The Perfect Family (38 page)

“No!” Luke had raised his voice.

“Not only will he go, he’s never coming back here again.”

Jamie felt his throat close up.

“You are never to see this boy again. There will be no prom. And I’m signing you up for the summer reparative therapy camp Mike Davidson and I talked about.”

Bending over, Luke picked up his T-shirt and slid it over his head, then rounded on his father. He moved in close, in his dad’s face, fists clenched, chin raised. “I’d rather die than go to one of those places.” Luke’s voice was deadly cold.

“You have no choice.”

“Lucas.” His mother tried to draw his father away. “We haven’t thought this out.”

Jamie felt suffocated, and it wasn’t even
his
father saying these ugly things.

Finally, Luke stepped back. “Come on, Jame, I’ll take you home.”

“You are not to leave this house, young man.”

Ignoring the command, Luke grabbed Jamie’s arm and brushed past his dad. His mother reached for him. He stopped and said, “I’m sorry, Mom.”

Jamie wondered what Luke was apologizing for.

*

When Casey Carson called Maggie and asked to meet her for coffee at the Starbucks near the college, Maggie gladly accepted. She knew both boys confided in this woman and was happy to spend time with an ally.

Entering the store, Maggie caught sight of Casey in the corner and made her way through half-empty tables to the teacher. Her dark hair was shoulder length and styled into a mass of thick waves. She was wearing a pretty peach dress. Maggie got coffee at the counter first, then approached the teacher. “Hello, Casey.”

“Hi, Maggie.”

Maggie sat down and slid her purse over the back of the chair. “Nice to see you again.”

One reason she liked this woman was that she included the parents in activities and kept up contact with them throughout the year. She even conducted reading/writing workshops for adults. The seminars were an attempt to have parents experience how their children were being taught language arts. Maggie enjoyed them and Mike had always looked forward to going, too. All that seemed very far away now.

“How are you?” Casey asked.

Maggie bit her bottom lip. “I assume you know the latest with our family.”

“Yes, I do. Some kids came to see me after the blood drive. For the record, they were upset about it. And I was there when the prom tickets incident happened. I’m sorry. I would have intervened if I’d suspected Julianne would go off on them like she did.”

“This is all so hard to deal with. I never quite know if I’m doing what’s right for Jamie and Brian.” Maggie waited a beat. “I realize it’s personal, what they write in their journals, but are they handling this?”

Casey gave her a comforting smile. “In my opinion, yes. Brian’s struggling, but he’s trying to find his way, I think because of your support. I advised him to go see the counselor you suggested, too. And Jamie’s upset by all these things happening, but he’s doing as well as can be expected.” She frowned. “I do worry about Luke Crane, though. The boys have you and Mike, but he’s alone in all this.”

“I know. I wish we could help him.”

“Jamie’s lucky to have you. So many kids keep being gay a secret from their parents until they’re adults. Jamie told you when he was still vulnerable to you, when you can control so much of what happens to him. You’ve given him the emotional support he needs for what life’s throwing at him right now. Believe me, I’ve seen the other side way too many times.”

“Thanks for telling me that. We keep hitting walls like we did with the blood drive.”

“I understand the Red Cross needs to adhere to FDA standards, but those questions are blatantly homophobic. After what happened with Jamie, a group of teachers wants to put in a formal protest of the questionnaire. The principal isn’t sure that’s the way to go, but we feel if schools don’t speak up, nothing will ever change.”

“I’m grateful that you care.”

“Most of Jamie’s teachers are crazy about him and are standing by him. We’ll be at the prom, too. We’ll watch over him and Luke.”

“Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

Casey sipped her coffee, as if she was waiting before she said more. “Maggie, I want to share a personal experience with you, if that’s all right.”

Maggie was sure Casey was going to tell her she was a lesbian.

“My brother’s gay. He came out to my parents at twenty-seven. More than ten years later than Jamie told you.”

“How did your parents deal with it?”

“Not well. They’ve seen little of him over the last decade. And because he wanted to bring his partner home with him at Christmastime, and they said no, he doesn’t come for holidays anymore. I’ve taken to spending most vacations with Joel and Tom—who is a wonderful guy, by the way—and not my parents.”

“I’m sorry this happened to your family.”

“Maybe knowing that will make you feel better.”

“Is that why you asked to talk to me?”

“Partly. But there’s another reason, and that’s why I wanted to meet here and not at school.” She fiddled with a stray napkin on the table. “I’m on the committee to choose National Honor Society members. Jamie’s applied.”

No, no, not this, too.

“A teacher made a comment about Jamie and Luke getting prom tickets together. Specifically, she’s questioning Jamie’s suitability for NHS. And she’s head of the committee.”

Maggie clutched her mug. “Oh, Casey, Jamie can’t withstand another blow from the school he loves so much. And I’m sure Luke can’t either.”

“Luke’s already in NHS. It would be a lot harder to get a student out than to keep one from getting in.”

“Even though it’s clear discrimination?”

“She’s being nuanced about it. Not saying it outright.”

“Did you talk to Steve Thomas about it?”

“I was going to, but then I heard he was dragging his feet about registering a formal protest with the blood drive. If he doesn’t act quickly on NHS, the committee’s decision will be a fait accompli.” She shrugged. “So I decided to tell you. Steve won’t put this on hold if a parent complains.”

“I’ll call him right now.”

Casey waited while Maggie phoned the school. The principal’s secretary told her he was free in two hours, at five, and Maggie made an appointment.

