Love Means Courage - Andrew Grey

a lasting relationship. This has nothing to do with you. Len told you that the two of you were just friends. Did 176
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he not?”
“Well yes. But….”
    “At any time, did he kiss you?” She shook her head. “Hold your hand?” She shook her head again. “Touch you, or tell you in any way that he was interested in anything other than friendship?”

    “No… but—”
    “What, Janelle? Is it that I’m gay?” Len had to marvel at the way Cliff was keeping command of this conversation, keeping her on the defensive and framing the questions to keep her on the defensive rather than answering her questions. They both noticed that she didn’t answer the last question. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
    “How am I supposed to feel? I liked him, and I find out that he’s gay and in love with my brother.” Len spoke for the first time. “We can’t answer that, but you have to understand, I never meant to hurt you. And I tried to spare your feelings. I’m very sorry you feel hurt, but we were never going to be more than friends.” She sniffled and dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.
    “There’s one more thing we need to get straight. This is my home. You grew up here, as did Mari and Vikki, but if you barge in again like you did this morning, I’ll have the locks changed. Now I suggest you leave. If you have questions or things you wish to discuss with us, we’ll be glad to do that, but we expect you to call first.”
    Len checked his watch. “I’d also like to ask that you let me tell Vikki and Mari. This isn’t something they should hear from you.” They could almost see the wheels turning in Janelle’s head. “If you wish to be mean, you could, but they’d both ask me about it, and I’d be forced to tell them how you found out. You wouldn’t hold their 177
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sympathy for very long, and you know it.”
“Okay, that seems only right.”
    “I’ll tell them this afternoon. Now I think it’s time you left. We have work to do. I’ll call you this afternoon and let you know what’s going on.” Without another word, she got to her feet, her back ramrod straight, and left the house. She didn’t say another word or look back as the door closed behind her.
    Cliff sighed. “I’ll make coffee. We’re going to need it. I have a feeling this is going to be one hell of a day.” 178

    Andrew Grey
    LEN drove home to get some clean clothes. “Shit.” He swerved to miss a squirrel and got back on the road. “Pay attention to your driving.” His mind was definitely elsewhere. Janelle had walked in on him and Cliff together in Cliff’s bed. He almost smiled, and it would actually have been funny if she weren’t so scary right now.
    He pulled into the yard and parked next to his mother’s car. Turning off the engine, he rested his head against the steering wheel. Opening the door, he got out and went inside. His mother came out of her room and closed the door behind her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning.”
    “I need to get some fresh clothes.” Len noticed that there was something different about his mother. She was smiling and seemed sort of graceful. Len peeked down the hall, looking at her closed bedroom door. Turning back to her, he smiled, and she blushed beet red. “Mom, are you seeing someone?” She blushed deeper and nodded her head slowly. “That’s great. Does he make you happy and treat you right?”
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She lowered her voice. “Yes, he does. He’s one of the administrators at the hospital, and we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks.” He mimicked her tone. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was waiting until I knew it was serious.”
“Is it serious?” She nodded, and Len smiled, pulling her into a hug. “I’m very happy for you.”
“Speaking of happy, how was your evening?”
“The evening was great. The morning was a little weird.
Janelle walked in on us this morning, and you probably heard the fireworks from here.”
“Were you… busy… at the time?” He could tell she was trying to suppress a smile.
    “No, we were asleep when she barged into Cliff’s bedroom.” His mother couldn’t hold it in any more and burst into peals of laughter. “She was always too nosy for her own good. Serves her right.” She started cackling.

    “She let out a wail that sounded like a moose in heat.” Lorna completely lost it, cackling and laughing until her sides hurt. Eventually, her door opened, and a