Variation on a Theme, Book 7
Copyright© 2026 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 39: Death, Life, and Relationships
Sunday, October 5, 1986
Church was good, as usual. Several people welcomed me back, but no one seemed concerned with my absence. I could take that as good or bad. I chose to take it as good, overall. I wasn’t super-close to anyone at church but those I went with, and I would likely miss more weeks. Of course, plenty of people missed church sometimes, so it hardly meant anything.
We had our usual calls. Professor Berman sounded a bit under the weather and complained about having trouble shaking a cold. Angie and I exchanged a look. It could be nothing, but it could be significant. We quietly urged him to have it looked at. Grandmother jumped on it and agreed. Grudgingly, he promised that he would.
How much longer had we had Professor Berman this time? A year? Two? Three? The only clue was Angie knowing he was alive when she’d moved to Texas the first time. She couldn’t remember if he’d died while she was in high school or struggling through college, though.
The clock would run out. In the meantime, we would make the most of the time we had.
Laura was pretty curious about Amy, and happy it had all gone well. As of now, it seemed likely that Laura and Amy wouldn’t meet in person until our weddings. If, somehow, Jess’s movie premiered before them, that would change things, but our consensus was that it probably wouldn’t hit theaters until the fall of 1987. This wasn’t ‘Back To The Future’, in theaters only weeks after the last scenes had been shot.
That is, if it was indeed the movie we thought it was. We all felt pretty certain, but it being some other movie wasn’t inconceivable.
Or, perhaps, it was, considering how often inconceivable things seemed to happen. And how the word was used in that story.
Beyond that, the usual was the usual. The college crew — regardless of where they were — were all deep into their classes. We caught up just a bit with Anderson and Rita, and Angie spent half an hour on the phone with Sharon.
Meanwhile, the parents were fine and were looking forward to seeing us next weekend. We had surprises for them. At minimum, a musical they would likely travel to see, but perhaps also some interesting discussion. Angie and I decided tonight made sense, with Amy and me getting tomorrow night.
Tulane had won another one, beating Wichita State 23-14. That put them at 3-1 for the season, a very solid result for them thus far. I was looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season played out.
Even with the musical still more than a month away, Jas and Paige both presented early versions of the songs they were working up. Really, it was Paige showing off. Jas only had ‘company’ songs to work on. Paige had two numbers: ‘That’ll Show Him’ and ‘Lovely’. The latter was a duet, and Jas was learning it simply to practice with Paige.
Of course, Paige could practice with the guy playing Hero, but — according to her, anyway — she intimidated him. Both Paige and Jas thought he would have done well at Memorial, talent-wise, but acting with a woman who’d been on national TV and in the paper multiple times had thrown him a bit. Paige was doing her best to convince him she was mostly just a regular girl. She would probably succeed.
Angie joined me when we headed off to bed, while Jas joined Amy. Paige was fine with this, as expected. We were all pretty easygoing for the most part, and I was glad we weren’t resorting to schedules or anything of the sort.
As usual, for us, we got ready for bed first, then snuggled up with the lights off.
Angie giggled a bit, once we’d gotten settled and kissed a couple of times.
“I was just thinking,” she said. “It’s been almost six years that we’ve been sleeping together to some extent. Over five since Mom completely threw in the towel before the vacation. I almost completely don’t remember how odd this would be to the average person.”
I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, it would, I think. Amy’s fine, but Amy...”
“Is Amy. Her rules are hers. Which I appreciate! Especially since her rules seem to completely fit us.”
“They do.”
“I’m assuming we’re talking about Mom,” she said.
“Well, and Dad.”
“Mom,” she said, with a bit more emphasis. “Dad will go with what Mom thinks when it’s about relationships. Always has, always will.”
“I ... can believe that.”
“You think it’s time to reveal a bunch of stuff.”
“I feel like I have to. We’re going to talk to Amy’s parents in November, and Amy’s already spilled the beans. It feels ridiculous for them to know and Mom and Dad not to know at least a hint of things. But ... it’s a lot,” I said.
“So ... having been where you are, with Paige, I’m gonna say, ‘Don’t sweat it.’ Seriously! You will, like I did, but ... this is Mom. It’s not like I’ve been thinking this for years, consciously, but the more I think about it, the more I think she knows most of it. You dated Jess. How does that work if Jas isn’t cool with it? And Jas was clearly cool with it! And you told them some of it back then. Just a bit, but some. Plus, they’re close with Camille. Mom has to know Jas and Paige dated. Doesn’t mean much on its own, except Jas being bi is not gonna shock her. Some of it ... might. Not saying it’ll magically fall into place, but ... more than you think.”
