The Castaway Hotel - 4 - 29. Chapter 29 - Exploring Relationships

The weekend after Little Ricky’s birthday party, we had another party planned - a family cookout to celebrate Pat’s regaining his vision. It was going to be a very different type of get together for us, but I think that we were all looking forward to it. Unbeknownst to me, however, there was a conspiracy brewing that involved me, however I didn’t know about it at the time.

It began Friday evening, when Danny borrowed the car to run an errand. He took Brandon and Pat with him and explained it all by saying Pat wanted to personally invite Shannon and Uncle Jake to this party. What they didn’t tell me was they had more than that on their minds. I told them it would be fine, so off they went, to complete their mission.

It was obvious that Shannon had been expecting them, as he met them at the door as soon as they pulled in, and my boys went inside to say hello to Uncle Jake. He seemed very glad to see them and asked what brought them there. That’s when Pat took over.

“I came to invite both of you to a picnic we’re having tomorrow, at our house. Dad wants to have it to celebrate my getting my eyesight back. You don’t need to bring anything, but yourselves, and there will be plenty to eat and lots of things to do. It’s just for family, but you’re part of our family now.”

“That’s very kind of you to make this invitation and include us as part of the family,” Jake responded, “and we’ll be glad to attend. What time does this shindig begin?”

Pat gave them all the details about the party and filled them in on what to expect. When they finished discussing what would be going on, Danny broached the next topic.

“Uncle Jake, you know, you should get in touch with Dad sometime and go out for a few drinks or something. He seems to spend all of his time with us and doesn’t get to do anything just for himself. We think he should go out and have some fun once in a while too.”

“So Shannon’s been telling me,” Jake responded, quizzically. “I take it you boys have talked about this amongst yourselves?” The boys nodded their heads. “Did you ever suggest this to your dad?”

“Yeah, I guess we have talked this over with him too, but he thinks it’s more important to be there for us. We appreciate it and all, but we’d also like to see him have some fun of his own, not just provide fun times for us. He hasn’t even been on a date since he started adopting us. I don’t think it’s good for him to neglect his own needs. I think it’s about time he enjoyed himself too.”

“Yes, I can see your point and agree with what you’ve said,” Jake replied. “Josh should get out once in awhile to do things that make him happy too. Maybe I could ask him to meet me after work some Friday, for a few drinks or something.”

“Or maybe you guys could have dinner together,” Brandon added. “Just the two of you.” Jake was surprised at this comment and began to get even more suspicious than he already had been. He eyed the boys, while trying to see if he could figure out what cards they held up their sleeves. Finally, he decided on what he was going to say next.

“You mean like a date?” he asked, while raising his eyebrows and eying them intently.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Pat answered, shyly, and all three boys turn red, realizing they hadn’t been as sly about this as they’d hoped. They began looking at each other, wondering if they had been too direct in broaching this topic and weren’t sure how to proceed from here, but Jake solved that little problem for them.

“Uh, wasn’t your dad married for a number of years?” Jake asked, but no one answered right away, so they could take their time to come up with an appropriate answer. However, Jake continued before they did. “You know, he might not agree with your trying to fix him up with me. I really don’t think he’d be interested, being straight and all.”

“But he’s not,” Danny blurted out, before realizing what he’d said and then turning red. Now, he tried to correct his sudden outburst. “What I mean is that Dad’s really bi and he’s often mentioned how he’s regretted not exploring the other side of himself. I think he’d be interested in spending time with you too, but I just think he’s too shy to ask. I believe that’s why he spends so much time with us, so he can be close to other males without having to worry about going further.”

“That’s interesting,” Jake told them, while looking as if he were thinking about something else. “I didn’t know that about Josh. He’s really told you guys that he’s sorry he didn’t go out with other guys?”

“Yes!” Pat shot back, quickly. “He said that’s why he wanted to become a foster parent, so he could help gay and bi boys accept who they were and not make the same mistakes he did.”

“He really said that?” Jake commented, incredulously.

“Yes, he did,” Danny came back. “That’s why things are so open and accepting at home. He doesn’t want us to have any excuses for not being who we are. It’s really great, because we’ve all had a chance to select whom we wanted to be with, without having someone else trying to dictate that to us. Dustin started out with Kevin, but decided later he was more attracted to girls, so now he’s going out with a cheerleader. He’s bi, but he’s decided he’d rather have a girlfriend as his main squeeze.”

“Hmmm,” Jake responded, “there’s more to this family than meets the eye. I didn’t realize some of this.”

“Well, we don’t announce it to just anybody,” Brandon told him, “but you’re part of the family now, so we thought you should know.”

“Well, thank you, and I’m honored to be included in your inner circle,” Jake responded, while winking in their direction. Now that the cards were on the table, they all smiled at each other, but you could see the wheels still grinding, as each of them contemplated how to proceed from this point.

“What kinds of things is your dad interested in?” Jake asked next.

“Well, he likes sports,” Pat told him, “especially college sports. I guess he used to play some himself, when he was younger, but he hasn’t been that active since he took us all in. I guess we’ve taken up most of his time.”

