Brody Comes Home

Chapter 1-2

“Relax, Brody, it looks fine.”

“Then what?” Sheila asked.

“Don’t be mad, but it just seems funny to see such a big, macho guy with rippling muscles, still sporting his Marine haircut, making such a delicate floral arrangement.”

“Yeah, yeah. I took a lot of flak about that in high school, too.”

“I seem to remember.”

When noon came, Brody volunteered to go get them some lunch. Sheila asked him to bring her a chicken Caesar salad and iced tea. He got himself two Big Macs with cheese and large fries.

As they sat at one of the tables in the back eating, she said, “Bobby tells me you’re going over to Colby State in the fall.”

“Uh huh,” he grunted, chewing his cheeseburger.

“What are you going to major in?”

He took a swallow of his drink. “f**k if I know. Business, most likely.”

“You don’t sound very excited.”

“Excited? I didn’t want to go to college when we graduated from high school. That’s one of the reasons I went into the Marines. I’m still not sure what I want to do.”

“When you grow up?”

He grinned. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. What about you? Has your life turned out to be what you expected?”

“Pretty much. I totally love Jeremy, and my baby is the best thing that ever happened to me. I wish I could stay home with her all day, but we just can’t afford that. With car payments and a mortgage, I’ve got to work.”

“Who looks after Susie when you’re working?” Brody asked.

“My mom.”

“Oh, how’s she doing? I always thought she was a cool lady.”

“She’s fine. And you’re right. Mom’s special.”

“I’ll bet she’s crazy about Susie.”

“Right again.” Sheila smiled. “Like she says, she can spoil her all day and then send her home to Jer and me.”

After a lull during which they both continued to eat, Sheila asked, “Is there anyone special in your life at the moment?”

“Nope. I’m just back from Iraq, you know.”

It had been gradually getting darker, and now the skies opened up, releasing what the locals called a “toad strangler” on the little city.

“Yeah, but I thought maybe before you went over you’d have met someone. Or even while you were there.”

“Sheil,” he said, “I was in Iraq. No chance to meet many women there except some female Marines, and I sure haven’t seen one of those that interested me.”

“No, I suppose not.” He couldn’t understand the look she gave him.

As they were finishing their lunch, the back door opened and a teen came in. He was about 5’9” with medium brown hair, which he wore in a ponytail, and blue eyes. He had on the uniform blue T-shirt which he was wearing with tan cargo shorts and sandals. He had broad shoulders and a good chest. His biceps stretched the sleeves of his shirt. He wore a small silver stud in his right ear. And he was soaked.

“Justin, you’re wet, babe!

The boy grinned. “Hi, Sheila. What ‘cha got for me this afternoon?”

“You’ve got three deliveries so far. They’re in the case. And when you get back there are some boxes to take to the dumpster. But before you do anything, I want you to meet Brody. Brody, this is Justin Quinn.”

Brody put out his hand and said, “Hi, Justin. Glad to know you.”

“Hey,” the boy said. He rubbed his hand on his shorts in an attempt to dry it. Then he shook hands with Brody. “So you’re the boss’s little brother.” He looked up at Brody and grinned. “But you’re not so little, are ya?”

Big enough to swat you like a mosquito, Brody thought, but he said only, “Yeah, I’m Brody Cox.”

“Cool!”

He went to one of the large refrigerators at the side of the room and took out the largest of the arrangements. “I’ll be back for the others,” he said and, taking the keys to the delivery van, dashed outside. He came back and got the second arrangement and the long box in which Brody had put Cromer’s roses.

“Laters, guys.”

Brody went over to shut the door for Justin, since he had his hands full.

“Thanks, big dude.”

“No prob, kid.”

There was no one in the shop, so they sat again a few minutes, listening to the rain. “Justin seems pretty full of himself.”

“He’s a nice kid.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like the pony tail. And he should be in long pants like the rest of us.”

“You’ll never persuade him to cut his hair. It seems to be a part of who he is. And none of the delivery boys have worn long pants in the summer since you left, or so I’m told.”

“Well, Bob’s the boss. But I don’t like the way the little bastard looks.”

Actually, Justin looked great. The pulled-back hair emphasized his handsome features, and Brody had noticed his tight little butt as he went out to the delivery van.

It was almost as if Sheila could read his thoughts. “It’s got to be the hair. Even you would have to admit that the rest of him is pretty cute.”

