Chapter 7: Mezzo Forte

This time when we arrived at the house, our parents were up. Fully dressed. Looking like any other, totally normal, Sunday morning—no difference. Dad was watching the news in the living room with his coffee, and Auntie Jennie was pulling some cinnamon rolls out of the oven.

‘Hey,’ she said, when we came in the back door, with a smile. ‘We got your voicemail. I called back. Where were you? Nobody picked up.’

‘Um, yeah,’ Carole said, as we shared a glance—only slightly awkward. The smiles we were trying so hard to keep on slipped just a little. We’d seen the voicemail and debated calling back, but hadn’t really felt ready to. ‘We were already almost here, so we didn’t see the point. Sorry.’

‘That’s okay, honey.’ Auntie Jennie’s own smile wavered. She glanced at Dad from where she could see him through the doorway, and their eyes met, puzzlement clear at our somewhat odd and awkward behavior. Nonetheless, she stepped forward and kiss her daughter forehead, and then mine. ‘What brings you back home this weekend, sweetheart?’ she asked, looking at Carole.

‘W-ell, we have a couple things we want to talk about,’ Carole said. She put on her best reassuring smile and sang, ‘We have an announcement!’

This was more normal. To our dismay—for we were watching their interactions—we saw our parents exchange a smile, because this behavior was more typical for Carole.

‘Oh, yes? What’s that? Are you top of your class?’ Dad asked with a smile.

‘Well, come sit down before I tell you,’ my cousin insisted with an indulgent smile—gosh she was good at acting like nothing happened!

We all gathered in the living room, all eyes on her. Carole took a deep breath. ‘After this-life changing weekend in Athabasca, Caleb was won over by the beauty of the town and has decided that he wants to move up there to be my roommate!’ she declared.

Eyebrows were raised rather violently. ‘I see,’ my father said, slowly. ‘Well, that’s ... nice. Will you be going to school, son?’ his gaze turned to me.

‘I’m thinking on it,’ I allowed, still not quite comfortable meeting his gaze after what I’d seen him doing to my aunt earlier. ‘But I’ll at least find a job. And obviously we won’t be living where Carole’s living now,’ I added. ‘We’re going to find a place with more rooms right away.’

Lucky that I was the only one to see how my cousin rolled her eyes.

‘Well, okay,’ Auntie Jennie said, smiling a little now. ‘This does sound like good news! I’m proud of you kids. Both left the nest, starting out on your own—’she patted my arm affectionately ‘—bettering yourselves! Good for you.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, feeling sheepish. They didn’t know the half. Suddenly my stomach turned to knots as I anticipated the next part of the conversation we’d planned with them. I cleared my throat and looked down at the old carpet. ‘There’s something else we have to talk about, though. Carole and I didn’t arrive late. We were here. Earlier. We ... left.’

Auntie Jennie was paling, while my father’s cheeks were turning a crimson. ‘When was this?’ he asked in a surprisingly even and casual tone.

‘Well, we called about halfway here,’ Carole said softly, ‘if you recall, and arrived at about 8.00.’

They both froze for a moment.

‘Oh god,’ Auntie Jennie moaned, covering her face. ‘You saw us...?’

‘Yep.’

‘Right in the middle of it,’ I added, still unable to look up.

‘Do we have to get into this?’ my father demanded, removing his glasses and rubbing a hand over his face.

‘We saw you fucking each other and you just want to leave it at that?’ I said acidly.

‘Well obviously we can’t,’ he snapped back, ‘but yes, I would.’

‘How long have you been...?’ Carole asked.

In a tiny voice, Auntie Jennie said, ‘When we first started, we were both a few years younger than the two of you. It was a... ‘safe’ way to experiment. But we grew up, met other people who could be real partners to us ... and stopped. But after the divorce, and after Yui died, we were both so lonely ... and reached for one another for solace.’

Carole and I both let out a breath. So. it was after ... after everything. Thank God.

‘We don’t hate you or anything,’ my cousin said quickly. ‘We just wanted to know how long ... and for you to know this.’ To my surprise, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately. This hadn’t been part of the script, but I moved into the embrace anyway.

We were about to be the ones getting questions.