Chapter Ten

 

 

FORRESTER PARKED his black Ford Ranger by the curb of his childhood home. Kids usually played ball in the street like he and his brothers used to, but today everyone had been safely ensconced in their cozy two- or three-bedroom houses due to the rain. Identical houses all squished beside one another, hunkered down against the spring showers, separated by driveways made of two strips of concrete.

For the moment, serenity reigned in the small Shiloh neighborhood.

A strange mix of apprehension and happiness always swirled through Forrester when he came home. So many memories were priceless and wonderful, but haunting whispers of prejudice lingered in the corners of his mind.

Even after all these years, he couldn’t erase them.

After a stop at the jewelry store, he bought the proper hamburger buns and some candy for Nonna and the kids. The rain fell lighter now, but it still came down at a steady pace. Tony, Dino, and one of his cousins on Ma’s side, Jake, stood in the open garage, nursing their beers around a smoking charcoal grill. All the men tried to escape to “Ford Country,” aka the garage, during family get-togethers. After grabbing the hamburger buns and his gifts, he pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and dashed up the driveway, his sandal-clad feet splashing in the puddles.

In the shelter of the garage, a TV broadcasted a baseball game from its perch on the workbench, haphazard tools piled around it along with the remains of a card game. Old hot-rod calendars, some with bikini girls and/or cars, hung between Ford emblems, tin beer signs, and metal cabinets loaded with tools.

Inside two of the cabinets were a few topless lady posters from the late eighties Dad always thought Ma didn’t know about.

While his brothers had ogled them with teenage glee, those stupid posters had caused Forrester many nights of anxiety and confusion while he tried to understand why he was so different.

Gaze locked on the screen, Jake gave Forrester a cursory wave. Tony was grilling, and Dino had the hood of the Fastback up. He’d told Forrester something was squealing, but he hadn’t figured out what.

Completely original in classic Shelby colors, Wimbledon white with dark blue rocker stripes and the offset LeMans racing stripes, the car was beautiful, always drawing a crowd and high-dollar offers when they took it to car shows. But the brothers would never part with it.

“Look who bothered to show up.” As Tony turned the hamburgers, the grease sizzled, sending flames and smoke shooting into the air. He had a beer in his hand and a slight sheen on his face from the rain and heat of the grill. His almost-black hair was cut high and tight, military style. He set the flipper aside and gave Forrester a one-armed hug and a back slap without setting down his beer.

“I’m here, ain’t I?” Forrester returned the gesture with a light punch in his gut.

“Lay off, or you’ll spill my beer,” Tony said, laughing. He pointed at the cards and chips on the workbench. “You missed the game. I got twenty bucks off Jake.”

“I think you cheated,” Jake groused.

Tony chuckled and winked at Forrester. His brother loved to gamble.

“Hey, Frankie.” Dino held out a fist, and Forrester bumped it with his own before giving him a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. An ever-present baseball cap covered super-short dark hair. He and Tony shared the same wide jaw and thick brows.

Forrester pointed at the engine. “You figure out what was squealing?”

“Just a belt.” Dino wiped his hand on a rag before picking up his beer. “How’s the bookstore?”

“Doing good. Had my first guest author yesterday, and that was a real hit. Summer hours start soon, so we’re getting geared up. Got interviews scheduled for new baristas. That freezer couldn’t have come at a better time.”

“Got it this morning. It’s in my garage. Looks great.” He gestured at Jake. “Hey, start her up, see how she sounds.”

“You should call Gina. I think April needs a summer job,” Tony said.

“I’m not hiring family.” Yeah, that’s what he wanted. A spy to report his every move to the Spaghetti Hotline. When he received odd looks, however, he quickly added, “April can’t even make eye contact when you talk to her. How is she supposed to interact with customers?”

Tony nodded his agreement.

Forrester asked Dino, “Can I pay you next week? I’m running low.”

“No problem,” Dino said. “Get it to me whenever.”

“You gonna need help setting it up?” Tony asked.

“Nah,” Dino said. “I roped Joey into it.”

Jake climbed behind the wheel and rolled the engine over. The throaty rumble and familiar scent of exhaust filled the garage.

“Sounds good,” Dino said, pleased.

“I got the dates for the car show in Gilead this summer.” Forrester watched the engine rumble. “We should take it.”

“Definitely,” Dino said. “All right, kill it, Jake.”

