Too Good To Be True

God and Day were on their way to pick up Genesis to watch the game over at their house. Day had also invited his brother, along with Ronowski and Johnson. The game wasn’t starting until five, but God wanted to throw the ball around with Genesis, maybe even play a few games of Madden with him before the guys came over.

God swerved into the driveway and as soon as he dropped down from the driver’s seat and slammed the door, Genesis rushed him, almost knocking him over. They wrestled with each other until their mom appeared in the front doorframe.

“Let them get in the house, Genny, my goodness.” She laughed at their horse playing.

“Yeah, Genny.” God teased his brother’s nickname and was thanked with a hard pop to the back of his head. He chased Genesis around the yard until his mom yelled at him to get over there and give her a kiss.

“Hi, Mom, you look pretty today.” God smiled and jogged up to her, picking her up in a bear hug and spinning her around on the porch. She giggled while swatting at his shoulders, urging him to put her down.

“Oh my Lord. Now I got two of you big oafs picking me up and spinning me,” she said while turning to face Day. “You’re not as big as them but you still look like a spinner to me.”

“Oh I most certainly am; my mother still walks lopsided to this day. Com’ere, beautiful.” Before God’s mom could say no way, Day had swooped her up like a little girl and spun her around at least five times, making her squeal like she was on a roller coaster. He set her back down gently and kissed her cheek. She grabbed at her heart and panted, out of breath.

“My word. You may be smaller but you are just as strong.” She laughed. “Leo, I’m so glad Cashel brought you by today. He had such wonderful things to say about you. Come on in, I’m sure you boys have a few minutes before you have to leave.” She winked at Day. “Besides I made some homemade mac-n-cheese that I want Leo to taste since he was trained by the incomparable Prescott Vaughan.”

“Oh no way,” God groaned.

Day smiled proudly at God and walked into the house after his mom.

Genesis and God sat at the small kitchenette table eating the last of the raisin bread while Day explained to her that evaporated milk was a better substitute for cream in savory dishes. God grumbled more than a few times when Day told his mom what it was like to cook with her favorite television chef.

“If I have to hear how wonderful Prescott is one more time, I’m going to shove sharp sticks in my ears.” God pulled Day to him and nipped at his chin.

“Oh be quiet you. You have him now, and you reap the benefits of the great recipes that Prescott left with him.” She tsked at him.

“Yeah, whatever.” God rolled his eyes and sat back down. He looked at the stack of mail and idly fingered through it, since technically they were his bills. The mortgage and utilities were paid automatically, so God was interested if his family had incurred additional debts that he didn’t know about.

“Hey, Mom, what’s this?” God held up an assisted-living-facility brochure with an acceptance letter inside it.

“Oh, honey. Genesis and I were going to talk to you about that. It just came yesterday, so now that we know I’m in, I can tell you all the details.” She wiped her hands on the worn pink apron that covered the pale gray pantsuit she’d worn to church. She sat on the fourth chair and gently took the brochure from God.

“Since this will be Genny’s last year in school and he’ll be going off to college soon, he doesn’t think I should stay here alone.” She wrung the small dishtowel in her hand. “And I don’t want to live alone either. So we found this really nice assisted-living facility.”

“Like an old folks home. What’s wrong with this house?” God interrupted, frowning.

He’d be damned if he sent his still relatively young mom to waste away in some tiny room in an old-age home. Day reached over and placed his hand over God’s and gave it a couple pats, holding his gaze for a few seconds. His man was telling him to stop jumping the gun and listen.

He flipped his hand over and laced their fingers together. God took a deep breath before speaking again. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Go on.”

God saw his mom throw an appreciative smile at his lover before continuing.

“This place is wonderful, Cashel. Gen and I will never be able to thank you for what you’ve done all these years. But I don’t want to live alone, honey.” She hurriedly opened the tri-fold brochure and held it out for all of them to look at. “See. These are fully furnished apartments, not rooms; in a complex that’s for either the elderly or anyone that has a disability and can’t work. After Gen and I did a tour, the admissions manager said that I qualify because I’m on full disability—it has nothing to do with being old.” She smiled and patted God’s stubbled cheek.

“I can still do volunteer work. The complex has a van for transporting residents. There’re also game nights and a recreation center, cinema, church, a full cafeteria, all right there in the community.” She beamed. “The best part is, it won’t cost anything extra, it’s based on how much disability I get a month and I’ll still get Joe’s social security check.”

