章 15: Chapter 15

“We came out to my folks on my fifteenth birthday. They were cool about it. Dad took a bit longer than Mom, but they ended up bein’ real supportive. And God knows we needed it.” Jake’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.

Barry braced himself, knowing he wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“Jimmy’s dad.” Jake swallowed. “He caught us fucking in their hay loft and…” Jake’s knuckles were turning white, he was gripping the wheel so hard. “How Jimmy turned out as good as he did with that mean son of a bitch for a dad…I don’t know.”

It was Barry’s turn to lay a hand on Jake’s knee. “Sorry.”

“Yeah.” Jake let out a breath and made a visible effort to relax. “Jimmy was in the hospital best part of two weeks.”

Barry gasped.

“’Course he couldn’t go back home afterward, so Dad said he could come live with us.”

“And he never left,” Barry said.

Jake shook his head. “Thank God.”

They remained quiet for a couple of miles, save for the road noise and the radio playing softly.