I walked Katie home that night after our first kiss. I felt like it was my duty. My honor. She twined her fingers with mine and led me to cabin 114. She knocked on the door softly. “Just in case they’re playing Scrabble in the living room,” she whispered.

The door opened and a man poked his head out. His eyes drifted down Katie’s body. “Why are you in someone else’s clothes?” he asked. He opened the door wider and Katie slipped beneath his outstretched arm.

“For what you are about to experience, I apologize,” she murmured at me.

The man narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”

“Dad, this is Jake,” Katie said. The man still hadn’t stepped to the side, so I didn’t know if I should wait or leave or kiss his ass.

“Jake?” he asked. “As in the horny sixteen-year-old Jake that Old Man Jacobson warned us about?” He tipped his head back a little so he could look down his very impressive nose at me.

“I’m not horny, sir,” I said, my gut roiling. I might just toss up that beer after all.

“You do have a penis, don’t you, son?” he asked. He leaned forward like he was looking for mine, which was enough to make my balls all but shrivel up inside me.

“Would you leave the boy alone?” someone called from behind them both. He caught the door and opened it, then stepped up beside Katie’s dad. “He’s trembling in his flip flops, Dan. Let him inside.”

Dan stepped back and motioned for me to proceed. I did so on shaky legs.

“I’m Erik Jacobson, Jr. Everyone calls me Jake.” I said. I held out my hand like my dad taught me to do. No cold fish handshakes allowed from a Jacobson. No sirree. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Dan Higgins,” the man said, and he squeezed my hand so hard I wanted to drop to my knees.

“Knock it off!” the other man snarled. Mr. Higgins let me go.

“Jake, this is my dad.” She set her hands on his broad shoulders and peeped at me over his shoulder. Then she jerked her thumb toward the other guy. “And this is my Uncle Adam.”

Adam extended his hand and I found his grip to at least be tolerable.

“So sorry Dan started out by looking for your dick. You can take the boy out of the junior high school, but you can’t take the junior high school out of the boy.” He shoved Dan’s shoulder.

I saw that they had a Scrabble game set up on the table, but they hadn’t even set up any tiles. “Who won?” I asked, nodding toward the game.

Dan smirked until Adam gave him a dirty look. He swiped a hand across his mouth like he was wiping away a grin.

“I totally won,” Dan said on a laugh. Adam’s cheeks turned rosy.

“I love Scrabble,” I said.

Adam snorted. Dan growled at me. “Under no circumstances will you be playing Scrabble with our daughter.”

I looked from one to the other. “Our daughter?” I asked. “Like, both of you?”

“Get the boy a chair before he faints,” Adam called as he walked toward the tiny kitchen. “Anybody want some ice cream?”

“As long as it’s cool and wet, I’ll take it,” Dan called back.

“That’s not what you said earlier,” Adam returned.

Katie laughed into her palm. “I am so sorry,” she murmured to me.

I scratched my head. “I’m so confused.”

Dan walked into the kitchen and stood behind Adam. They touched one another at times, and I suddenly got it.

“He’s not your uncle, is he?”

Katie winced. “No, he is.”

“Then Dan’s not your dad.”

She winced again. “No, he is my dad. It’s sort of complicated.”

“It’s not complicated at all,” Adam said as he started to ladle ice cream into bowls. “Doofus here had some sperm he wanted to give up. And my sister just happened to have some ovaries and a uterus for rent, not to mention an egg or two and some DNA that’s a lot like mine. So she volunteered to give us the eggs and let us lease the uterus. Then she shagged ass.”

“Your mom left?” I asked Katie.

“Left isn’t really the right word.” Katie tried to explain. “She visits, and she takes me shopping, and I call her with girly questions. She’s more like a favorite aunt than a mother.”

“We have to enlist her help occasionally.” Adam motioned from him to Dan and back. “We don’t know shit about tampons and stuff, since neither one of us has ever been near a vagina.”

Katie’s cheeks flamed red again.

“You’re gay,” I suddenly blurted out.

“He’s a smart one, isn’t he?” Dan winked.

“Shut it,” Adam barked, pointing a spoon at Dan. “Yes, we are gay. Does that bother you?”

“No sir,” I said, and I sat down on a stool, accepted my bowl of ice cream, and shoveled a spoonful into my mouth.

“Good boy,” Dan said as he patted my head like I was a puppy.

Katie sat down beside me and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Are you sure you’re okay with it? Some people aren’t.”

I shoveled the last bite of ice cream into my mouth and Dan put a new scoop in my bowl. I ate it to keep from answering.

Katie heaved a sigh. She began to nervously shake her legs, and her knee jumped so hard I was afraid she’d vibrate the stool she was sitting on right out the door. I finished my ice cream while they all chit-chatted about the cold water we fell into, and Katie explained why she was wearing my clothes. Adam and Dan ribbed one another.

“I should go,” I said. “My dad will be worried.” I took my empty bowl to the sink and rinsed it out.

“Damn, Old Mr. Jacobson raised a son with manners,” Dan said.

“You know my dad?”

They both grinned. “He caught us kissing when we were about your age,” said Adam. “We were taking a walk down by the shore. In the moonlight.”

Dan dropped his voice down to a gruff growl. “‘You boys need to get a room,’ he said to us.”

“We quickly found out that he said that to all the straight kids, too.” Adam laughed, then sobered. “I was really sorry to hear about your mom.”

I nodded. I didn’t like to talk about my mother. “Thanks.”

“I’m going to walk Jake to the door,” Katie said.

“You mean you’re going to kiss his face off,” Dan said. He glared at Katie. “No.” He pointed to the door. “Good night, Jake.”

“Good night, sir,” I said.

I walked all the way to the door without looking back. “Thank you for the ice cream,” I said as I slipped outside. Then quickly I poked my head back in again. “Can I come and visit Katie tomorrow?”

The corners of her lips tipped up.

Dan looked at me and shrugged. “That’s up to Katie.”

Katie smiled at me and nodded her head. “I’d like that.”

As I walked away from the cabin, I could hear Adam inside, taunting playfully. “Jake and Katie sittin’ in a tree…”

Then I ran all the way home to tell my dad about Katie’s oddly intriguing family. And he said I made him proud, although I couldn’t figure out why accepting someone’s sexuality was something to be proud of. It was kind of like him being proud of me if I said I liked blue eyes.

“I’m going to see her again tomorrow,” I told my dad.

He went to his room and came back with a small box of condoms. He threw the box at my face, and I caught it, juggling.

“Seriously, Dad?”

“If that girl gets you pregnant, I’m going to be really angry at you.”

“Yes sir,” I said, and I grinned all the way to my room. I took a condom out of the box and pressed it into my wallet. You know, just in case.