Prodigal

~9~

Dad and I got back home late Sunday night. After we unpacked, I decided that I would try to call my mom. We usually spoke on my birthdays but this year she hadn’t called me. I hadn’t called her either, but I decided to call her that night.

She didn’t pick up. I tried again five minutes later and she didn’t pick up then, either. It was one in the afternoon in Canada so she was probably awake. As far as I knew she didn’t have a job; last I heard she was between jobs.

I decided to leave a voicemail. “Hey Mom, it’s Emmett, just calling because we haven’t talked in a while. How have you been? I had my birthday party last week, and that was really fun. Just call me when you get a chance. I’m seventeen hours ahead of you, though. But you know that. Anyway, love you, bye.”

Dad knocked on my open bedroom door as I was finishing up the voicemail.

“Can I come in?” Dad asked.

“Yeah.” I responded.

He sat down at the edge of my bed. “Who were you talking to?”

“Mom.” I responded. “But she didn’t pick up, so I left a voicemail.”

“Oh, good.” Dad said. “Do you remember what we talked about the night of your birthday?”

“What?” I asked, completely drawing a blank.

“About who you found attractive.” Dad said, clearly feeling too awkward to ask me straight up.

“Oh!” I snapped into memory. I suddenly became very uncomfortable. “Why are we talking about this?”

“We don’t have to,” Dad said, “But if you do want to, I’m always here. And…it doesn’t matter one way or the other. I’ll always love and accept you no matter what.”

“Thanks.” I said, feeling uneasy as he patted me on the shoulder and left my bedroom. I tried to process that information and then came to the realization that I couldn’t on my own. I decided to call Sarah to talk through it.”

“Oh my God.” Sarah said after I explained the conversation. “So he said he didn’t care if you were straight or gay.”

“Yeah, but the problem is, I’m not either.” I said back.

“Do you feel the need to tell him about you being asexual?”

“I kind of think so.” I responded back. “I feel like I need to talk to someone about this. And he just gave me the blessing. He should be cool.”

“He will be.”

“Yeah, you’re right, he will be. That’s not the issue. I’m going to talk to him.”

“Good luck.”

“Thank you.”

Notes