Rhy’s Sunday morning had started out like any other. He woke up at eight, showered, considered going to church, and decided against it. It was mainly a thing he did because it was important to Mason’s family. But Rhy didn’t want to confuse the issue. Once their relationship was back on track, Rhy would start doing things with Mason’s family again.

He got out his computer and emailed Luis Mendoza, thanking him for his kind words when they’d run into each other at the hardware store. He considered sending a link to his portfolio but decided against it. He wasn’t looking for a job. He was building a relationship.

Around noon, as he was washing up the lunch dishes, the sound of a car engine drew his attention. By the time he dried his hands and walked to the front of the house, a knock came on the door.

He opened it to see Travis standing on the porch with a backpack and an overstuffed duffle bag. Beside him was Heather, their sister, wearing her Sunday best, carrying a leather tote and a roller suitcase.

His chest sank. “Oh, shit. They kicked you out, too?”

“Hell, no,” Heather said, tossing her long, straight, blond hair. “We made a break for it.”

He hugged her, then Travis, his mind racing. “Did you have a fight or something?”

“We’re just done,” Travis said. “We knew this day would come eventually. We can’t live with them anymore.”

Rhy’s eyes widened. “What did they say when you told them you were moving out?”

Heather grinned broadly. “We didn’t tell them. They’d have tried to stop us—or at least prevent us from taking Travis’s car.”

Rhy looked between them, struggling to make sense of what he was hearing. “What if they come looking for you?”

“What are they going to do?” Travis asked. “We’re adults.”

“That won’t stop things from getting ugly.” He gazed around the great room. “You can’t stay here. This is the first place they’ll look.”

“Please, Rhy,” Travis said. “We’ve got no place else to go. I can’t spend another night listening to their garbage.”

“Or following their rules.” Heather’s brow darkened. She looked angrier than Rhy had ever seen her.

Rhy wasn’t about to turn them away. But he knew his father would be in a rage about their leaving. He wasn’t a violent man, but he was emotionally manipulative. They’d left for a reason.

“I’ve got an idea.” He grinned. It felt good, being able to take control of the situation. “Get back into the car and follow me. I’ll plug the address into the GPS in case we get separated. We’ll take the long way down the mountain so Mom and Dad won’t see us on the road if they’re heading up here after you.”

He rolled the plan over in his mind, looking for holes. He nodded slowly to himself. It would work—as long as Mason didn’t kill him.

 

***

 

“There are two extra bedrooms,” Rhy said, as his brother and sister carried their belongings through Mason’s house. “You’ll each have to choose which one you want. There’s a pink room and a blue room.”

Travis grinned. “Blue for me, please.”

“I thought you might say that.”

“Sexist,” Heather said with a smile.

They were fortunate that both the spare bedrooms were furnished. After Mason had bought the house, Maggie gave him a bunch of furniture so she could buy new. She changed out all her furniture every few years because her house was basically an advertisement for her business.

They gathered in the kitchen, and Rhy looked through the fridge. “Mason’s got some cold cuts. I’ll make sandwiches, if that’s okay.”

“Thanks,” Travis said. “I’m so hopped up on adrenaline, I forgot about lunch.”

“Mason won’t mind, will he?” Heather asked.

Rhy laughed, laying the packages of ham and cheese on the counter. “I just brought two unexpected houseguests into his home. Using up his food will be the least of his worries.” He got out the mustard. “So what happened?”

“When Dad saw you,” Travis said, “something must have snapped inside him. He started going off about Satan and the gay lifestyle and Bible verses…He ranted in the car the whole way home, and again at the dinner table.”

“And Mom backed up everything he said.” Heather took the bread from Rhy and opened the package, laying the slices on plates. “We just stayed silent and let it roll off us, like we always do.”

“But after that,” Travis said, “I decided I couldn’t anymore. I’m sorry to put you guys out. I don’t have any money, but I’ll get a job. I’ll do whatever I have to—”

“You’ve got money.” Rhy sliced a tomato. “Granddad set up a trust specifically in case you and Heather needed it for college. I told you that. He always wanted you and Heather to have it once you left home. He made me the executor of the trust because he didn’t want to risk Dad getting it.”

“I want to earn my keep,” Travis said.

“Oh, you will,” Rhy said with a grin. “I’m in the process of remodeling this house. The half bath is the current project, and you’re gonna be my assistant.”

