The Barnstable Chronicles - Book 6: The Barnstable Cowboy - 12. The Final Piece of the Puzzle

“I know I’m probably the last person you thought you’d hear from today—and for that, I’m sorry. There are many things in my life that I feel sorry about, but there are only a few of them I can make right.”

“Okay—is everything alright?”

“It will be. But I suppose I should fill you in on some background. You see, Hunter—I’ve had a visitor—a guardian angel if you like.”

“Oh? What are you saying?”

“Jaime. It’s Jaime. He’s come to me over the last four nights. He’s told me all about your relationship with his family—and with him. He’s shown me so many wonderful things about you—things I never knew. Well—as Jaime helped me to understand—things I never took the time to learn about you.”

There was a long pause before I asked Mom to go on.

“Jaime also showed me some—I don’t know—not-so-wonderful things. Those mostly concerned your father. I couldn’t believe the way he treated you. I mean, ignoring you when you were in the house was bad enough, but some of the things he would say to you—and the way he would say them—I—I’m—Oh, Hunter—why didn’t you tell me things were so bad with your father?”

“Well—think about it, Mom—you probably wouldn’t have listened.”

“Yes, Hunter. I deserve that. Jaime also showed me how you felt when you were in the house. He was actually able to make me feel the way you felt. It was horrible, Hunter—and I can’t begin to tell you terribly sorry I am for the way I made you feel. But things are different now—or at least I hope they can be now.”

“I’ve been hoping for that—for years. But I hope you understand me being more than a little skeptical.”

There was another long pause.

“Jaime tells me that he visits you as well, Hunter.”

“Yes, Mom. He showed me that Barnstable was going to be my new home. He even showed me the boy I was going to be with in this new life.”

“Yes, he told me about that. Perry, isn’t it? Jaime says he’s a lovely young man—smart too—going to be a lawyer, yes?”

I huffed and smiled. “Now I know Jaime came to see you. No one from home knows anything about Perry—or the decisions I’ve made.”

“Jaime seems to be good at helping us mere mortals make life-altering decisions.”

“Oh? You’ve made some decisions? Life-altering decisions?”

“Yes. I suppose I should tell you—I’ve left your father. I’m staying at my parents’ house until the divorce is settled. I left two days ago, and I found out yesterday that your father has put the ranch on the market.”

“Wow! I don’t know what surprised me more—the fact that you left the bastard or that he’s selling the ranch. Wow!”

“Well, the man is a fool. When he talked with his attorney about selling the ranch, he said he couldn’t run things without me. What he didn’t realize was that my attorney found the ranch listing on the MLS website. My attorney said that he was going to go after half of the money earned from the sale since I was such a vital part of the ranch’s operation.”

“Wow, Mom. How do you feel about all this? Are you okay?”

“I’m getting better. The more I learn about your father, the more I feel I did the right thing. But—there’s just one more thing I have to do, Hunter—and I hope to God you’ll be at least agreeable to try.”

I have a feeling I know what’s coming. I mean, with Jaime behind it—it could only mean one thing.

“I would like to come and visit you, Hunter. I want to see your new life. I want to meet this boy that has become so important to you. I want to become your mother—I want to become a real mother.”

“Oh! Wow! I don’t know what to say. That was probably the last thing I thought I would hear you say.”

“I understand that you are probably reluctant. I’m sure you have very little—if any—trust in me. But that’s something I can change. I must change. You’re all I have left, Hunter.”

“Wow! I—I—I would have to talk with Perry first—see what kind of arrangements we can make. Make sure we have a place you can stay. I’m staying with Vic right now, and there aren’t any extra bedrooms.”

“I’ll get a hotel.”

“That’s crazy, Mom. The hotels around here are stupid expensive. I have a pretty large extended family here. I’m sure I can find someone to put you up for a few days. Umm—when are you planning to come here?”

“I’d leave this afternoon if I could. You don’t know how important this is to me, Hunter.”

“No. No. That wouldn’t be good. There’s a lot of stuff happening today.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Umm—sure—I guess—if I can get things worked out on this end.”

“Oh, Hunter! Thank you! This is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever had. Call me when you know something, and I’ll make arrangements on my end. Thank you! Thank you!”

“Sure thing, Mom. I want this, too. This might just be a good thing, you know.”

“I know, Hunter. I’m going to make things right with you—with us. I promise!”

“Wow! Okay, then. Merry Christmas, mom.”

“It’s the best Christmas—ever! Have a wonderful day, Hunter.”

“You too, Mom.”

“And Hunter?”

“Yeah?”

“I do love you, son. I’m sorry I’ve not said that to you before.”

