Variation on a Theme, Book 7
Copyright© 2026 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 14: Multiple Destinations
Sunday, August 3, 1986
The four of us joined Mom and Dad for church. That turned out to be yet another in the list of ‘things we should have thought of.’ Of course, we would be celebrities. We could hardly expect Mom and Dad to have remained quiet about our being on ‘60 Minutes’. Even if they had, the odds of not a single person having seen it would have been incredibly low.
Thus, we had a mix of people giving us best wishes (not that they hadn’t before, but people who hadn’t heard about our engagements before had now) and asking questions. Mostly, they were good questions, but there were the usual problematic ones. What was Diane Sawyer like? I would hardly call myself an expert, and said as much. Had I met Andy Rooney? Nope. And so on.
They all meant well, and I had fun talking with them. But it also pointed something out. Had Mom and Dad not changed churches, the ‘60 Minutes’ broadcast would probably have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Anyone at Faith Lutheran who hadn’t already found out about Angie and Paige would have at that point, and things would have gone crazy in short order. It was probably gossip over there right now, in fact, and I wondered how Dr. Ott was handling it.
Here? Not everyone was fully supportive of gay people, but far more were, and that was what mattered.
On the drive back to College Station, Angie said, “It’s easy to say we’re mostly open with Mom and Dad now, but ... there’s a certain level of subterfuge still there.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We’ve certainly implied some timing that’s not quite right.”
“And there’s me and Steve. And me and Jas,” Paige said.
“That, too,” Angie said, chuckling. “Plus me and Jas.”
“And Jess. And Amy,” Jas said.
“Yes, and yes,” I said.
“And then there’s the whole ‘died and came back to life’ thing,” Paige said. “Yes, I know, that’s really not on the table. But still!”
“That will be one hell of an awkward conversation, if it ever happens,” Angie said. “Seriously!”
“Now imagine explaining it to Sharon,” Paige said.
“I really don’t want to imagine that!” Angie said. “I think things are in a good place, and hopefully that continues, but she really doesn’t need to know.”
“Any updates for Amy in terms of the big picture?” Jas said.
“I don’t think so. Which, honestly, means I want there to be, but there shouldn’t be. Which, in case you were wondering, is how I felt for about a year with you.”
“And nearly the same for me, with you, Paige,” Angie said.
“Both of ours were rushed by circumstances,” Jas said.
“So’s Amy, I think,” I said. “Some things will need to happen before the weddings. Not the big reveal, but ... let’s face it. We had less to reveal besides the big reveal back then.”
Jas giggled and said, “Yeah. There was no P.C.’s Limited. Much less money. No house. All that.”
“So ... Winter trip!” Paige said. “Go!”
Jas and I laughed.
“Mama and Papa want us to meet them in Paris on Friday, January 2nd. They’re actually talking about flying out on New Year’s Eve and having a day to themselves in Paris. Jet lagged, but still having fun.”
“Cool!” Angie said. “We didn’t find the jet lag that bad.”
“We were also teenagers,” I said, chuckling. “But ... I don’t know that it gets worse. And overnight flights are definitely better.”
“Anyway ... we’re kinda planning to leave December 22nd or 23rd,” Jas said. “If that works for you two, since you’re the ones we’ll be traveling with.”
“Should,” Angie said. “Our last final is the 19th. I kinda agree with the 23rd. That gives us three days or so in Houston with the parents. We can do an early Christmas on the 22nd. We could also just fly out on the 26th, but that only gives us five or six days together, which feels short.”
“Yeah,” Paige said.
“With those dates, we’ll visit the continent but fly back before you, probably,” Angie said.
“We’re talking about flying back on the 10th. That’ll put us in Houston either late on the 10th or midday on the 11th, depending on connecting flights. We’ll spend some time with Mom and Dad, then go to College Station the 13th or so, probably,” I said.
“We’ll have spent over a week with Mama and Papa,” Jas said, giggling. “They’ll understand!”
“Any ideas what we’re doing on this trip?” I said.
They all laughed.
“So ... we’re thinking London, at least first. Because ... the West End. There will be new musicals!” Angie said.
“London at Christmastime just sounds cool. Or maybe cold,” Jas said. “Totally on board with new musicals!”
“Thinking about it, I think this is a big year,” I said. “Not totally sure, but — if I’m right — you’re going to explode, Jas.”
“I haven’t been paying attention,” she said. “Why will I explode?”
“This year, or shortly, a musical will appear that I was desperately trying to keep myself from mentioning on our first Halloween. At least, unless something’s different.”
Jas paused, then exploded, just as I’d predicted.
“There’s going to be a musical of ’The Phantom of the Opera’?!” she said, bouncing. “Really?”
“By Andrew Lloyd Webber, no less.”
“Oh oh oh!” Paige said.
“He’s right,” Angie said. “It was in my universe, too. I only saw it as a movie. I wasn’t paying much attention to stage musicals. This me can’t wait to see it!”
“I’ve seen it twice,” I said. “But, of course, not yet.”
“He intentionally does this when he’s driving,” Paige said.
“It’s a fair point, though,” Jas said. “He’ll see it first with us. That’s what matters.”
“Even if I contribute to it, I also hear how weird it is,” Angie said. “It’s a wonder we’re still sane!”