Travis smiled. “Sure, I can do that.”

Being close to his siblings again would be an adjustment, but Rhy was looking forward to it. They hadn’t lived in the same house in nine years.

Their parents had done their best to keep them apart, but they’d gone to the same high school, and Rhy visited his siblings at college when he could. They kept in touch through the burner phones Rhy had bought them, since Travis and Heather were sure their parents were tracking their phones and computers.

Their computers. “You didn’t bring your computers, did you?”

“No,” Travis said, “We backed up all our data to the cloud, and left our devices at home. Well, at Mom and Dad’s house. It isn’t our home anymore.” He shook his head. “I’m never going back there.”

“Me neither,” Heather said.

“I wish I could argue against that.” Rhy stacked some lettuce onto his sandwich. “I used to think they’d come around eventually. Now, it’s pretty clear they won’t.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry to put you through this.”

Heather stroked his arm. “None of this is your fault. It’s them and their archaic ideas. I know this won’t be easy, but already I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off me. We’ll figure it out together as a family, the three of us.”

“And Mason,” Rhy reminded her.

“Yes,” Heather said. “He’s our family now, too.”

Rhy nodded, happy she saw things that way. He only hoped Mason would feel the same.

 

***

 

Mason got out of his car and slammed the door shut. Rhy’s truck and a late-model sedan were blocking the garage. Mason didn’t mind—they’d sort it out—he just wanted to make sure everyone was okay.

He combed his fingers through his hair, wondering how Rhy was going to cope with all this upheaval. He took a step toward the sidewalk, but a female voice called, “Hey, sexy.”

Mason looked over to see a pretty young woman with long blond hair gazing over the fence at him. Dora eyed him through the slats, tail wagging. The woman gave him a teasing grin. “You must be Mason.”

“You must be Heather.”

“Got it right on the first try.” She looked down and said to Dora in a baby-talk voice, “Your daddy is almost as cute as you are.”

Mason smiled, then went inside to find Rhy and Travis sitting in the family room. Rhy introduced his brother. They could have been twins, except Travis’s build was more slender, and his face lacked the look of maturity that Rhy’s had.

“What happened?” Mason asked.

“We made our great escape,” Heather said, coming in the side door and taking off Dora’s leash. “Hope you don’t mind my taking the dog out. She started whimpering as soon as we came through the door.”

“No, I appreciate it,” Mason said.

“Don’t mind Heather,” Travis said. “She has no manners.”

She sat beside him and play-punched his arm.

“She’s also prone to violence,” Travis added.

Rhy shook his head at them, then turned to Mason. “Here’s the situation. Mom and Dad know where the cabin is. They don’t know about this place.”

“We’ll earn our keep,” Travis said. “I can help Rhy with the remodel, and Heather’s a good cook.”

Heather scowled. “Dude, I’m a culinary science major. I’m not a good cook—I’m a master chef.”

“You’re not even a sous-chef,” Travis said. “You’re a scullery maid, like Daisy on Downton Abbey.”

“I’m also on the archery team, so watch your back.”

Mason smiled at their banter, then looked over at Rhy. To Mason’s surprise, he had tears in his eyes. Mason hugged him, perching on the arm of Rhy’s chair.

“I’ve missed so much,” Rhy said, his voice thick.

“No more.” Heather came and hugged him from the other side. “We choose you. We should have done this two years ago.”

“I thought I could stick it out,” Travis said, “but last night was the breaking point. All the hate coming out of that man’s face, and Mom just nodding along.”

“So how did you manage this?” Mason asked.

“We packed our stuff last night after Mom and Dad went to bed.” Heather flopped back down on the couch. “This morning, Travis said he couldn’t go to church because he was sick. After we left, Travis packed the stuff into the car. At exactly eleven-thirty—”

“We synchronized our watches.”

“Dude, shut up. Anyway, I told Mom I had to use the restroom because I’ve got my period—I knew she wouldn’t argue with that. And Travis was out front waiting for me. I asked the church secretary to tell my parents I wasn’t feeling well and had called my brother to take me home.”

“I left a note on the kitchen table,” Travis said. “Heather just wanted it to say, ‘see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya,’ but I figured since I was taking the car they had bought me, I at least owed them an explanation.”

“They never bought me a car,” Heather said. “What do girls need cars for? They have boys to drive them around.”

