The Kids Grow Up, Trish Hanan [books you need to read .txt] 📗

who grinned. Harry then looked at Fran who made a ‘don’t look at me’ expression with her hands. He waved at her and looked back at the phone’s view-screen.
“No, I’m not going to do that, Mom, they asked for a house and I’m going to give them one,” he said. “Why, because they’ve my brother and sister, that’s why. I give everyone a house if they ask for it and I don’t care who hates me for it. If they don’t want their kids to move out of their house then they should take it up with their kids, not me. I’m not the house arrest police. Goodbye, Mother, this conversation is over.” He clicked off the phone and walked into the other room and gave a brief yell.
“Chill out, Dad,” his son Sean told him. All the kids laughed. Harry grinned and sat on the couch next to Danny who moved over for him.
“If I ever get to be that much of a pain in the ass will one of you please shoot me?” he teased and they all grinned. Ryan made his fingers look like a gun and took aim. Emma giggled and jumped on his lap.
“You’re not a pain in the ass, Dad, you’re the best,” she said and kissed him on his cheek. The boys all made sucking noises and she stuck her tongue out at them. Cassie giggled.
“She just wants a new dress for the summer dance so she can get Owen Thomas to notice her,” she informed them and Emma jumped from his lap to her sister’s back.
“You rat fink, you weren’t supposed to tell anyone that,” she yelled and the two began to fight. Jake grinned and he picked up one angry daughter in each arm.
“Cassie, apologize for breaking your sister’s confidence and Emma apologize for jumping on your sister,” he ordered in that stern tone that made all the kids obey him. The two sisters made up and headed for the kitchen for a soda. Harry rolled his eyes and Jake sat down beside him. They kissed and the boys all rolled their eyes.
“Do you have to do that in front of us?” Adam complained. Jake grinned.
“Yes we do, kissing happens to be an expression of love and I love your dad very much,” he explained. All the boys except for Danny groaned. Harry laughed and got up.
“I’m going to get a soda and some cookies, would you like some, honey?” he asked Jake who nodded. Ryan and Sean looked at each other.
“Yes, dear,” they both said at once. Jake kicked them with his feet while they giggled.
“Bring me back a soda too please, Dad,” Danny called out. Harry nodded.
“Please, Dad, give me a break, another suck up,” Jackson retorted and reached for his brother’s feet. “You know what we do to suck up’s around here don’t you?” he told his youngest brother who looked at him with a deadly gleam in his eyes that should of told his eldest brother to back off but didn’t. When Jackson reached for his feet again, Danny launched himself off the couch and onto him. It was over before it started and the younger boy had him pinned down and was choking him.
“What do we do to suck ups?” he sneered. Harry came back into the room and observed.
“You can’t drink your soda and eat cookies and choke your brother at the same time, so pick one,” he said calmly and Danny shrugged and got off his brother who gave his dad a grateful look. Danny was small but he was a deadly force when provoked. The eight year-old jumped back on the couch and grabbed the Dr. Pepper and bowl of cookies his dad handed him and Jake turned the movie back on.
“Settle down, I’m watching my movie,” he declared and they all snickered.
“Yeah, your movie, right, Dad,” Ryan tossed him a snide look. Jake tossed him a cookie which made him happy and shut him up which made Jake happy and he could hear the movie. He and Harry grinned at one another and kissed which made Danny happy.
Emma and Cassie both got new dresses for the summer dance and the boys all got new shirts and pants which they could have cared less for except for Jackson who took the most time in picking out his clothes. He had a major crush on Luke Myers and he wanted to look perfect. He hadn’t told anyone about his feelings for boys yet but he knew his fathers would understand, of course they would; after all, they were gay. He figured his youngest brother Danny was also gay; it was something he just knew. They other boys he really couldn’t tell yet, but Danny, he knew for sure. He was so much like his dad Harry and he was so obviously gay, you could even tell that in those pictures they had of him when he was younger. They all screamed gay to Jackson but maybe they did because he knew it now.
All the kids went to Elementary School until the eighth grade and then they were supposed to transfer to the High School but they didn’t have enough teachers for separate schools so everyone went to the same school. But they had their summer dances on different nights. All of the Talbert children were in seventh grade or less so they all went to the same dance. Harry and Jake both chaperoned and promised to stay as far away from them as possible. Jake took his position at the main entrance to prevent any kids from wandering the halls and getting into classrooms and Harry took his position just outside the gym doors to prevent kids from wandering outside in the parking lot. They kept in constant communications by cell phone; it was going to be a boring evening for them.
