Not just another Summer - 19. The weekend after the night before

All my instincts told me that I ought to make myself scarce on Saturday morning, but Vince’s breakfast invitation had been quite explicit. I had to admit that I was a bit curious, well a lot curious, and, after all, the house was half mine; if they wanted privacy, they had Vince’s bedroom and his den upstairs.

Of course, with the perversity of things, I woke early. I lay in bed, thinking about the previous day. Not so much that Vince had admitted that he was bi, not even so much that he had acted on it, but his other behaviour. I was discovering that there was indeed another Vince, as Peter had suggested. I had an image of Vince in my head, but this was based on the role Vince had wanted to create; his perfectly ordered life perhaps Vince’s response to Dad’s pressure, just as my rather chaotic, freelance life was my response.

But the real Vince was showing more, he was always going to be of a legal frame of mind, discipline and order were still there, along with his political engagement, but now there was a willingness to move outside the box.

Peter had been something of a surprise. Charming, but far less reticent than I would have imagined. I tried to put myself in a similar situation and was pretty sure that I would have kept out of things and for certain, I would have been fully dressed and tried to keep my mouth shut. My memories of Vince’s wife, Moira were that she was quite lively, almost a foil to his staider persona, and she was much more an equal partner in the relationship than discreet helpmeet. Clearly Vince liked partners who pushed back.

I decided that coffee was in order, so I might as well go to the main house and fortify myself before Vince and Peter appeared. However, there was music coming from the kitchen, Peter and Vince were already there and coffee was on, judging from the smell.

Peter was by the coffee machine, again wearing only his black boxer briefs. If I dared look, then I have to say he filled them out nicely. Pale skin, not very hairy, slim with enough meat on his bones. Vince was sitting at the small kitchen table, wearing the same outsize t-shirt as the previous day. He smiled when he saw me and moved to indicate a chair in the kitchen, in doing so he gave me a glimpse of his bits. His naked bits. He hadn’t bothered with underpants. As my friend Terence might have said, ‘Wow’.

“Coffee?” Peter gestured to me with an empty mug.

“Please.”

“Turns out we both wake early so”, Peter shrugged, “we got up.”

Vince gave me a sly grin, “Eventually.”

I looked from one to the other, “Look, about yesterday.”

Vince sighed, “I ought to be mad at you, but can’t be. You made me do exactly what I should have done.”

“Gave me the stimulus I needed.”

“So, we’re happy. Just don’t make a habit of it.”

We drank our coffee in silence, just the gentle hum of the music from the radio. Classical music, another intriguing choice.

“You think Freddie is going to be all right?”

“I think so. We had chat last night, after we left you.”

“Thought you might.”

“Just me saying for him to give you time and space.”

“Thanks. I’d told myself that it would be just too complicated to bring anyone home, see anyone regularly, till he was older.”

Peter shook his head, “Just an excuse to avoid the truth.”

Vince sighed, “Probably.”

“Still, we managed to knock some sense into you.” Peter ruffled Vince’s hair, and my brother responded by rubbing Peter’s back.

Peter looked down, “Hadn’t you better put some clothes on before your son comes down expecting his breakfast and getting his Dad’s dick instead?”

Vince laughed, “There’s time to get dressed. Besides, I think my kid brother has corrupted me.”

“Didn’t take much.”

“Gray, did you work out something for tonight?”

“Yes, I asked Matt, and he told me about a gig at The Basket Makers Arms.”

“The place in East Street?”

“That’s it, they have entertainment in the garden.”

Vince smiled, “I remember, there was a lot of fuss about noise and the late-night gigs got canned.”

“This is a singer songwriter, just him and his guitar, so not too noisy. And Matt has heard him before; says he’s OK.”

“And Freddie’s keen?”

“Well, he’s coming along and so is Matt.”

Vince raised an eyebrow.

“I figured it might make conversation easier. You’re paying, by the way.”

Vince guffawed, “I see. On that note, I will go and put on some clothes.” He stared pointedly at Peter who nodded.

“I’ll be up in a minute.” Once Vince was upstairs, out of earshot, Peter continued, “He’ll be ages, he insists on having a shower before dressing.”

“Still a creature of habit, then.”

“In some ways. There is another Vince.”

“So, I’ve been discovering.”

“He told you about the party where we got drunk?”

“The charity do?”

“That’s the one. He did a lot more than flirt with me. He was sharper”, Peter smiled fondly, “naughtier.”

“Not the face he normally shows.”

“No. But then the mask went back on. Recently it has slipped, occasionally, but only glimpses. Since you’ve been here, things have shaken up.”

“Me. What did I do?”

Peter shrugged, “Disturbed the status quo? Showed him that Philpotts could be other things? I’m not sure.”