“Good advice, I’m sure, Sis,” I said, nodding. “Pretty sure all of that makes sense. Still ... yeah. Some of it will be ... interesting.”
“To me, playing cheerleader, I think Mom will respect you for telling her. Well, them, but her, first. You wouldn’t have to. It’s not ‘under her roof,’ it’s not her life, all of that. But you making it clear she should know ... she’ll like that. Also ... you’ve had an open relationship with Jas for nearly five years. I have this feeling Mom hasn’t missed it. She won’t be mad you didn’t tell her before now, I don’t think, since you’ve said enough.”
“What about ... us?”
“The four of us?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Um ... so. First ... I don’t think Mom actually needs specifics. You hit the right line before when you refused to confirm anything with anyone. She likes that. Like ... okay. You ‘dated’ Jess. That’s enough information — that ‘dating’ is fine and part of your relationship. Given the context, Mom will assume ‘dating’ is ... inclusive. Not just ‘had a nice dinner.’ Because if it was just ‘had a nice dinner,’ there’s little reason to tell her anything.”
“That’s where I was, yeah. But you knew that.”
“Straight-up saying ‘Jess and I have sex’ is not you, and it shouldn’t be you. Mom will hear it in a way that allows for sex,” she said.
“Back to ‘us.’”
She shrugged and said, “Probably? It may not need anything specific. If I had to guess — and I kinda do — I think she believes you and I still haven’t crossed the line. Which is, of course, true! But I think she believes it. Now ... Jas and Paige? They dated, and Camille seems pretty damn sure they’re together. Me and Jas? Well, if Jas and Paige are together, then ... why not, right? That leaves just you and Paige. Kinda stands to reason. Give her all of that, and ‘Yes, yes, yes’ might be clear.”
“If Mom knows that, most of this will be easy. Pretty sure I’ll have to mention Jess by name, but in the way you said it. ‘Dating.’”
“Yeah,” she said. “Because the obvious reason to bring this up is the premiere. And the additional information is that you’re not ‘forsaking all others.’ Until that, Mom will have tacitly left it at ‘had a nice dinner.’ She doesn’t need to know you ever did anything more, so much as ... if the paparazzi get a photo of you and Jess ‘canoodling,’ she needs to know it’s Jas-approved in advance.”
“Yeah. Well, and this should cover the lack of ‘forsaking all others.’”
“It’ll be pretty glaring in its absence, at least for Mom. And Aunt Helen, thinking about it.”
“Yet another on her long list of ‘Steve and Angie are on the road to hell’ clues. But I don’t see her rioting about its absence,” I said.
Angie giggled and nodded. “Compared to me marrying a girl? Yeah. It’s not top of the list, that’s for sure! Honestly, I think she’ll behave, and not simply because of the really big guys who would escort her outside.”
“Me, too. Causing a scene at our weddings would burn all her bridges, I think. There’s not much of a path to come back from that. I hate to think of it screwing up her and Tim, but...”
“That would utterly suck. I like Tim! Her screwing up his sister’s kids’ wedding would be ... yeah. It puts him in a terrible place, and she would know it.”
“She’ll bite her lip. There’s really no other choice. Besides ... if she attends at all, I think she has to either be prepared to sit on her hands as two girls marry or she has to be prepared to nuke the whole damn thing from orbit. And if it’s ‘nuke, nuke, nuke,’ that’s her decision. We couldn’t stop it if we wanted to.”
“‘Speak now or forever hold your peace’ is going to be nerve-wracking. But we need it.”
“It is, and we do.”
She shifted and added, “Back to the proposals. The really cool thing is that they completely describe things. Jas and Paige are with three of us. The two of us are with the two of them, that way, but not each other. We didn’t say ‘yes’ to each other in a ‘will you marry me?’ sense. In an awful lot of ways, we’re closer than most married couples, but no fucking. Not that fucking is required to be a married couple. You know that pretty well.”
“All too well,” I said, chuckling. “I mean, we did, but...”
“Not for the majority of the marriage.”
“Yeah. That.”
“Something I strongly believe Mom doesn’t know. She knows we’re special. That’s dead obvious, and they’ve flat-out said it. But ‘died and came back to life as our younger selves’ special? No. I don’t think they suspect anywhere near that level of supernaturally special,” she said.
“Gotta hope not.”
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