“I’m between classes right now,” Kenny said. “I wanted to see if you’re okay.” He went to a private school uptown near Jeffery’s townhouse. He’d just entered his freshman year and he seemed to be well adjusted in spite of the fact that his parents weren’t living together.
“I’m fine,” Evan said. “I’m really doing okay and I don’t want you to worry.” Sometimes it was more like Evan was the child and Kenny was the parent. They related to each other more like good friends than father and son. Jeffery and Evan had adopted Kenny when he was seven years old, right after they’d committed to each other. This was before gay marriage in New York had been legal, and right before having children had become the ultimate chic thing to do for gay men. Jeffery had insisted on adoption. At the time, he’d said he’d always wanted to be a father and he wanted to do it while he was still young. Although Evan had been apprehensive about being a parent back them, he now realized it was the one single decision he’d made in his life so far that had been worthwhile. He couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without Kenny.
“Good, because I want you to listen to me read tonight,” Kenny said.
“Read?” Evan asked. He glanced at the sofa and Jeffery shrugged.
“I wrote a short story for my English class and tonight is parent-teacher night at school. Each department is doing something different. The English department has kids doing readings, and I’m doing one.”
Evan felt a surge of panic deep in his stomach. “Oh, I’m not sure, Kenny. I just got home. I look like a mess and I can’t promise anything.” He didn’t want to face people this soon, especially other parents and teachers in a school environment where everything always seemed so proper and upstanding.
“Dad, you have to come, seriously. I need you there. You’re a writer and I’ve been telling everyone about you. I’m also scared to death. I’ve never done a reading before.”
“Oh, God,” Evan said. He hated being put on the spot this way. But there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his child. He’d made a silent pledge to himself the first night Kenny had spent with them ten years earlier. He’s tucked him into bed and waited for him to fall asleep. He sat there watching him sleep for more than an hour. Before he got up and went to his own bedroom that night, he bent down, kissed his son on the cheek, and said, “I will always put you first.”
“Please come,” Kenny said. “I think dad will be here, too. I told him about it this morning before I left for school.” Kenny lived full time with Jeffery. It often seemed as if his main mission in life was to get his two dads back together again.
Evan didn’t mention that Jeffery was in his apartment. “Okay, I’ll try to be there. I really will. But I can’t promise you.”
“Thanks, dad,” Kenny said. “I have to go now. I’ll see you tonight at seven. It’s room 304.”
Evan said, “I’ll try. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Dad.”
After he hung up, Evan set the phone on the table and smiled. It felt so good to hear his son’s voice he stopped worrying about being nervous with Jeffery. He crossed to the other end of the sofa and sat down. Before he had a chance to say anything, Jeffery said, “He’s missed you. You have to go tonight. I’ll send a car for you around six thirty.”
Although Evan didn’t want to go out in public that soon, he knew he would go. He sent Jeffery a look and asked, “Aren’t you going?” He wasn’t sure if Jeffery was offering to pick him up or just send a car. With Jeffery he could never be certain. He’d learned to read between the lines.
“I can’t,” Jeffery said. “I have an important dinner engagement tonight. I was going to call him later and tell him I can’t go, and now I don’t feel so bad knowing you’ll be there for him.”
“I can take a cab,” Evan said.
“I’m sure you can do anything.”
Evan would have stopped the world for his son. He’d already missed deadlines and publishing events to put his son’s needs first. And he’d never regretted it. But not Jeffery. He’d always put business first and Evan had gotten used to this. There was no use arguing with him anymore. He’d done that more than once when they’d been living together. He also knew Kenny would not be surprised. His other dad had missed school plays, singing recitals, soccer matches, and more than Evan could recall. Kenny had become as accustomed to Jeffery’s work ethic as Evan had.
But just to see Jeffery’s reaction, Evan said, “Maybe you could cancel this dinner engagement just this once, for Kenny’s sake. I’m sure he’d like to see us both there tonight as a family. It sounds like it’s a big event for him.” As a writer, Evan knew what it was like to give readings of his own work. He’d always dreaded doing it. He’d never done it sober. He couldn’t have been prouder of his son’s courage or his ambition to become a writer.
“Can’t do that,” Jeffery said. “It’s an important guy from Silicon Valley who flew in just to talk to me. This is big. There’s a lot of money involved. This guy owns the most important online social media outlet since the invention of TV and he’s going public soon and I’m his biggest investor.”
Evan didn’t truly grasp what Jeffery did on Wall Street because he’d always worked in the more creative end of publishing. He knew it had a lot to do with the stock market and investments— venture capitalism. Jeffery had made his fortune in the right technology stocks at a time when a lot of other investors had been laughing at them. And he’d continued to build his billion-dollar fortune by following all the latest trends in social media. At this particular time social media seemed to be booming and Evan knew Jeffery would never miss an opportunity to get involved in something this important.
Evan smiled and said, “I didn’t think you would. I understand, and I’m sure Kenny will, too.” Now he would have to go to the reading. He would not let his son down the same way Jeffery always let him down.
Jeffery moved closer to him and rested his palm on Evan’s thigh. He ran it up and down and said, “You look fantastic. I was expecting to find you all depressed and pale like the other times you’ve returned from Havilland. But this time you look different. It’s hard to explain.”