While I might be king, queen, and entire royal family of avoidance at times, once I’d decided on a path, I didn’t hesitate. That got nothing done.

The next day, I called my mom.

“Bryant!” She answered on the second ring and sounded pleased to hear from me. “During the week? What’s going on?”

“I wanted to see if everyone was getting together this weekend,” I said.

“Darling, I think I can put it together. Do you want to go out?”

“No, I’d like to have everyone over, if that’s all right?” I wanted to be home, on my own turf, where I felt safe. I had to restrain from shouting, Hell no! to Mom.

“Oh, that would be wonderful! You haven’t cooked for us for a while. What can I do to help?”

My mom really was awesome. “Just call and get everyone on board. How about late Saturday afternoon?”

“I think that can happen,” Mom said. “Let me make the calls, and then you can let me know if there is anything else I can do.”

Mom loved to entertain, either for herself or others. Hated to cook, which is why she really liked when I did.

“Okay, Mom. I’ll let you help me plan the menu. But first, let me know how many people I’ll need to plan for.”

“All right, darling. Talk to you later.” She hung up.

How long had it been since I’d invited my family over? Not for some time. Not after Graham moved in after Tibby officially moved out.

Because it would mean explaining things I didn’t want to.

The mere thought of my dad and how he’d behaved made me cringe again.

I picked up the phone and dialed Graham.

“Hey,” I said to his voice mail. “I… I don’t know what to say. I miss you. I wish you’d come home, but… I guess… I understand why you left. I couldn’t see who picked you up. I’d like to talk to you,” I hurried to add. “Please. Call me back. Please.” I stopped, not wanting to break down. “Please. I love you.”

Then I hung up. I had so much I wanted to say to him.

I hoped it wasn’t too late to have him listen. But it couldn’t be!

Dhameer said I’d get my wish. This was my wish. I just had to fix things, and I’d get my wish.

This had to work.

If this didn’t work, I know what I would do. My goal was to get my life back. The end game was to get Graham back. If that meant I had to come out to my family that was what I needed to do.

Sighing again, I got up and went to Tibby’s office.

“Hey,” I said.

She looked up. “What’s up?”

“So I have the process in motion,” I said. “Are you and Seth around for dinner this weekend?”

Her eyes widened. “You’re really going to do it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Where?”

“At my place. I’m cooking.”

“You want some help?”

“Oh, God, please!”

Tibby laughed. “I’ll be delighted. So will Seth.”

“You sure you don’t need to check with him?”

“Nope. He’ll be as thrilled for you as I am.”

“Well, okay, if you’re sure. I’ll let you know what time.”

“Okay,” she said. “Anything else?”

“No, I think that’s it. As far as life-changing announcements that will be forthcoming.”

“Well, good. More than one a week is just more than I can handle.”

“Shut up,” I said. And I walked back to my office.

At least I knew I would have allies with me. Regardless of what my family might do, Seth and Tibby will be there supporting me.

It was weird. I’ve been pretty open with my friends, after a period of assessment. When I figured out that they were trustworthy, I’d let them know. It had never been that big of a deal for me. Only with my family Only with my family had the idea of who I wanted to date and spend my life with become like the sword hanging over my head.

In spite of the fact that I had work waiting for me, I spent some time figuring out the menu and the shopping list. I liked to cook. It gave me a sense of control of my environment. Given the purpose of this dinner, me having any sense of control was probably a good thing.

Once I finish my list, I set thoughts of this weekend’s plans. Aside and got back to work. Stewing over it wouldn’t make anything better.

* * *

The week went quicker than I thought it would. Before I realized it, it was Friday, and I was heading to the grocery store to do with my shopping. My mother had been so excited that I was cooking, she apparently hounded every member of the family into accepting. So everyone would be there.

I supposed that was good. I’d get it over all at once, and everyone would hear it for me. As I was leaving the grocery store, my phone rang.

It was Graham’s ring tone.

“Hello?”

A slight pause, and then Graham spoke. “I got your message,” he said.

“I’m glad you called me back.”

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Can we meet this weekend? I’d love to talk to you,” I said.

I didn’t start the car because I felt like I needed to put all of my attention into this phone call. I couldn’t even have the distraction of driving.

“I don’t know, Bryant,” he said.

“I’d love to get together on Sunday. If you have time?”

“Does it have to be Sunday?”

Shit.

Graham hated to be boxed in. I had forgotten about that. It meant that I had to leave dates and planning slightly open-ended when I went and spoke with him. But there was no way that I could talk to him on Saturday morning, or afternoon, and then put together a dinner for my family and tell them I was gay. That just wasn’t going to happen.

“Yeah, I have a bunch of things to take care of on Saturday. Work is really crazy right now,” I added.

I didn’t like lying, but I didn’t want to get into this. And honestly, according to him, we were no longer together. So I didn’t have to give him my entire agenda. I also didn’t really like that I fell into using us being broken up as an excuse when it was convenient for me. That was something I’d have to think about.

