“Good job, Avery,” I patted her on the back and put her graduation gift from Nikki and I on the ever growing pile of presents. I’m sure she knew from the shape of the package it was a record, but hopefully she would be pleased with the first edition Carol King album I had picked out for her. Making good on my promise to be a better big brother, I asked Jessica what she thought Avery might like. She seemed a little agitated at the questions, I assumed because she thought I should know, but told me that Avery spent a good deal of time a record store.
“Is everything okay with your friend?” I asked my younger sister after dinner as we walked out to our cars.
“What?” Avery looked confused.
“She just left in a hurry and let’s be honest we all know our family can be crazy,” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
“I really hope we haven’t scared away one of your friends.”
“She’s fine,” Avery said. “I mean she endured a dinner at our house with mom and dad already once so if she can do that I’m positive she’ll survive and come around after tonight.”
“I hope so,” I aid. “She seemed nice enough from what I saw of her, though I swear I’ve been her somewhere else before.”
“Probably around town somewhere,”
I started to ask if Paisley was a Hanson fan, I worried about fans using our family to get close to us, so I wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case here. But, it was getting late and Nikki called out to me. She was ready to get Everett home. I would get a chance to ask her later. Maybe I would flip through some pictures from past events to see if Paisley showed up in any.
Pictures. Paisley was the girl Avery was in the bar with. Mom must not know or she wouldn’t have allowed her to come to dinner. There probably wouldn’t have been a dinner. Avery and Jeremy looked really close, though. Maybe it was like Nikki said, just an experiment between young girls.
“Deep thoughts?” Nikki asked.
“You could say that,” I said. “Just thinking about Avery and her friend. She is the girl that Avery was kissing in those pictures. But Jeremy was at the dinner, and they acted fine. I just wonder what’s going on. I care about her and I want to make sure that she is ok, but I can’t unless I know what is really going on.”
“I had a lesbian friend in college. People were not nearly as accepting back then, so she and a gay guy pretended they were together to save face, especially in front of their families.”
“You think that’s true? I just feel sorry for Jeremy, he can’t possibly be . . .”
“He is.”
“How do you . . .”
“I think women can tell better than men. But if he hasn’t made it public, if he and Avery are still pretending to be together, then it is not your place to. Do not tell anyone.”
“But I . . .”
“Isaac,” she said. “I know you like to talk, but keep this one under your hat for a while. IF you can find a time to discreetly talk to Avery about it, let her know you know. She might appreciate having someone to confide in while she figures everything out. I know that my friend was in denial for a long time. At first she thought something was wrong with her. And then she thought, well maybe she was bi, and could be happy settling down with a man. But she eventually worked through it. You need to give Avery space to do the same. Be there for her, but don’t force anything. Please.”
I nodded my understanding. I looked in the rearview mirror at Everette “What if he’s . . .”
“Then curfew will be at 10 and no boys allowed in his room. And we will pray that he finds a man that makes him happy and treats him well.”
“What about our parents? They wouldn’t approve.”
“Our son doesn’t need your parents’ approval,” she said. “Who knows what the world will be like when he gets 18? All we can do is teach him how to act and give him the tools to deal with whatever life throws at him. And make sure he understands that we will be a soft place to land if life throws a little too hard.”
I lifted her hand to mine and kissed it. “What in the world am I going to do without you when we go on tour later this year?”