“It’s not as if I tried.”

“Come on. You getting naked with Freddie, that really threw him out. He was furious and was on at me about it, so I turned round and said why not? He had the grace to laugh.”

“I think we are both finding other aspects to ourselves. There are things affecting me too.”

“And will Freddie be OK, do you think? Comfortable with the idea of his Dad having a boyfriend or something?”

“Once he’s got over the novelty, certainly. You’ll turn into his Dad’s bloke, just someone to moan to friends about.” He laughed and said he’d better get some clothes on as well.

When Vince reappeared, he had t-shirt and jeans on. I had popped back to my rooms to fetch the bread and was sorting that out. Vince went to stand by the big bay window, looking out into the garden.

“I got really depressed when I was on holiday.”

“Why? You were supposed to be relaxing.”

“I missed Peter. Simple. And it hit me. If I didn’t go some way towards doing what he wanted, compromising, I would lose him. He’d leave. And I didn’t know how I would cope.”

“So, you unloaded onto me.”

“I like to think that I’d have got there in the end.”

“Would you, though?”

He gave a tired smile, “Not sure. But this is a great start. All I need to do is…”

“Relax and enjoy yourself.” I said very pointedly.

“But…”

“There’s no rush. The most important people know. You don’t need to fuss about telling everyone.”

“But work?”

I cocked my head, “Will it matter? And wouldn’t it be better to get your relationship with Peter on a firmer footing first?”

“Yes, it’s just…”

“You have a list. Tear it up and go with the flow instead.”

“Easier said than done.”

Peter proved a dab hand with scrambled eggs, and his version had bits in and was tasty indeed. Freddie joined us, amazingly, and was seeming more relaxed than the previous evening. It wasn’t a simple family occasion, there were undercurrents, but perhaps we were getting somewhere.

---

Saturday evening proved remarkably enjoyable. Matt and Freddie seemed to get on, mainly by ganging up to make fun of me, whether my reluctance to eat chicken wings because I disliked gnawing on chicken bones in public or my woeful lack of knowledge of pop music which was showed up because I did not recognise half of the songs that evening. The guy’s set was made up largely of covers, I enjoyed them, nonetheless.

The Basket Makers Arms proved to be a good find. The atmosphere was lively without being too raucous or trashy, and the crowd was young enough that Freddie didn’t feel too out of place.

Sunday morning, there was definitely no family breakfast as Peter and Vince stayed in bed for the duration. I took my breakfast into the garden and Freddie eventually appeared.

“Has Dad been around?”

“No, I think he and Peter are still in bed.”

The implication was clear, his Dad and his Dad’s new boyfriend were having rampant nookie. Freddie gave an embarrassed giggle in response; the teenage realisation that not only did his Dad still have sex but might actually be enjoying it.

Vince had said that I could use his car, so I went off exploring the coast, a bit of driving and a lot of sitting, listening and watching, letting the landscape soak back into me. This time I stuck to places that I had researched. The driving was easier, I didn’t get lost, much, and managed to spend longer soaking up the landscape, the seascape and the wetlands. I found the very bleakness refreshing, and in my poncier moments I thought perhaps my poetry represented an attempt to explain this.

My phone pinged; it was Vince. Peter had just left, if he walked down to the reserve, could I meet him with the car? I was nervous and a bit worried, was something wrong?

Vince had arrived by the time I got there, and was sitting at the end of the boardwalk, though on a nice Sunday afternoon, we didn’t have the place to ourselves.

“In case you’re wondering, everything’s fine, I just needed a long walk to clear my head.”

“A lot has happened.”

“Fucking has. You know, you’ve got a nerve, meddling like that.”

“I hadn’t decided for certain. I was sitting outside the centre, trying to work up the courage to go in; I wasn’t even certain Peter would be there. Then Peter walked past in the street. He was very stiff, not surprisingly, but he did listen, let me say my bit.”

Vince chortled, “And there was I, imagining you steaming into the centre, guns blazing.”

“Not at all, I just wanted him to give you a chance, a bit more time. The date thing was Matt’s idea. And before you get mad, I only told him an outline. And I trust him. He’s a friend.”

“OK. I was so furious, but I was fucked up too. The week away, I missed Peter so much. It was ridiculous, and I couldn’t say anything to Freddie.” He shrugged, “Well, felt I couldn’t. And having you around, making a new life for yourself here, and being gay and not ashamed about it.”

“Hardly a great success.”

“Yet... The naked thing.”

“Sorry. Me being…”

“No. Peter showed me that I was just being uptight. A bit of nudity, naturism was hardly going to set me down as a weirdo or a pervert, and my attitude was more likely to make it worse.”