Mason chuckled. When Heather gave him a stony look, he said, “Oh, shit. You’re not kidding.”

“The only reason they sent me to college was for my MRS degree. Mom is still pissed that I’m out of my teenage years and not engaged.”

“Although in some ways,” Travis said, “they’re not as hard on Heather, because they don’t seem to understand that women can be gay. She doesn’t have to put up with the warnings about the lure of gay sex, just the lure of sex in general. They of course expect her to be a virgin until she gets married.”

She scoffed. “That ship has sailed.”

“Don’t tell me that!” Rhy said. “In my mind, you’re still eleven years old.”

“Eleven years old.” Mason shook his head. “It’s been that long. You two must have been so disoriented.”

“The thing is,” Travis said, “when you’re a little kid, you think your family is normal, because you don’t know any better. By the time you get to middle school, you’ve got a better sense that maybe your family has some dysfunction. Heather and I were both starting to realize it—that something wasn’t right in our family. And then Dad threw Rhy out.” He turned to Rhy. “Is there a better way to say it?”

“He grabbed me by the collar and pushed me out the door. I don’t know of a better way to say it.”

His sister came and wrapped her arms around him again, and he squeezed her tight.

“Heather and I were sitting on the steps, pleading with Dad while he was acting like a crazy person. And all the time, Mom was shouting Bible verses and obscenities. And that’s when I realized my family wasn’t just dysfunctional, it was a damn freak show.”

“At least Rhy got to go live with Grandma and Granddad,” Heather said. “I was so jealous.”

Rhy chuckled and stroked her hair. “They talked about getting you out. Filing charges, calling child protective services, suing for custody. They were afraid they’d make it worse for you. As long as they had a cordial relationship with Mom and Dad, they could keep an eye on you.”

“I can’t go back,” Heather said.

Rhy said in a soft voice, “You don’t have to go back.”

Mason shook his head. “What I don’t get is why your dad is such a homophobe. Rhy said he wasn’t raised that way.”

“I wonder if maybe he’s bi,” Travis said. “He’s convinced that being gay is a choice. It just makes sense—he hates his own same-sex attraction and feels shame because of it. So he hates the expression of it in others.”

“Travis is a psych major,” Heather said to Mason, “in case you couldn’t tell.”

Rhy kissed the top of Heather’s head. “I should go.”

Mason’s heart fell. “You’re not staying here?”

 “I’d better stay at the cabin. Austin and Elena are sure to come snooping around.”

A chill washed through Mason’s body. “Then maybe it’s better if you’re not there, so you can avoid the confrontation.”

“I need to protect my property.”

Mason didn’t like that answer. “Rhy, I’m worried about your safety.”

“If I see them, I’ll call 911. I won’t talk to them, and it’s a good bet they won’t talk to me.”

Mason slid down onto Rhy’s lap, laying his head on Rhy’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Rhy said. “It’s only for a few more days, until the situation settles.”

“And then you’ll move back in?” Mason asked eagerly. “We’ve got a full house, but there’s room in my bed.”

Rhy beamed at him. “We’ll see.”

“You two are adorable,” Heather said. “You’re as sweet as a brownie topped with ice cream topped with chocolate syrup.”

Dora scratched at Heather’s leg.

Mason chuckled. “She heard you say ‘adorable’ and she thought you were talking about her.”

Heather knelt down and petted her. “That’s why your name is Dora. Because you’re adorable!”

Mason’s eyes widened. “I need to get her a water bowl that says, ‘A Dora Bowl’ on it.”

Rhy chuckled and wrapped his arms around him. “That is so corny.”

“It’s perfect. Just like this is perfect.” Mason looked at Rhy. “You got your family back.”

Rhy’s eyes misted. “As long as these two brats don’t make a nuisance of themselves.”

“Are you kidding?” Mason asked. “I’ve hated being alone here.”

“We’ll be good.” Heather said in a baby voice, hugging the puppy.

Rhy turned to Travis, his brows arched.

Travis shrugged. “I’m always good.”

“See that you are,” Rhy said in a mock-stern voice. He kissed Mason. “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll be in touch. Let me know if there’s any trouble here.”

“I will.” Mason rose and Rhy followed. They said their goodbyes at the front door. Then Mason stood at the window, watching him go.

What have I gotten into?