Well, fuck me! Here come the tears. For the first time in my life, my mother tells me that she loves me. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, ya know.

“Yeah—I gotta go. Bye, Mom.”

We ended the call, and I sighed as Perry took me in his arms.

“Was that—?"

“Yeah. My mom.”

“Must’ve been an interesting call. There sure were a lot of ‘wows.’”

“Jaime’s been visiting her. She apologized for—for—I don’t know—everything’s she’s done—and not done—my entire life. She wants to come here as soon as we can have her.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah—that’s what I kept sayin’.”

“You know she has to come—especially if Jaime’s involved in this.”

“You’re right. God—he’ll haunt me for the rest of my life if I don’t do this!”

Perry laughed, kissed me, and said, “You know he will. But when you think about it, your mom wants to fix a lifetime of bad shit between the two of you. It’s like—I don’t know—some kind of Christmas miracle!”

“Perry Evans—you’re my Christmas miracle—and will be—every Christmas for the rest of my life.”

“Very Christmas shmaltzy of you, Hunter Landry. For that, I think you need to let me give you one of my fast and furious—emphasis on furious—Christmas fucks.”

I’ll be damned if Perry didn’t throw me down on the bed, flip me over, and dove his face into my ass! I guess I don’t have to tell ya that it didn’t take long for me to stop thinkin’ about Mom—and start beggin’ my boy to fuck me!

I love it when Perry gets all aggressive on me and fucks me fast and hard. My face was buried in the pillow, muffling my screams while Perry’s cock was drivin’ into my spot.

Yeah—we’re gonna have to change the sheets before Ginny comes over! I’m pretty sure the whole house is gonna be smellin’ like Christmas morning boy sex!

After showering and changing the sheets, I went into the kitchen to make a breakfast casserole I found on Youtube. It looked super-easy, so I thought I would give it a shot.

I mixed together some frozen hashbrowns, some onion, some beaten eggs, breakfast sausage, and sour cream in a big bowl. Next, I put it in a baking dish and topped it with shredded cheese. Finally, I threw it in the oven—and hoped for the best! It started to smell good just as Ginny knocked on the door.

Perry opened the door and hugged Ginny. “Merry Christmas, Mama!”

“Let me put this bag down so I can give you a real hug, baby boy.”

Perry chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Why do you keep calling me that? I’m definitely not a baby anymore—ask Hunter!”

I walked out of the kitchen, shaking my head. “Perry, there are things we don’t share with our mothers. I’m pretty sure that’s close to the top of the list! Merry Christmas, Ginny!”

“Merry Christmas to you, Hunter! My! Something smells wonderful!”

“It’s a breakfast casserole recipe I found online. Can I get you some coffee?”

“That would be lovely.”

“I know you don’t like it black, so what can I add to it?”

“Do you have some Bailey’s?”

“I believe we do—and that sounds awfully nice. I think I might just join you.”

Once everyone had their coffees, we sat around the kitchen table and talked—not about anything earth-shattering since Perry and I agreed to bring up the visiting mother subject after breakfast.

Speakin’ of breakfast. I’ll be damned if that wasn’t a fucking awesome casserole! The three of us stuffed ourselves on it, and there wasn’t a drop left. Ginny even commented that she was relieved to know that Perry would be eating well once we moved to New York.

Perry and I kinda side-eyed each other and got this sheepish grin on our faces.

“What? Don’t tell me the two of you haven’t discussed moving to New York!”

“Well—not really, Mama.”

“Hunter? You are planning on moving down there with Perry, aren’t you?”

“Like Perry said—we haven’t really talked about it much.”

“I’m sorry—I just became the pushy mama bear I swore I would never become. Of course—you boys need to talk about it and figure it out on your own.”

“Thanks, Mama. I promise—we will.” Perry looked at me—as if he was asking if now was the time. I gave him a smile and a slight nod.

“Mama, there is something we need to talk about before we start on presents.”

“Oh? Is something wrong?”

“No, Ginny—nothing’s wrong—at least I hope not! But, you see—I got a call from my mother this morning.”

“Oh, Hunter—I’m sorry if that was a difficult way to start your Christmas.”

“No—it was fine—surprisingly. But it was also the last thing I ever expected to hear from her.”

“Mama—Jaime’s been visiting Hunter’s mother for the last four nights. He showed her a lot of things she had never been aware of—especially how amazing her son is.”

“That sounds pretty wonderful, Hunter. Is there more?”

“Well, there is—actually. She wants to come to the Cape and visit with me. She wants to make things right.”

“Oh sweetheart! That’s wonderful news!”