God dropped his head down, while squeezing Day’s hand tighter.

“Oh, honey. You’ve done so much. It’s time for you to live your life and be happy with Leo. You don’t need to keep running yourself into the ground, paying all of our expenses and your own.” His mom shook her head as if trying to understand. “I still can’t see how the heck you managed all these years. But you’ve done more than any son would have.”

“Mom, if they have a vacancy now, then you need to take it. If you go back on the waiting list, there’s no telling how long it would be before another apartment is available. I'll ask a friend at school if I can stay with him until Coach’s son leaves for boot camp next month,” Genesis said.

“Whoa, whoa. I’m lost. What do you mean live with a friend?” God raised his hand up to slow his brother down.

“Well, Coach said I could live with him after his son leaves for boot camp next month if mom was accepted into her new place. She can't have anyone living with her. We’ve been talking about this my entire senior year, but this apartment just became available, and I don’t want her to miss it. I saw the place already Cash… hell I wouldn’t mind living there. The cafeteria serves three meals a day for people that aren’t able to cook for themselves and the food's ridiculously good.”

God was listening to his brother, but he was staring at his man. He wanted to ask Day something but he just wasn’t sure how.

“Genesis, you are more than welcome to live with us until it’s time for you to go to school—of course, if it’s okay with your mom—I have more than enough room and I’m sure Cash would like to spend as much time with you as he can before you go,” Day said. God stared at his man, his partner, his lover… his best friend. He’d known what God wanted to offer but felt it wasn't his place.

“Are you serious, Leo? That would be freakin’ awesome, dude!” Genesis shook Day by his shoulders, not even trying to hide his excitement.

Day turned to look at God who was still staring at him in amazement. He winked and kissed God on his cheek.

“Cash and I would love for you to live in our home. The guest room is huge and you could do whatever you want to make it your own for these next nine or so months. It’s out of your bus route for school, but I have an SUV that I never drive. I only ride my bike, or I ride with Dale Earnhardt, over here, so you can use it for getting around, as soon as I put you on the insurance.”

God thought Genesis was going to knock Day out of his chair, he was shaking and hugging him so hard.

“Genny, for God’s sake, don’t kill the nice man.” His mom laughed. “Leo, that’s more than generous… are you sure?”

“Of course. Gen is family,” Leo said while swatting away Genesis’s groping hands.

“Aww man… this is going to be sweet!” Genesis grinned.

God was so happy. He would have a whole ten months with his brother before he went off to school in the fall. There was no doubt that Genesis was going to college. At this point it was just a matter of narrowing down the tons of options. God never thought he’d be this happy in his life. He was in love, he had the love of his mom and brother again, and if rumors were true—he was up for a promotion.

“Okay, Mom. As long as it’s something you want to do.” God leaned over and kissed his mom’s cheek.

She stood and placed her hands on her lean hips. “Now I want Genny to go to a great school and kick some butt in their football program, and you and Leo to build your life together.” She looked at them sternly. “And when all is right… I want some grandbabies.” She beamed.

All of the guys started coughing and groaning at the same time.

“Okay, okay.” She grinned and put her hands up to calm them down. “Cash, I want you to come with me to my walk-through so you can see it’s a great place and there’s no reason to worry. After you give your approval, I’ll sign my lease and my big strapping men can get me all moved in.” She leaned down and kissed all three of them on their foreheads. “Now I’m going to put on something comfortable and stretch out on the couch. I’ll finally be able to watch my Lifetime Movie Channel on the nice TV since Genesis won’t be hogging it watching football all day.”

Cash smiled and walked her to the bottom of the stairs, kissing her on her cheek. “I’ll have Genesis home by ten, Mom.”

She turned on the third step. “He can stay the night; you don’t have to drive all the way back here that late. I am capable of locking my doors and staying home alone, Cashel.”

“Absolutely not,” God said easily and smiled as she walked upstairs shaking her head at him . “’Night, Momma.”

“Good night, sweet boy.”

By the time they finished with their visit, God was convinced that the retirement community seemed like a nice place to live and it was only twenty minutes from his and Leo’s home. His mom wouldn’t be alone so Genesis wouldn’t have to worry about her, and he could focus on school. God was going with her and Genesis next week to sign the lease, and then he’d put the house up for sale. God had to admit to himself that not having an entire household to keep up with was a wonderful feeling.