Inside the gym seventy-seven third through eighth graders stood around trying to find the courage to dance with each other. DJ, the music man, played hip songs and the decorating committee had done a great job at making the gym in a starlight café, the theme for the summer dance. There was punch and lots of baked goods to eat courtesy of everyone’s mothers and everyone should have been having a great time but the boys were on one side of the gym and the girls were on the other side.
Finally Sean and Ryan made the first move and manly walked over and asked their cousins Patsy and Penny to dance. The twins who were eight, giggled but agreed and the four took to the floor and started the ball rolling. Soon more brave men walked to the girl’s side and some braver girls dared to walk to the boy’s side and the dance began. Jackson walked over to Luke and started to talk and to his surprise Luke talked back and they had a great conversation until stupid Claire Baxter came over and asked him to dance and of course he had to or he’d look gay. So he gave Luke an agonized glance and danced with Claire and when he dumped her and got back, Luke was dancing with his cousin Allison Talbert and he didn’t get another chance to talk quietly with him the rest of the dance. He was crushed. So when Mitch, Phillip’s son came up to talk with him, he practically ignored him and Mitch walked away, he was crushed but Jackson didn’t know that, he was too busy being crushed.
Emma did get Owen Thomas to notice her, but he ruined it by trying to feel her up and she had to slap him, which by having five brothers, she did very well and knocked him down. Then she kicked him and walked away leaving everyone laughing at him. Then Cassie told Adam who took Owen into the bathroom and beat him up. Owen didn’t have any fun at the dance at all.
Harry caught six couples trying to sneak out of the dance into the parking lot to make out and promised not to rat on them but sent them back into the dance. He called Jake to watch for them and all six tried to sneak into classrooms to make out. Jake didn’t rat on them either but escorted them back to the dance where they stayed having found out their two exits were blocked. Harry and Jake got a big laugh out of that.
Finally the dance was over and they took the kids home. Everyone looked like they had had a good time except for Jackson who looked moody and Emma who looked angry but the rest of the kids looked happy. Especially Adam who appeared quite happy and swore he had a lovely time. Cassie giggled when he said that but wouldn’t say why, just that she was glad she had a lot of brothers. Harry took that as a good sign and smiled at them. He and Jake held hands on the drive home like they usually did and Danny smiled.
“I know Danny’s gay but do you think any of the other boys are?” Harry asked as they were getting ready for bed. Jake looked surprised.
“Danny’s eight years old, Harry; how can you know he’s gay?” he asked with a bit of a frown. Harry giggled.
“Because I was once a gay little eight year-old, that’s how I know, honey,” he told him and climbed into bed. “I think Jackson is too, and I’m fairly certain about Adam but the other two I’m not quite sure, they’re hard to read,” he said and Jake snorted.
“Just because you’re gay and I’m gay doesn’t mean our sons will be gay too babe,” he said. Harry laughed.
“They’re Dolphins and they’ve got the gay gene, they have more than a fifty percent chance. But more than that, I know a gay man when I see a gay man and when I look at Danny, Jackson and Adam, I see a gay man,” he said firmly and Jake sighed.
“Well, if you see a gay man, then you’re probably right, you should know, and you’re definitely right about Danny, even I can see that,” he said with a big grin. “Hell, anyone could see that, he’s just like you babe, no eight year-old is that organized and straight,” Jake said and they laughed.
“Jackson was really worried about his clothes for the dance. I think he’s got a crush on someone at school. I think it might be time for the sex talk. He’s twelve going on thirteen and things are happening to his body and he’s going to have questions. We need to have that talk with him and we need to have it soon,” Harry said firmly. Jake looked horrified. Harry giggled.
“I take it that means you want me to do the talk?” he teased and Jake nodded.
“Do you mind?” he asked weakly. Harry shook his head.
“I think that would be best, I think you’d be too embarrassed,” he decided. Then he decided to tease him. “If I do the boys, of course, that means you have to do the girls,” he said and Jake’s eyes went blank. Harry broke out laughing.
“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll do the girls too,” he said and hugged him. Jake sighed.
“Oh, man, I was going to have to commit suicide, babe,” he declared