“Does he golf?” Jake followed.

“You know, I think he does,” Danny responded. “There’s a set of golf clubs down in the basement and I’m pretty sure they’re his. I know there used to be a bunch of plaques hanging on the wall in his office and at least one of them was for golf, but he boxed them up when he turned the office into his new master bedroom.”

“Well, maybe I could invite him to go golfing with me some weekend,” Jake mused. “I could team up with him and we could play against a couple of other guys I work with.”

“That would be great!” Pat enthusiastically shouted. “I really think he’d like that too.”

“Well, I could hint around about it when I’m at your party,” Jake offered. “I could say something about golfing with my friends and then see how he reacts to it. If he seems interested, I could tell him we could use fresh blood in our foursome and then take it from there.”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Danny added. “If it works out, maybe you guys could join a league next year. I really think Dad should have a chance to do something like that.”

“Well, I can understand why he spends so much time with you boys, though,” Jake informed them. “I try to do the same with Shannon, and he’s nearly my entire life right now. I can tell you boys are just as important to him as Shannon is to me, but I must admit I am impressed. It’s nice to see you’re as concerned about your dad’s happiness, as he is about yours.”

“We are, and we really want him to be happy too,” Pat replied. “He’s done so much for us and it’s time we helped do something for him. We think this would be just the thing.”

Jake and the boys spent a little more time together, chatting about different activities that Josh and Jake might do, but the die was cast and their plan officially set into motion. They would start the ball rolling tomorrow, after Jake and Shannon arrived for Pat’s party. Satisfied that their scheming would bear fruit, the boys returned home, filled their brothers in on their accomplishments and started preparing for the picnic.

The boys met up in the attic, in Pat’s room, to discuss what types of things they were going to do at the party and how they were going to try to get Jake and I together. Although I knew of Shannon’s intentions, I was completely oblivious to the fact that my sons had the same objectives, but that soon would become very apparent. I guess I’m pretty lucky to have them and know they are so concerned about me.

After everyone arrived at the house the next day, Pat suggested we start out with a game of touch football on the side yard. Even though he couldn’t participate in such an energetic competition, he explained that he knew the other boys still wanted to do this and didn’t want to stand in their way of having a good time. I told him I thought it was very considerate of him to suggest such an event and I could see many of the boys were eager to take advantage of his generous offer.

Once again, Jake and I were paired on the same team, while Steve, Howie (Jay’s father) and Mark evened out the other side. Pat ran the clock and kept score from the sidelines. The game was very competitive and we continued to swap touchdowns most of the way, but the other team managed to pull out the victory, just before our timekeeper blew the final whistle.

We were all pretty exhausted by the time the game ended, but I was also quite certain everyone was getting hungry. Reluctantly, I forced my weary butt off of the ground and headed in to the house, so I could start getting the food ready. As I rose up and started walking off, Jake asked me where I was going. When I told him, he offered to help and I gratefully accepted his offer. He helped me carry things out back, cranked up the gas grills and offered to give me a hand preparing things.

While we were placing the various items on the grill, Jake started talking about golf and asked me if I played. I told him I did at one time and had enjoyed it, but hadn’t swung a club in several years. I had given it up when my wife became ill and died, and had been too busy with the boys to think about taking it up again. Jake quickly quipped back that it was like riding a bicycle – you never forget how to do it, once you’ve learned. He then asked me if I’d possibly consider taking it up again, but I was confused as to why he was so interested. However, after thinking it over for a few minutes, I told him I thought it might be fun to give it a try again and Jake almost immediately invited me to hit some balls with him the following weekend.

After considering his proposal for a few seconds, I agreed and we set a time to meet. I thought it would be nice to get out and be a little more active again. I had always enjoyed golfing; especially the part of getting out in the fresh air and strolling along those lovely fairways, and this was definitely an opportunity to get back to doing just that. I think the boys overheard our conversation, and soon word was passing between them that Jake and I had a ‘date’. I didn’t know they were considering our planned outing in quite that manner, or I would have corrected them – to let them know it was just a social outing with a friend.

Before long the food was ready, so we sat down to eat. Everyone was starving, as was evident from the sparks that flew when the silverware hit the plates. Once everyone was sated, we sat and chatted for a while longer, to give our food a chance to digest, before we did something more energetic. It was during this time that Sally filled us in on several new developments with the charity, but she also wanted to let us know how helpful the Spences had been with the various tasks they had volunteered to do. I think she was quite pleased and the rest of us were mildly surprised by how much they had accomplished.

Following a reasonable wait, we all loaded into several different vehicles and headed down to the miniature golf course. This was something Pat could do with the rest of us, as well as something the ladies would be able to participate in, so I thought the boys had made a great suggestion. It never dawned on me at the time how this also tied in with my being invited to the driving range the following weekend and a possible chance to resume my golfing activities, but if I had, I might have suspected something was up. Maybe this was some sort of conspiracy and there was more to it than first met the eye.