“Mama, can Hunter’s mother stay in one of our extra bedrooms? Vic will be back in a few days, and there won’t be a place for her here.”

“Of course she can! If I can be even a small part in Hunter and his mother fixing things, I’d do it a hundred times over!”

“Okay then, I’ll call her this afternoon.”

“After we open presents! Let’s go to the living room, Mama!”

Ginny Evans is now my hero! She’s an amazing woman, ya know. She loved the present Perry and I got her for Christmas—a three-day/two-night stay at the Lamb and Lion Inn. That’s this awesome resort hotel further out on the Cape. Perry said she works way too hard, and a weekend getaway was perfect for her.

Ginny gave Perry a new Macbook that he could use in college. My present from Ginny was awesome, too! She gave me tuition to a massage school over in Hyannis. She explained that by adding massage to my PT skills, I would be able to find work anywhere I wanted—should I decide to move to New York with Perry.

Even though I didn’t say anything out loud, I have already decided that wild horses couldn’t keep me from following Perry to the Big Apple! It seems like I keep fallin’ more and more in love with that beautiful boy every day I’m with him.

I gave Perry a gold chain with a swimmer charm. He started to cry when I put it on his neck. When I asked why he was crying, he handed me the present he got for me—a gold chain with a swimmer charm! The charm was different, but the chain was almost identical.

Ginny was tearing up and smiling. “If that doesn’t say that there have never been two boys more perfect for each other, I don’t know what is. Hunter—seeing how happy you make my boy is the best Christmas gift ever!”

Ginny walked over and kissed me on my forehead. “I’m going to head over to the house and let you beautiful boys have some alone time. I love you—I love you both.”

Ginny left the house, and I took my boy back to bed. We fucked, sucked, and loved for the rest of the afternoon. We had definitely worked up an appetite, so I went into the kitchen and made some spaghetti—not your usual Christmas dinner, but it sure was one of the best Christmases ever.

After dinner, I called my mother and told her that everything was arranged. I told her that she would be staying next door with Perry’s mom. She was a little reluctant at first, but I finally convinced her that it would be the perfect situation.

Mom called back about an hour later to tell me she would be arriving in Boston the next afternoon. Damn! She wasn’t kidding, I guess!

It was the day after Christmas, and Perry was riding with me to Logan International. He insisted on coming with me. He said the conversation on the way back would probably be a little less intense if he were with us. He had a point.

I had called Vic to see if he would mind if we used his SUV. When he heard the reason why he promised to say a prayer and send a shitload of good juju my way. I told him that if he found my corpse layin’ in the living room when he got back, he would understand why.

Damn, the airport is a hot mess the day after Christmas! We found a parking space in the short-term parking and made our way into the Southwest Airlines section of the arrivals floor. She was supposed to land at 3:15, and at 3:30, I saw her coming down the escalator.

I pointed her out to Perry, and he wrapped an arm around my waist. He leaned in and whispered, “Your mother gets to see that when she deals with you—she deals with us.”

“I love you, Perry Evans. More than you can ever know.”

“Right back atcha, cowboy!”

Mom got off of the escalator and started walking to Perry and me. She looked good. Wait—is she smiling? I don’t think I’ve seen her smile in years. Well, not a real smile—I’ve seen the fake smile a hundred times.

Wait a minute—my mother is raising her arms toward me.

“Hunter! You look wonderful!” She hugs me. My mother actually wraps her arms around me in a hug. My arms are still at my side—I’m stunned—I don’t know what to do.

Well, when Perry grabbed one of my arms and put it up to my mother’s back, I figured out what I needed to do—I returned the hug.

The trip back to Barnstable was actually pleasant—thanks to Perry. He sat in the second row and had Mom sit in the front with me. Perry was perfect with asking just the right questions—the kind that kept Mom engaged while avoiding the elephant in the room—or the SUV. He’s gonna make a damned good lawyer!

We got home, and Ginny came out to greet us.

“Mrs. Landrey! Welcome to the Cape!”

“Thank you. Please call me Margaret—”

“Ginny. Ginny Evans. You’ll be staying at my house. Can I help you with your bags?”

“I think the boys can handle everything.” Mom smiled at Ginny. Okay—that’s two smiles in less than two hours. This is so fuckin’ weird!

Perry and I took Mom’s luggage into Ginny’s house. Once we got Mom settled, Ginny told Perry she needed him to help her with some groceries. She then leaned in to me and whispered, “You take your mother next door. I’ll send Perry over in a bit.”

“But—”

“No, Hunter. You need to start the process with your mother alone. I’ll send Perry over in about 30 minutes.”

