almost smiled at the thought.
“Okay,” Marcus said. “Where do you want to start?”
Rory told him about what had happened before she left for school. Some of it wasn’t easy, because though it sounded general enough, the things he’d said and done, the chain around her wrist, had a motivation that became more blatantly clear under Marcus’s intent regard.
“I know it’s important for her to get out there and make things happen for herself,” Rory said, shifting. “But there’s this feeling in my gut when I know she needs more…structure, for lack of a better word. It’s like she’s asking me for that, in a way without words.”
In the extended pause between them, Rory wondered if he’d totally misinterpreted the situation, what Marcus had been trying to tell him that day in the driveway. Marcus removed that concern with one question.
“What did your gut tell you today?”
“That I should have gone with her,” Rory said instantly. “I’m wondering if she’s pushing herself too much, out of some misguided idea that she owes us proof that our faith in her isn’t unfounded.”
He shook his head. “I went through that. Thinking I had to prove myself to everyone by rejecting any help.” He probably still had too much of that, but he recognized when it went in a destructive direction. Mostly. “Sorry. I’m getting off track.”
“Not necessarily.” Marcus tapped the rim of his wine glass. “It’s all related. By giving her the bracelet, you made your first real step toward calling your relationship what it is. Acknowledging where it’s headed. How much do you know about the look of that?”
Rory knew he was going to redden to the roots of his brown hair, but the hell with it. “I’ve looked at things online. Some interesting stuff. Some scary and repulsive things.”
“Well, it’s the Internet. Equal capacity for both.”
Rory lifted a shoulder, met Marcus’s gaze. “I also heard Thomas call you something once. And when I look at Daralyn…or rather, when she looks at me…I think I feel that. No, that’s chickenshit. I know it. But I don’t know shit about any of this, so how can I feel that so strong?”
Marcus’s eyes flickered. “Thomas didn’t need a manual to know he preferred men. That came from his gut, his heart. His cock. His mind. That said, do you know how to read anything other than a farmer’s almanac?”
“Don’t be a dick.”
Marcus’s lips tugged in a smile. “I’m going to send a couple books to your tablet. That way you don’t have to worry about your mother seeing shocking print material in your sock drawer when she does your laundry.”
“She won’t let me do my laundry,” Rory muttered defensively. “She says I do it wrong.”
“Rory, Les is in medical school and Thomas doesn’t live at home. You pay your share of the bills and live with your mother to take care of her. There’s a big difference in that.”
“We take care of each other,” Rory said. He appreciated Marcus’s comment, though. He’d razz Rory about plenty of things, but not that.
He could transfer himself out of his chair into a bed, a shower, a bathroom. All the basics required to make living on his own an option, but it had taken time to get to that place, mentally and physically. During that time, his mother had helped care for him, encouraged him, dealt with his bullshit and his temper.
Once he moved past that, he could have lived elsewhere, but to prove what? He and Thomas had talked about it, talked about their dad and what he would have wanted.
Elaine wasn’t helpless or feeble. Hell, she wasn’t even elderly, not really. Marcus didn’t appreciate the reminder, since there was about a fourteen-year age difference between him and Thomas, but Elaine wasn’t much more than a decade or so older than Marcus. She had an active social life, volunteered regularly for their church, and was an avid gardener. She pitched in at the store whenever needed, though Rory had made sure she could start giving more of her efforts to her church and community work, finally enjoy with her friends the leisure time she’d earned a hundred times over.
Yet for all that, he, Thomas and Les all felt better having someone at home with her. The nest had emptied out fast, and their father had died shortly before that started happening. The house was always in need of repairs, with several outbuildings and a food garden that covered about an acre. Way more than one person