“Are we, though?” Paige said. “Are we?”
We all laughed at that. Loudly.
“After that, it depends. More England? Hop over to the Continent and go somewhere we’ve never been? Skiing in Europe? Dunno,” Angie said.
“Any of that could be fun,” Jas said.
“We’ll probably skip France, though. On our honeymoons? Seems possible,” Angie said.
“I feel better about the honeymoons all around,” Jas said. “It’s a lot different with us having revealed more. The parents will understand a fairly indulgent honeymoon if we clearly have the money. And ... this is a great time for it, really. Unless something huge changes, we’re still mostly normal college students next summer. That might be the last time.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We’re much more flexible than we’ll likely be for a while.”
“You in particular,” Angie said. “I’ll probably be a grad student. Paige and Jas might be. You might be, too, but you’ll be a grad student with a company to run.”
“If we’re investing, you’ll be involved,” I said. “And that’s likely what we’ll do for a while.”
“True enough,” Angie said.
We brainstormed for much of the rest of the drive. Australia and New Zealand weren’t out, but Europe felt more likely.
Amy met us at the door, grinning as she hugged and kissed first me, then Jas, before hugging Angie and Paige.
“So happy you’re home!” she said. “And that you have not died!”
“We are, too!” Cammie said.
“But not as much,” Mel said.
Both of them hugged us as well.
“How did it go?” Amy said.
“Really well. We covered a lot,” I said.
“We really did,” Angie said.
Cammie smiled. “I’m ... this is good,” she said. “I check in sometimes. And I’m just happy for you, not regretting what I don’t have. Mostly, anyway.”
“You really are doing better,” Mel said.
“Your parents help a lot. And Dr. Leslie. And ... obviously, you guys. All of you. Including you, Amy,” Cammie said.
Amy blushed, and smiled.
“I am happy to help! That ... it makes me feel very glad. Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Cammie said. “Just ... for being you.”
More hugs ensued, of course.
We went over the highly tentative holiday plans, and also updated them on Jess’s status. Everyone had their fingers crossed for good news sometime soon. Hopefully in the next week, or maybe two.
Bedtime was the usual partners tonight. Amy was right. Overdoing things with her would be wrong. So would underdoing things, though. Right now, I felt like there was a clock running. Or several clocks. One had to do with the dorm renewal cycle. By mid-spring, we needed to know if Amy fit into the house enough to live here our senior year. Right now, the answer was clearly ‘yes.’ Even if our relationship stagnated, it would still be yes. It would take something going really wrong to change it.
Neither Jas nor I thought that was likely, but I’d really known Amy for less than a year, and Jas had known her less than that. Considering how I’d felt about Jas after a year, though, and how quickly I’d gotten engaged to my ex-wife, I could argue that a year might be enough to make big decisions. One could argue I’d rushed it with my ex-wife, but I’m not sure we would have found the problems until we were really and truly together.
In any case, that was the first clock. Or ... well. It might be the second, actually. The first could be talking to Amy’s parents. And then there was the big clock, which wasn’t so much a clock as a question. If I never got to where I was ready to tell her the big secret, might that mean we were effectively over? I tended to think so, at this point. Like her living here, though, the tentative answer was ‘yes.’ It would take some sort of major reversal to change that.
In any case, we would see where things went. If anything had proven to be true so far, it was that life would throw us some serious curveballs. There were predictable elements to the last year, certainly, but the most important parts of it (Amy, Darla, the way the proposals actually happened, and so forth) had been complete unknowns at this point.
Darla called me in the early evening. Hank had now met Clara, and it had gone well. They’d gone with the story of Hank surprising Darla at the wedding. Clara, apparently, saw that as a grand romantic gesture and approved. They were officially dating.
Knowing what Clara had said to Darla before, I imagined she guessed they were having sex and wasn’t upset by it. That, in itself, was something we had accomplished. Darla would have been trying desperately to cover up any notion of their being intimate that way, before, and that might have been a disaster. Knowing Clara didn’t actually disapprove of premarital sex changed the game. No declarations would be made, certainly, but simply not trying to hide things would make the whole thing easier.
There was no way of letting go that wouldn’t hurt us both a bit. But we’d known that going in. And what we’d learned — both of us, not just her — made the hurt more than worthwhile. I might never have embraced my wolfish side without Darla. She might have hemmed and hawed for a long time before finally falling into bed. We would have wonderful memories and no regrets.
If we were done — and I was nearly certain we were done — we’d done what we did for the right reasons and ended it at the right time. What more could one ask for, truly?
And only part of it was ‘done.’ I hoped and expected Darla would remain a close friend for a long time. Oh, if it was ruffling Hank’s feathers, I would step back. But Hank didn’t seem like the type to be jealous of me. We both knew Darla might have stayed with me under other circumstances. Hank would also know things were unlikely to change. He and Darla worked. Darla and I wouldn’t, not as a long-term partnership.
Besides that, both Darla and I were honorable people. Cheating on Hank would be exactly that: cheating. Neither of us would do that.
One might say, ‘Well, if your relationship is holding together only because you promised not to part, that’s not a good thing.’ I knew people who felt that way. But for me, the promises were the most important part of the relationship. Counting on love, passion, or similar emotions to hold a relationship together was weaker, in my opinion, than counting on honoring your promises.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.