I took a deep breath, and Ginny told me to let the process happen. She was sure everything would be okay.

I went to Perry and hugged him. I promised him I would be okay—and waiting for him to come over.

“Okay. Mom, why don’t you and I go next door. I want to show you where I live.”

“That sounds lovely. Thank you again, Ginny. It’s so nice of you to let me stay here for a few days.”

I took Mom next door and let her in. She looked at the Christmas tree and smiled. “This is a beautiful tree, Hunter. I’ve missed having one, you know. Your father refused to let me put one up. Said it was a waste of time and energy.”

“Well, he has said a lot of things over the years that don’t make much sense.”

And here we are—the first awkward pause. “Umm, Mom—would you like something to drink?”

“Would you happen to have any hot tea?”

“Believe it or not—” I took Mom into the kitchen and had her sit at the table. Then, I went to the cabinet where Vic kept some teabags for his friend Vic—a girl he teaches with.

“Let’s see—there’s Earl Gray, English, and Chamomile.”

“I think I might like Chamomile. That’s supposed to be soothing and relaxing—might be good right now.”

I made the tea and brewed a cup of coffee for myself—with some Bailey’s. That’s my kind of soothing and relaxin’—if you know what I’m talkin’ about.

We stayed at the table and settled into our drinks a bit. I guess it was going to be up to me to start things off.

“So—you’ve been getting visits from Jaime?”

“Yes. It scared the heck out of me at first. But Jaime was so kind—so caring. I think the thing that frightened me the most was that it all felt so real—like he was actually there with me.”

“You know, he was with you. You know it was so much more than a dream.”

“I know that now. I just—I don’t know—I still can’t understand why he was so kind to me. I was so cruel to him the last time he was at the house. I threw him out the door.”

“One thing about Jaime is that he never held grudges. He would always do everything he could to understand why things happened and would just go with the flow. He understood why you didn’t want him there.”

“But why would he come to me?”

“I think that’s the easiest thing to figure out.”

“How so?”

“What were some of the things he shared with you during his visits?”

“It was mostly about you—and him, at times. He would mainly show me things about you that I had no idea of. I didn’t know how hard you worked to be the best swimmer you could be. I didn’t even know you had won state records. You never told me—”

“You could have been there—you know, like most of the other parents.”

“I know—and to tell you the truth—I didn’t think you wanted me there. So when you moved into the Vega’s home, I just figured you were done with me.”

“I get it. In a lot of ways, I probably was done with you. But now that I think about it, I’m not so sure I was done with you so much as I was done with that living situation.”

“I know—you and Jaime become—close—while you were living there. It’s funny. I remember telling Jaime that I couldn’t believe that his mother allowed the two of you to—well, you know—in her home. Do you know what he told me?”

“Let me guess—something about how Mrs. V. was so thrilled to see her youngest son so happy that she could only give us her blessing?”

“Yes, Hunter. How did you know that?”

“Because she told us that so many times—so many times.” I guess I kinda got lost in my memories of Jaime. Mom brought things back, though.

“You know—when Jaime asked me why your relationship with him bothered me, I couldn’t find an answer. That’s when he showed me how Maria—his mother—loved you. She loved you without any judgment. That’s when it hit me—another boy’s mother loved my son in a way I never could.”

Well, shit! Mom started to cry. I grabbed a napkin and handed it to her. “You know, I’m thinkin’ that Jaime also showed you that you don’t need to waste a lot of time feelin’ bad about all the stuff that’s already happened. We’re supposed to acknowledge that stuff and learn from it. Isn’t that why you’re here? You’ve seen what went wrong, and you’re here to fix it.”

“Of course, that’s why I’m here. But—I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t—I don’t know how to be a mother—let alone be a good one.”

“Well—let’s see.” I took a breath and just blurted it out, “You already got the bein’ a sucky mother thing down. I guess a good way to start would be to do the opposite of what you’ve been doin’.”

Mom’s eyes got wide, and she just stared at me. I think she was as surprised as I was that I would say such a thing! But then, it hit me that what I had said was actually kinda funny, and it didn’t take too long for the corners of my mouth to start turning up into a smile. Soon after that, I started to chuckle a bit—and about fifteen seconds of chuckling turned into full-out laughin’.

“5-4-3-2—” I couldn’t stop laughing now!

“If you think I’m going to start laughing with you, you have another thing coming.”

“Yeah, Mom. Admit it—it was kinda funny—even if it was true!”

“I can’t believe you said ‘suck’ to your mother!”

“I can’t believe you just said ‘suck’ right back to me—and I’ll bet it was the first time you’ve said it since you were tryin’ to get me to eat out of a bottle when I was baby!”