As she left Starbucks, she glanced at her watch. She had time to call Mike to go with her. She
should
call Mike. She hadn’t told him about the blood drive or about Julianne. But, though he’d tried to hide it, he was upset by what the Lewises had done, too. Would he handle the NHS situation right?

In the end, Maggie did errands instead of calling her husband, and at five, she faced Steve alone over his massive cherry desk. Afternoon sunlight slanted in through a double window that faced the courtyard. On the credenza behind him was a picture of a petite blond woman with two-black haired boys. “What can I do for you, Maggie?”

“One of your teachers on the NHS committee told me something troubling. It seems the chair has hinted that she isn’t in favor of my son becoming one of the inductees.”

Steve’s dark brows knitted and he steepled his hands. “First of all, this teacher should have come to me. Did she say why she called you instead?”

“She said you were dragging your feet registering a formal complaint from the school concerning the blood drive eligibility policies and she didn’t know if you’d deal with this issue in a timely manner. And please don’t ask me who the teacher is.”

His face flushed. “All right. Still, I hate to think one of my staff is afraid to talk to me.” He braced his massive arms on his desk. “So, are you saying this NHS concern is related to Jamie being gay?”

“Of course I am. My son is a straight-A student. He’s active in several extracurricular groups and has had lead roles in all the school plays. He almost single-handedly organized the school blood drive. If he doesn’t fit your definition of Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Service, no kid does.”

“Keeping him out of Honor Society for his sexual orientation is against everything our school stands for.” Steve’s tone was neutral, but there was fire in his dark eyes.

“Nonetheless, someone is blackballing Jamie.”

“That’s a volatile word to use.”

“Maybe so. I’m not out to cause problems, Steve. Please, help me here.” Maggie’s voice cracked. “Honor Society is important to Jamie. He’s still fragile in so many ways I’m not sure he can handle something like this.”

“I understand.” He studied her. “And thanks for coming right to me. It’s better to do this without lawyers.”

“I’ll go to them,” she said. “If I have to.”

“I hear you.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll get to the bottom of this as soon as I can contact the people involved. But it will be today. I’ll call you myself tonight.”

“When will the notices of induction go out?”

“The end of this week. The ceremony is in ten days.”

The principal stood. “Just for the record, if I’d gotten wind of this before you did, I’d do exactly what I’m going to do now. And I’m not stalling on the blood drive protest. I have to run it by central administration first because the teachers want it to come from the school in general. But I have to say the FDA has been operating this way for years and hasn’t budged in the face of the gay community’s complaints.”

“Thank you. And one more thing, if this turns out as I hope, I’d like to keep what happened or could have happened from Jamie.”

“Agreed,” Steve said. “I’ll be in touch.”

Ferreting out a business card from her purse, she scribbled her cell phone number on it and handed it to Steve. “Use this, please. Then no one will accidentally overhear our conversation.”

Maggie drove home, totally drained. She, Mike, Jamie, and Brian had a blessedly uneventful dinner that night. At ten, her cell phone rang. The boys were in their respective rooms and Maggie was in the den when she picked up the call.

“Maggie Davidson.”

“Maggie, Steve Thomas.”

Her heart began to pound. If this went wrong, the sky was going to fall.

“Jamie will be notified on Friday that he’s being inducted into NHS.”

“Oh, thank God.” She cleared her throat. “I appreciate you looking into this.”

“I’ll tolerate no discrimination in my school.”

Translated, there
was
a problem.

“Thank you again, Steve.”

“Would you do something for me, Maggie?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I’d like confidentiality on your end, also.”

“I understand. I won’t tell anyone.”

“And if there are more problems in school around Jamie coming out, please contact me first.”

“I will. Good-bye, Steve.”

She clicked off and leaned back in the chair.
Another bullet dodged
, she thought.

“What the hell was that all about?”

The comment came from Mike, who stood in the doorway his eyes blazing.

*

An insidious feeling crept into Mike as he watched his wife, who’d just had a conversation with Jamie’s principal. She was keeping secrets from him.

She held his gaze unflinchingly. “I was talking to Steve Thomas.”

“I gathered that. It’s a little late for a call from the principal.”

“I know.”

“You’re keeping things about Jamie from me.”

“Come in and sit down. Close the door. I don’t want to be overheard.”

His pulse rate sped up, but he did as she asked. Once again they faced each other over her desk like enemies from different camps. He had to struggle against the swell of emotion that notion brought out in him.

“Jamie’s had a rough few days at school.” She recounted the blood drive fiasco.

“Poor Jamie.”

“It gets worse. Julianne flipped out when Luke and Jamie bought prom tickets. She says she can’t be friends with him because he’s gay.”

“God wouldn’t want that.”

A ghost of a smile. “No, I don’t think God would.”

“Is that what Steve wanted to talk about?”

“No. Casey Carson called me today and I met her for coffee. She said there was a chance of Jamie being excluded from Honor Society.”

“No, Maggie, that can’t happen.”

“It’s all taken care of. I met with Steve, too, and he got to the bottom of it. Jamie will be inducted in a couple of weeks.”

Mike was relieved. On the heels of that came a blinding slice of anger, which he tried to keep out of his voice. “Let me get this straight. You dealt with the blood drive and met with a teacher and the principal all by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“And Jamie must have told you about Jules.”

“Yes.”

“What else?”

Her chin raised. “I went to a PFLAG meeting. It’s an organization—”

“I know what PFLAG is. Did you go alone?”

“No, Gretta went with me.”