Anyway, we all had a great time, although no one actually paid any attention to the scores. Most of our guests went straight home from there, as they had driven their own vehicles to avoid having to return to our house afterward. The boys and I went back to our place and spent the rest of the night doing our own thing.

Pat did come up to me later and thanked me for the great party, but I thought it a bit odd that he asked if I’d had fun too. Studying his expression and body posture, I thought it was a sincere question and felt it was possible he was trying to look out for me, as his way of repaying me for what I’d done for him when he was sightless. I never suspected he was just trying to get a feel for how Jake and I got along. I did start to wonder about his intentions, however, after I noticed all of his questions came back to Jake and how we were getting along. Suddenly, I began to wonder if it was just a fluke these things happened at the same time or if this was part of a greater conspiracy. Even though I was curious, I didn’t choose to pursue those thoughts further, at least not at this time.

Sunday, at church, I got another surprise. After the service I noticed Dion chatting with a girl, something I don’t remember having happened before. This appeared more than just a ‘how are you doing’ sort of conversation, so I wondered what was up. Unfortunately, I was not privy to the fact that Dion had decided it was time to explore the other side of his sexuality, but after seeing me watching Dion, Cole readily informed me that Dion had told Trey he wanted to see what it was like being with a girl.

All kinds of alarm bells suddenly went off in my head and I envisioned another Kevin-Dustin break-up, with me spending a great deal of my time trying to console the son who’d been left out in the cold – in this case, Trey. I did watch Trey as he stared at Dion, while the later was joking around with this girl, and I could feel the unmistakable signs of tension in the air. I just hoped this wasn’t the start to another disaster, but decided I might be able to defuse this situation a smidgeon by having a chat with Trey before it got to that point. Once there was a lull in our Sunday afternoon activities, I asked Trey if I could speak with him alone. He quickly agreed and followed me away from the others.

“I noticed you watching Dion, as he spent time with that young lady. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” I asked him, as my way of letting him know I was concerned.

“I don’t know, Dad,” he responded, but I could tell he was doing all he could to keep control of his emotions. “I know he feels that he has to find out what it’s like to date a girl and he’ll probably even want to see what it’s like having sex with her too. Even though I don’t like that it’s probably going to happen, I know it is something he thinks he has to do.”

“And it doesn’t bother you?” I pressed.

“Of course it bothers me,” he confessed. “I hate the whole idea, but I know he’s got to do it or he’ll never be happy with just me. I only hope this doesn’t turn out like it did for Dustin and Kevin.”

“Well, there are no guarantees, so you’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” I advised him.

“I know, Dad, but I don’t know what I’ll do if he decides he likes girls more than me,” he choked out, as his emotions began to overwhelm him. “I love him, I really do, and I thought we were going to spend our whole lives together. I don’t know how I’ll survive if he decides to leave me now.”

“Well, let’s not put the cart before the horse here,” I cautioned. “He just wants to find out what it’s like and it doesn’t appear he’s made any decisions about the future yet.”

“I know, it’s just that I worry about it, after what happened with Dustin and Kevin,” he confessed. “I don’t know if I could go on, if something like that happened to me. I don’t know how Kevin did it. He must be a lot stronger than I am.”

“Kevin isn’t stronger than you, and you’ll survive too, if it should come to that,” I added, to encouraged him. “Kevin thought he wouldn’t be able to survive either, but then he and Nick hit it off and then he had someone new. He even survived when he and Nick broke up, and now he seems to be happy with Brent. Even if that relationship doesn’t work out, although I’m not saying it will fail, he’ll find somebody else and make the most of it and so will you. We all go through situations like this at some point in our lives. It’s just part of growing up.”

“Yeah, I know, but he’s so important to me,” Trey shot back, quickly. “It’s like our souls had once been one, but got separated, and then we found each other again. I don’t know what I’d do without him. We hold onto each other all night long and I don’t want to think that will end.”

“It may not,’ I offered, trying to soothe his apprehensions. “I understand how you feel and I’m sure Dion enjoys your time together as much as you do, but he just has to discover things for himself. Give him some time and some space, because if you do, you’ll leave the possibility you may still end up together. If you try to limit his actions and make him think you’re trying to control him, then you might push him away forever.”

“I know, Dad, and that’s what I’m trying to do,” he explained. “It’s just not easy. I really hope Dion decides what we have is more important and more special than what he can get from some girl.”

“I think I know how you feel about him, but only time will tell,” I cautioned. “Just try not to push him into a decision or put any undue pressure on him, because I’m afraid that wouldn’t work out as you want.”

“Thanks, Dad, and I’ll try not to do that,” he agreed.

I tried to watch what was going on during the rest of the day, and I even took notice of Kevin and Brent, now that they had also been mentioned. I thought maybe I should see how that combination was doing as well. However, Dion and Trey still received most of my attention.

It was obvious that Dion wasn’t making an attempt to ignore Trey. In fact, he was very friendly toward him and acting as if nothing was amiss. I took that as a good sign, but I would still closely monitor what was going on.