“Good point.”

“Plus, I realised how much”, he paused. “How much he’d come to mean to me. And…”

“You didn’t know how to change.”

“When I got home on Friday and found him there, busy in the kitchen, and I realised you’d set me up. I was so angry, I’m not sure whether with him, myself or you; I flew at him. God, his eyes opened really wide with shock, and we ended up on the floor.” Vince went a bit red.

“And soon weren’t fighting.”

He gave an embarrassed murmur, “No. I gather that’s when Freddie appeared.”

“Yes, so he said.”

“We went upstairs afterwards.”

“Satisfactory, I hope.”

“You bet.” He went delightfully pink, “I asked Peter to fuck me.”

“First time?”

He nodded, “Ever. Not even a dildo. But it wasn’t the last”, and he gave a smirk.

“So, that’s what you were doing this morning.”

“And last night. Sorry, this is probably TMI.”

“Not at all.”

We were quiet.

“And are things, OK now?”

“Sort of. I am still a bit freaked, but now, Freddie knows and, well, Peter says the rest can go hang, like you said.”

“Providing you don’t lie.”

“Yeah. I worried how I’d introduce him.”

“You know, if we did this thing with Rowena and that.”

“Shit, we ought to phone her.”

“Yes, we ought.”

“And if we asked Peter, how do I introduce him?”

I shrugged, “As your friend, Peter. Simple.”

“You don’t think…”

“Vince, being open doesn’t mean going round with a big sign. It means if someone comments, you say yes, Peter’s my boyfriend, though it’s a bit new. If you get caught being affectionate, you don’t apologise, you own it.”

“Not go around announcing.”

“No. Mind. You might need to say something at the centre.”

“Yes. I figured that. There’s nothing on paper, either for me or Peter, that says that we can’t.”

“Just whether other trustees mind.”

“Yes. I’ve told Peter that if it’s a problem, I will step down and do more volunteering.”

“There you are, it’s about owning it, not advertising.”

“Thanks.”

“I seem to be able to give advice.”

“Just not follow it yourself.”

“Something like that.”

“Look, you can tell me to piss off, but you and Matt?”

“Work in progress. The new me. I am making friends first and seeing what happens. I mean, you were friends with Peter first.”

“But I thought you…”

“Followed my dick and ended up hooking up with guys with no prospect of anything long term.” I nodded, “That’s about it. Or how it used to be.”

“So, work in progress…”

“And…” I hesitated.

“And?”

“Matt is probably demi-sexual or something like.”

“Which means?”

“He doesn’t look at a guy and immediately think I want that, now, roar.”

Vince laughed, “Gray, really!”

“Really. Doesn’t happen with Matt, he needs to get to know someone first. And I don’t think he’s experienced.”

“Blimey. Thanks for telling me and it makes more sense, now.”

“And I figured, if I really get randy, I can go to London, sleep on Bas’ sofa and go somewhere really trashy.” I leered at him, “Perhaps you two should join me.”

He rolled his eyes, “I certainly don’t think we’ve reached that stage yet.”

It felt a lot better, now that we had talked. As we drove back to The Grange, I wanted to explain something.

“Last night seemed to go well.”

“Your trip with Matt and Freddie?”

“Yes, so, I wouldn’t rule another out. And if I’m around, I am happy to simply be about, at the house.”

“So that it’s not official baby-sitting.”

“Yes. Can I ask you a personal question?”

“About Freddie?”

“No. About you?”

“Go on.” Said very carefully.

“You said that Moira wasn’t keen on you being so hairy. What about Peter?”

Vince gave an amused snort, “Trust you to think of that. After I’d come on strong to him, and then apologised, and he knocked me for six by saying he didn’t mind. I avoided him, and he finally confronted me, said we needed to talk. One evening after a management meeting we went for a long walk.” He gave an embarrassed laugh. “Like a couple of teenagers, we ended up in a clinch, in the dark, in Castle Field.”

“Sophisticated.”

“Yeah. He wanted me to come to his flat, so I came clean about the hair.”

“And…”

Vince went pink again, “It made him dead keen.”

“So, it’s a hit?”

“Big one. And you probably saw, he’s kind of smooth, which I like. It seems.”

“Discovering new things.”

“A lot. Yeah. There’s one thing. I’m looking forward to the moment when I can introduce him to Venetia fucking Murray.”

“As your boyfriend.”

“Yeah.”

We both burst into laughter.

That evening, I phoned Rowena who was delighted to come next Sunday. As was Matt and Peter agreed, in fact they agreed for him to come for the weekend again, and he said he would cook which was amazing. Freddie was out with friends, not Arvid, but Vince said that he would mention it, and he would ask Carly and Gustave from the office at work.