“Cute?” he asked, frowning at her.

“Yeah. And it will be good for Justin to have you around. You’ll be a great role model.”

“Me? Why?”

“Well, he’s gay, too, and he doesn’t have many friends. For sure no one as studly as you.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. “Hold on a minute. He’s gay, too? What are you saying?”

“Oh, come on. I figured out you were gay before we split up back in high school.”

“But…”

“You won’t honestly deny it, will you?”

“What did I ever do to give you the idea I was gay?”

“Two things. When we were screwing, although you’re one of the sexiest men I’ve ever known, there was always something missing. Your heart just wasn’t in it. There was no passion. In fact, sometimes when you had your eyes shut it looked like you were thinking about somebody else.”

“s**t!”

“And I’m pretty sure I know who that someone else was. I saw the way you and Pete Clifford looked at each other. You had a thing for him. You never looked at me that way.”

“Jesus, Sheil! Have you told anybody?”

She put her hand on his. “No, sweetie, of course not. It was just what I thought, not what I knew. And I’m not a gossip. If you want to keep it a secret, I promise not to tell anyone. But you’re not in the Marines anymore, Brody, and you owe it to yourself to find your special guy.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay, you’re right. I’ve been wondering how to tell Bobby and Sam and my folks. I’m not gonna become the town’s gay poster boy, but I’m sick of pretending to be something I’m not.”

She squeezed his hand. “Good for you. You’ll never be happy if you have to keep living a lie.” She was quiet for a moment. “You know, I think you should tell Bobby the first chance you get. Maybe then he could help you figure out when and how to tell your parents.”

“Or whether to tell them. After all, they’re in New Mexico, and, face it, I won’t see them very often.”

“Brody, shame on you! They’re only in their fifties. They’ll probably live another twenty years or so, and you’ll see them a couple of times a year at least.”

“I haven’t seen much of them in the last four years, or Bob either. I honestly don’t have a clue how any of them will take the news.”

“They’re good people, sweetie, and they love you. It’ll be all right.”

He was staring at a calendar on the far wall and holding a pencil. He snapped the pencil in two as he said, “I hope to hell you’re right.”

“When the time seems right, tell Bob. He deserves to know.”

“What’s he going to think when he finds out that not only is his brother gay, but that he’s stuck with him working in the shop?”

“People will think you’re gay anyway,” she said, grinning at him.

“But…I never thought I acted gay. Nobody in the Corps gave me any problems.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that. You’re the picture of the macho straight Marine. But some people just automatically think any guy working in a florist shop is gay. Bob and you look a lot alike, but if he wasn’t married, there’d probably be some people in town who’d think he was gay. Folks just tend to classify other people that way.”

He took the two pieces of the broken pencil and carried them to a tall waste drum. “So what you’re saying is that people are going to think I’m gay anyway, so I may as well admit it?”

She grinned at him. “Well, you said yourself you were tired of hiding it.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“Where’s Pete these days? Have you two kept in touch?”

“Look, I’m not saying anything about Pete except that he and I were best buds all the way through high school. Don’t pull the old guilt by association thing. Just because he and I were friends doesn’t necessarily mean we fooled around.”

“If you weren’t,” she said chuckling, “then you must have had a permanent case of blue balls.”

“Sheila Brown, er, Henderson, such language coming from a proper married lady! I’m shocked.” Brody tried to look stern, but he couldn’t help laughing.

“Oh, stuff it, Cox. You and I never worried about how we talked to each other. I’m not about to change that now.”

He nodded and returned to the topic. “Well, I managed to drain my balls with you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, and I knew I wasn’t the only girl, either. I wonder if you managed to fool the others.”

Despite his embarrassment that she was talking about the other girls he’d screwed, he was glad the conversation had turned away from his relationship with Pete. But then Sheila focused back in on that topic.

“So do you know where Pete is?”

“Like I said to Cromer, there aren’t any secrets in this town. I’m surprised you don’t know he just graduated and is gonna do grad work in veterinary medicine at OSU.”

She gave him a saucy grin. “Actually, I did know that. I just wondered if you knew. So you two have kept in touch.”

He nodded. “We’ve emailed each other whenever I was someplace with computer access.”

“Does he have a special guy?”