“What kind of author came to your store? Anyone famous?” Tony wanted to know.

“If you read romance novels, maybe. I’m gonna have a kids’ day the first Saturday in June. Crafts and candy and stuff. You guys’ll have to bring the munchkins. I already told Amanda.”

“You tell Missy?” Tony asked.

“I didn’t, but I will.” Why did a three-month-old need to come to a bookstore? But he pulled out his phone and made a note to buy a few baby books, just in case.

“You still drunk?” Dino handed Jake a fresh beer, and Jake once more became engrossed in the game.

“I’m not drunk. Where’d you get a fool idea like that?”

Dino flipped a thumb at Tony, then dropped the hood.

Tony shrugged. “You sounded drunk on the phone to me, Frankie.”

“No, I didn’t. I was busy doing something.”

He probably had sounded drunk, especially with that little show Kyle had been putting on. Damn, he could still taste the flavor of Kyle’s kisses, smell the scent of his warm skin, see the peekaboo of cockhead. He couldn’t wait to suck it, to taste Kyle’s cum, to revel in….

“What were you doing?” Tony asked.

“I was reading,” Forrester snapped, feeling his face heat.

“You’ve always got your nose in a book.” Dino shifted his bulk to sit on one of the stools in front of the workbench.

“You get the buns at least?” Tony wanted to know.

Forrester held up the bags and wiggled them around. “No, I just carry these around for random homeless people and pigeons.”

His brothers laughed.

Sarcasm: the Giordano secret language.

Wordlessly Jake handed Forrester a beer, though the wine coolers chilling in the ice looked better. But he wasn’t in the mood for Jake’s wisecrack that only queers drank wine coolers.

“Thanks, Jake.”

“You’re welcome.”

Forrester glared at the grill. “We just eating hamburgers?”

“No, these are for the kids,” Dino said. “Ma made cheese gnocchi and ziti, and Zia Sophia made a roast.”

“Thank God. I didn’t cancel my plans for hamburgers.”

“Plans? Ha! I knew you forgot Mother’s Day,” Tony announced. “Pay up, Dino.”

“Jeez,” Dino grumbled, pulling a ten out of his wallet and passing it over to the sniggering Tony.

“You betting on me?”

“Yup,” Tony said unapologetically. “I said you forgot and would only come for Ma’s cooking.”

Eleven months younger than Forrester, Tony had inherited more than Dad’s bulk. He had his inflated opinions too. When younger, Forrester and Tony fought incessantly, but surprisingly Tony had made him the best man in his wedding two years ago.

“I can’t believe you forgot Mother’s Day.” Dino shook his head.

Blustering, Forrester replied, “I remembered. I even got Ma earrings.”

“You’re the worst liar, Frankie.” Tony laughed. “I should tell Ma you forgot.”

“And I should tell Missy you weren’t hanging out with me last Friday night,” he returned. Tony’s wife would not be happy he’d been playing poker after his promise not to gamble with real money anymore.

“You do and I’ll knock you into next week.”

Forrester stood straighter. “And I’ll knock your big ass right back.”

Dino sighed. “Can you two try not to argue for once in your lives? I don’t wanna spend my afternoon listening to you two squabble like a couple little girls.”

“Whatever,” Forrester said at the same time Tony did.

Bickering with Tony wasn’t how he wanted to spend his afternoon either. Naked and reading more of that book with Kyle, now that would’ve been a good afternoon.

Jake joined the conversation when the game went to commercial. “Maybe you two little girls should go to that new fag bar in the old laundromat.”

Forrester’s skin flushed.

Dino laughed. “I can’t believe a place like that opened in Shiloh. And it’s always packed.”

“We had to send a unit out there last night,” Tony said, startling Forrester. “Big fight.”

“Oh yeah?” He’d have to ask Lucas and Holly if they’d heard about a fight.

Jake sniggered around his beer. “What? Somebody wearing the same outfit?” His voice went high-pitched, and he flapped his wrist. “Bitch, you’re wearing my shoes!”

Tony and Dino both laughed, and Forrester told his mouth to move into a smile but made no sound.

Crap like this was exactly why he hadn’t come out yet.

“Actually it wasn’t like that,” Tony went on. “Somebody was heckling one of the guys standing outside, and the gay dude straight-up beat the shit out of him. Had to arrest both of them.”

“No shit?” Dino looked dumbfounded.

