before. She was clutching Mike’s hand and he was grinning from ear to ear.
“I couldn’t wait to come over. I didn’t want to call,” she said. She was actually bubbly. Was she high?
“Okay,” he said with a laugh, her good spirits infectious. “What’s up, you guys?”
She thrust out her hand and wiggled her fingers. Skyler didn’t know what he was supposed to see for a full three seconds until…there it was. A ring. On her left ring finger.
“We went to Vegas!” she cried. “And we got married!”