Brody knew Pete had had two or three f**k buddies while he was in college, but he and his most recent decided their relationship couldn’t stand the separation of being in different grad schools, so his old friend was single again. But he wasn’t about to tell Sheila.

“None of your business, is it?”

“Well, maybe you can tell me this. Is there a chance of anything happening with you and Pete?”

“There’d only be a chance for me if I was in Columbus.”

“Tough for you.”

“I haven’t carried a torch for him for four years. We’re still good friends, but that’s all.” He had a sinking feeling when he realized that, despite his best intentions, he’d confirmed that Pete was gay, as she’d guessed. He hoped that, as she said, she wasn’t a gossip.

The storm passed over, the sun came out, and steam began to rise from the streets and sidewalks.

Their talk was interrupted by a phone call, and then there was a slow but steady stream of customers in the shop the rest of the afternoon. They’d just sat down again when Justin came in, put the van keys on their hook, and flopped onto a stool next to Brody. He looked much less wet than when he’d been there before.

After elbowing him in the ribs, he said, “So, what’s it like to be gay in the Marines?”

Stunned, Brody looked daggers at Sheila, who held up her hands in a placating gesture.

“I’ve never told anybody, Brody, honest.”

“Relax, dude. Nobody told me. But my gaydar is infallible. Must have been tough in the Marines. Wanna tell me about it?”

“No, I don’t want to tell you about it. And if you value your boyballs, you won’t tell anyone what you’ve guessed about me.” He stood up to his full height and stared down at the seated boy. “Do you understand me?”

Justin grinned, turned to Sheila, and said, “Ooh, he’s so butch!” Then he gave Brody a sloppy salute, and said, “Sir, yes Sir!”

It was nearing five. There was one more delivery to make.

“Brody, Justin’s not allowed to have his own key to the shop. If he makes this run, one of us will have to wait here to close after he gets back. Why don’t you deliver the order now and then go on home? Justin can help me close up. That way we’ll all get home sooner.”

Brody didn’t have any reason to rush back to his Spartan apartment, but he was willing to make the delivery. Sheila gave him his own set of keys for the shop and the code to the security system, and handed him the arrangement to deliver. “See you in the morning, jarhead. It’s good to have you back.”

“Uh, Brody, sorry if I pissed you off,” Justin said. “Thanks for making the run for me.”

First he said, “Thanks, Sheil. I’m not quite sure how I feel about being back, to be honest. Say hi to Jeremy for me. I’m looking forward to seeing Susie sometime.”

Turning to Justin he said, “As for you, squirt, remember what I said about your balls. You keep your mouth shut and you and I will get along just fine.” Then he winked at him, and the boy gave him a cocky grin.

“Gotcha, corporal.”

“That’s sergeant!”

“Whatever.”

Sheila’s map helped him find the house where the large spray of flowers was to go. It looked as if someone was having an anniversary, though why they were having their party on a Monday night puzzled Brody.

As he was driving through the neighborhood looking at the new houses, he spotted a Cromer Landscaping van parked up ahead. He slowed. Sure enough, there was Dave Cromer. He and a couple of other men were obviously planting rhodies and yews along the border of the front yard. Like his workers, Dave had on only denim cutoffs and work boots with white socks. All three were sweating freely, all three undeniably sexy.

On a whim, Brody pulled up behind Dave’s van, switched off the motor, and got out. Dave, recognizing him, said something to the others and walked toward him.

“Cox, what the f**k brings you here?”

For a moment Brody reverted to being the big but insecure boy he’d been in tenth grade confronted by one of the school’s alpha senior jocks.

“Uh, look, Cromer, I just, that is, uh, I wanted…”

Cromer grinned. “Being in the Marines doesn’t seem to have helped all that much. You’re still a p***y, aren’t you? Come on, man, spit it out!”

Brody chose to listen to the words rather than look at the facial expression.

“f**k you, asshole! I just stopped by to apologize in case you thought I was rude to you in the shop this morning. But I see you haven’t changed. You’re still the arrogant son of a b***h you always were. I’m sorry I wasted my time. You can get back to destroying this lawn now.”

He turned abruptly and stalked back toward the Jeep. Just as he opened the door, he heard Cromer call out, “Hey, Cox!” He turned to see the man still grinning, his hand gripping his package, hefting it up and down in a universal gesture. Flipping him an equally universal gesture with his finger, Brody got into his car and roared off.