leaving. I just wanted to call you and tell you what happened.”
“Where are they now?”
“They’re out. They went to lunch with friends.”
“Where are you going, Alex?” She was desperately worried about him, and sorely disappointed in her son.
“Maybe a friend’s house.”
“Why don’t you come here? You can stay with me for a few days.” But she knew he’d already started school. “Can you take a couple of days off school?”
“I’m dropping out.” This was serious.
“Don’t do anything stupid. They’ll calm down.”
“I don’t care. I hate them. And they hate me.”
“They don’t hate you. They don’t understand.”
“They don’t want to understand. Dad says he’s ashamed of me. Of my being gay. He says there’s something wrong with me.”
“How could he say something so stupid?” Alex was crying again. “Take the train to New York. I’ll meet you there. I’ll drive you back here.”
“You don’t have to do that, Grandma.” He sounded so lost and broken. She wanted to strangle John, or give him a good shaking, and Sarah too.
“I want to. Just call and tell me what train you’ll be on.” He called her an hour later, and she told him to leave a note for his parents that he’d be with her, and he promised he would. And as soon as they hung up, she picked up her handbag and car keys and ran out the door to meet him in New York.
He came off the train looking beaten. And he threw his arms around her and burst into tears. She held him for a long time while he cried, and she did too, and then they went to her car and she drove him back to Bedford. When they got there, he sat slumped in a chair looking sad, and they talked all afternoon. He said he hated his parents and his school, and he didn’t want to go to college, and the boy he liked liked someone else, and maybe wasn’t gay after all, he wasn’t sure. It was all so complicated and so much weight to carry for a boy of seventeen. She wanted to call John and Sarah, but since they knew where Alex was, she was waiting to hear from them. They never called.
She cooked dinner for Alex that night, and put him to bed in her guest room. All she could do was tell him how much she loved him, and be there for him.
And at midnight, she got a call from Liz.
“I don’t want to worry you,” she said, sounding serious. “But I got a call from John and Sarah. Alex ran away. They had some kind of fight about something, and when they got home, he had left. You haven’t heard from him, have you?” She knew how close the boy was to her. “They didn’t want me to call you, but I thought I should.”
“He’s here,” Olivia said quietly. “Did they tell you what the fight was about?”
“No, something about school, I think.” She sounded surprised. “He’s usually such an easy kid.”
“It’s a lot more serious than that.” She didn’t want to violate Alex’s confidence, but since he had told his parents, she decided to tell Liz. “It’s my fault, actually. I told him to be open with them. He’s gay. And apparently, John went berserk and called him names and told him he was ashamed of him. I told him to leave a note when he left. He said he did, but I guess he lied to me about that. He says he doesn’t want to go back.”
“Shit. How could John be so stupid? And they lied to me about it, but they sounded scared. They wanted to know if he had called Sophie. I called her, but he hadn’t. So I figured I’d call you. I’m glad he’s with you. I’ll tell John and Sarah.”
“Tell them not to come out here. I want to talk to them first myself. He wants to drop out of school.”
“He can’t,” Liz said, sounding worried. “He’ll screw up everything for college.”
“But they could screw up his life if they handle this badly. It will mark him forever. Maybe it already has. He was a mess when I picked him up in New York.”
“You picked him up in New York? That was nice of you, Mom.”
“He’s my grandson, and I love him. I don’t care if he’s gay or not. And John better figure that out too, and fast.”
“Maybe I’ll go talk to them tomorrow.”
“I wish you would. He always listens to you,” her