Later.

“I think Sunday will work, but my plans aren’t quite sent to the weekend. Can I call you Saturday?”

For Graham, that was an olive branch. I would take it.

“Yeah, give me a call. Let me know.”

“Okay, I will. Talk to you later,” Graham said.

I couldn’t quite tell what the tone in his voice was. Hesitance? Reserved? Definitely reserved. I suppose I could understand. He was hurt, and he wasn’t going to put himself out there to be hurt again.

Although for me personally, I couldn’t understand. I didn’t like this game playing, but no one was perfect. However, Graham was perfect for me. And this was going to be part of the way that I brought Graham back into my life. Nothing worth having was easy. If this is what it took, this is what I would do.

I couldn’t wait for dinner now. Because once I had dinner, and told my family the truth, then I’d be able to focus on putting Graham and I back together.

* * *

Saturday arrived, and I got up and started prepping my materials. I spent the night before cleaning, making sure that everything looked spotless. Since Tibby had moved out, my house had gotten cleaner. She was the messier of the two of us. Graham and I were on a similar level with regard to cleanliness.

With Graham being gone, I felt like I’d barely been living. So there wasn’t tons to clean, but it made me feel better to do it.

I set the table, taking time with all the flatware, and the glassware, and arranged the flowers that I bought at the grocery store last night. I enjoyed entertaining, and in spite of my feeling that this wasn’t going to be comfortable tonight, I still wanted everything to look the way I liked.

The doorbell rang, and then the front door opened. When Tibby had moved out, I told her to keep the key, just in case. While Graham was living with me, she had never used it. But I guess now, she wasn’t worried about offending him any longer.

The thought gave me pause. While Tibby had never said anything, I wasn’t entirely sure that she was as sad for me as I was about Graham leaving. She’d stayed pretty neutral on her own thoughts on him.

Which was what a good friend did.

“Hey,” Seth said. “Here we are, you’re willing kitchen workers. What can we do to help?”

“Open the wine and let it breathe,” Tibby said. She held out her back towards me, a bag that was obviously full of bottles of wine.

When she had moved in with me, she had no sense of wine, or how to pair with a meal. That was one thing I had done.

“It’s good to see you haven’t forgotten all the things I’ve taught you,” I said with a smile.

“I can be taught," Tibby said.

Seth laughed. “Sometimes,” he said.

“Shut it, you,” she said.

Together, the three of us worked, putting the finishing touches on the meal. Actually, I did most of the work, while they both drank wine.

That was fine with me. Just having them with me made a difference. The doorbell rang.

“Showtime,” I said. I went to the door, and it was my parents, who had also brought Granddad. His driving was getting more erratic these days.

“Bryant, whatever you’re cooking, it smells delicious.” My mom kissed my cheek.

My dad shook my hand and smiled. He looked happier than normal, and that cheered me up a bit.

“Good to see you, son. Thanks for having us over,” he said.

Dad sounded almost casual. It threw me a little. Maybe he’d always sounded casual, and it was just me? I push those thoughts from my head. I didn’t need to distract myself with the what-ifs.

“Come on in, let me get you a drink.”

They followed me to the kitchen, and Tibby came over to greet them. She gave all three a hug and a kiss, with a longer one to Granddad. Seth shook hands with both my dad and Granddad and hugged my mom.

“What are you drinking?” I asked.

“Don’t you have wine prepared for dinner?” My mother teased.

“Well, of course I do. But I always like to pretend to give you a choice.”

“No choice needed for me,” Granddad grumbled. “I’ll have a scotch and leave you all to the wine.”

Everyone laughed. The doorbell rang again, and both of my brothers came in with their families. I was pouring wine, getting drinks, and finishing up the last bit of dinner. When we finally sat down to eat, I looked around me with pleasure. It was nice having them here. Why had I never had this level of comfort with them before?

It was because I had never been honest with them before. At least, not like I was about to be now.

Please let them accept this. Please don’t let them be assholes. I hated to think that about my family, but I’d heard of too many people who had finally come out to their families, and been shocked at the level of negativity that resulted.

Conversation sort of came to a lull and I decided that it was now or never. I could feel my stomach drop to my shoes, but I stood up and tapped my knife against my wine glass gently, calling attention to me.

“I’m really glad that everyone is here today,” I said, looking around, trying to make eye contact with all of them—except the kids, who were preoccupied with half-throwing food back and forth. Oh, well. The tablecloth would wash, and other than that, they were Casey and Melissa’s problem.

“I asked everyone here because I wanted to share with you all, and honestly,” I grinned, feigning a courage I didn’t entirely feel, “I didn’t want to have to keep telling everyone individually.”

I saw a couple of weighted glances exchanged, but I pretended I didn’t.

“On my birthday, I asked the love of my life to get married, and…”

My mom started to cry, smiling at me.

“He said yes.”