I just kept laughin’, and not even a minute later, Mom started to laugh—finally!—and just in the nick of time, too. Perry walked into the house and back into the kitchen.

“Hey! You’re laughing! That’s gotta be a good thing.”

“My son just told me I was a sucky mother. I couldn’t believe he said ‘suck’ to me—and then we realized how silly it was. Have a seat, Perry. Maybe you can embarrass me, too!”

“Naw—I would never do that—I think Hunter should own that territory.” Perry grinned and sat at the table. “I think I’m going to join you with some coffee.”

Perry went to the Keurig and set himself up with a cup of coffee and that nasty vanilla creamer shit. Then, he came back to the table and joined right in.

“So—it looks like you two are beginning to work things out.”

“Well, it’s going to take a little time, Perry. But the good news is that Hunter and I both want something better.”

“Well, like my Mom always says—the good thing about hitting rock bottom is that no matter what happens next, it’s better than it was.”

“Tell me about your mother, Perry.”

“Wow—I don’t even know where to begin, really. My dad died when I was pretty young. So it’s been the two of us pretty much my whole life. I guess I would have to say that everything good that happened in my life was because of Mom. She never judged me. She never told me how I was supposed to behave. Whenever she didn’t like something I did, we would talk about it and agree on something together.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well—let’s see. Okay—the guy who lived here before Vic and Hunter. When he moved in, I was about twelve. Now—I was pretty sure he was gay, and all that came about when I was discovering all that stuff about me—scared the Hell outta me, too. Mom thought I should introduce myself to him—be the nice neighbor kid. I didn’t want to do that at all.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was scared of who I was becoming—and I would try to blame that fear on Roger—things like he would try to do stuff to me. Well, that was stupid of me—and Mom sat me down so we could talk about it.

“That’s when she told me that she had a feeling I was starting to wonder about all those weird feelings I was beginning to have—well, that kinda surprised me that she could tell. Before we even started to talk about Roger, she made sure I knew that it didn’t matter if I wanted a girlfriend or a boyfriend—all that mattered was that I was her kid, and there was absolutely nothing that would make her love me less than she did at that very moment.

“Then she said it shouldn’t matter if Roger wanted a boyfriend or a girlfriend. What mattered is that he was all alone in this house, and it was up to us to make sure he felt welcome. So the next night, Mom invited him over for dinner. Funny thing, he proved to me that I had nothing to be afraid of. In fact, the more we talked, the more I realized how smart he was. He was the kind of person who knew all about history and seemed to always have a story that went with whatever we talked about.

“The better I got to know Roger, the more time I wanted to spend with him. I loved our conversations. As I got older, he was always there for me whenever I needed to talk about something I was uncomfortable talking with Mom about. He sort of became a surrogate father to me.

“So—Mom was right. We should never judge people—especially when all that judgment comes from stuff that I don’t know anything about. I miss Roger. It broke my heart when he died. But then again, if he hadn’t—Vic wouldn’t have moved in—and then I would have never met Hunter.”

“You’re a very wise young man, Perry. Your mother must be very proud.”

“That’s kind of my point. I’ve said and done more than my share of stupid shit—oh, sorry—but because my Mom would talk with me—Roger, too—I learned how to approach things in a much better way. So I guess that’s why when Jaime visited me and showed me the handsome cowboy who was going to come into my life, I was pretty cool with that experience—and probably more than a little excited to meet him!”

“Hunter, I’m sorry—so, so sorry—I never took the time to have those kinds of conversations with you. I would just get angry when you would do your stupid shit—as Perry would say—I would never guide you. That’s a big part of my being a ‘sucky’ mother.”

“Mom, I was pretty bad as a son, too. It’s not all your fault.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Hunter. I never told you how much it meant to me when you took care of me when I got sick. You were so good to me. You didn’t have to be. During those weeks, I’m pretty sure I loved my son more than I ever had before. But I never told you. Hell—I never even thanked you.”

“It’s okay, Mom. I didn’t expect you to say anything.”

“But I should have, Hunter.”

Dammit, she’s starting to cry—those eyes a fillin’ up with tears. Well—here goes nothin’!

I walked around the table and leaned down to Mom. I wrapped my arms around her and spoke softly into her ear.

“How about we let go of all the past bullshit. How about we decide—right here and now—that we start over with a clean slate. Let’s forgive each other—and ourselves—for everything. Can you do that—or try to do that?”

Mom didn’t say anything—or couldn’t say anything. But, she did nod her head and returned my embrace.

Then, in the softest voice I’ve ever heard from her, Mom whispered, “I love you, Hunter. Thank you.”