“Huh,” Jake said, but the game returned from commercial, and his attention fixed back on the screen.

Dino glanced out into the rain. “I wonder when Joey’s getting back with Nonna.”

Tony studied the driveway as though expecting a car to pull up. “He shoulda been back already.”

And just like that, the conversation shifted, as if mocking gay people was just another natural part of everyday life.

Forrester was convinced if you weren’t gay, it just might be.

“Where did he take Nonna?” Forrester asked.

Tony and Dino laughed. “She weaseled him into taking her to church this morning.”

“Better him than us, eh, Frankie?” Tony said.

“You ain’t lying.”

They all three shared a fist bump. Nothing was worse than sitting through a long Catholic mass in Latin, even if Forrester did love his nonna. Joey never could manage to get out of it.

For half a minute, he thought about telling his brothers about Joey and Alfie last night, then decided against it. They would be pissed, forcing Joey into doing something stupider just to prove he wasn’t an idiot.

“So how’s Holly?” Dino asked—a typical Giordano, always looking for a subject to fill in seven seconds of dreaded silence.

“She’s fine.”

“When are you gonna marry her already?”

“We’re just friends.”

Dino laughed. “Maybe that’s what she thinks. But I saw the way you were all over her at Louise’s wedding. Whispering in her ear, kissing her cheeks, and giggling when you were dancing with her.”

Forrester sniffed. Dino’s incorrect estimation was understandable. They had been “whispering” and “giggling” all night about all the things they wanted to do to the ushers. And he probably had kissed her—alcohol made him affectionate. But he kissed Holly all the time, just like he kissed Lucas, Amanda, Zia Sophia, Nonna, and Ma….

“No dude hangs out with a chick that hot because he wants to be her friend,” Dino continued.

“Unless he’s gay,” Tony chimed in, to Jake’s hilarity.

Keeping his expression neutral, Forrester made his usual deflection move. “With that logic, every man who has girls for friends is gay, Tony. You’re an idiot.”

Tony laughed and Dino went on, unaware of the irritation prickling up Forrester’s spine. “Well if you’re not gonna make a move on Holly, you should come to Smitty’s next week. That cute blonde from your class, the one with the great tits, Britany Mitchel? She asked about you.”

All three of his brothers were obsessed with tits. He never could see the reasoning behind the obsession. Big boobs brought back memories of his misguided heterosexual days and reminded Forrester of his mother.

Lord knew there was nothing sexy about that.

“Might be worth it just for the tits, Frankie,” Tony told him.

“I’m more of an ass man,” Forrester said truthfully.

Tony laughed heartily, swigging down his beer.

For half a second, he thought about adding he was also a dick man. He swallowed the hysterical urge to laugh. That would sure be one way to out himself.

“She’s got an all-right ass,” Dino admitted. “Kinda flat, though.”

“No fun fucking a flat ass,” Jake said.

“I’ll drink to that.” Playing along, Forrester raised his bottle, and Jake clinked it.

He’d been doing it his entire life. Why stop now?

“Hear! Hear!” Dino added, then took a couple taps on his bottle.

While peace reigned among the Giordano men as they toasted the perks of a nice, round backside, Forrester decided that was his cue to ditch Ford Country and its resident Neanderthals to find Ma.

Until Jake said to Tony, “I saw that big heroin bust SPD did on the news. Good job.”

“Thanks. It’s a strong lead, but we haven’t broken up the ring yet,” Tony said, frowning. “Just caught one of the distributors. Something bigger’s going on. Got the DEA sniffing around.”

“When was this?” Forrester wanted to know.

It was no secret a lot of drugs moved through their part of the world, especially heroin. With Interstate 75, the Ohio Turnpike, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, and the Canadian border all within a three-hour radius of Shiloh, and Chicago not too far either, their little college town had become a stop for dealers on their way to bigger and better places, unloading their illegal wares on college kids. Tony had been promoted to the new narcotics unit to fight the growing heroin epidemic—a promotion he loved talking about.

Tony raised his brows at him. “If you bothered to call once in a while, you might know.”

“You know, there’s no reasoning with you,” Forrester grumbled. “Why would I call you when all you do is tell me what I’m not doing right?”

“I do not. I’m just pointing out how you never call. You’re always so secretive.”

“C’mon, guys,” Dino said again. “Can you just lay off?”

“I’m going in to see Ma,” Forrester announced, leaving his beer on the tool bench.