The phone vibrated across the nightstand for the third time that afternoon.
Joe Branson was doing third shift and picking up an extra four, so he didn’t even get in bed til noon.
He fumbled to shut off the phone and saw it was Steven. All three times.
Steven picked up on the first ring and started yelling.
“Pedro has to be at the airport for the debate trip and Maria broke her fucking ankle at work and no way I get there in time from Rickersgate with 696 construction and the kid called an Uber on Nancy’s account but there’s…can you go grab him and get him to DTW before 3:10?”
Joe was a little shocked he got it all through the sleepy haze.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way.”
“The kid will be devastated if he-”
“I get it,Steven, relax. I got him.”
Steven’s exhale was audible through the phone.
“I’ll tell him Uncle Joe is on the way.”
Joe hung up, biting his lower lip. He loved, more than anything, being Uncle Joe to Steven and Maria’s kid’s even though he was no relation.
He threw clothes on, almost mismatching tennis shoes and almost saying fuck it and wearing mismatched shoes. Pedro would think it was funny.
He did 95 to the Mountley’s house because he didn’t want to speed too crazily with his favorite 14 year old ipso facto nephew in the car.
He got the kid to Delta departures at 2:59 then pulled over in a cab stand to wait for a text that Pedro was on the plane.
When the text came, Joe texted back. “Slay. Safe travels. Love you.”
He realized he had never told the kid that verbally or in text, and punched the dashboard lightly to admonish himself for saying it in text first, and not face to face.
Then he downloaded the Delta app so he would be notified immediately upon the plane’s safe landing.
***
Steven picked Pedro up from the airport, his son still beaming from being the first freshman ever to win the Milles Invitational. Mrs. Dunkel, the instructor, had offered to drive Pedro home but Steven felt like he owed it to the kid to show up to greet his award winning progeny.
They rehashed the tournament the whole way home, Pedro easily over Steven’s head a few times. The kid was smart to the point that Steven was almost jealous of his own son.
They got home, and Maria hobbled over in her walking cast to hug her son, congratulate him, then she and Nancy both got the same debate play-by-play that Steven heard in the car.
When Pedro was getting ready for bed, a thought made Steven almost drop his second celebratory Maker’s Mark.
“Jesus, Pedro, did you text your Uncle Joe to thank him for the ride and tell him you won?”
Pedro’s forehead melted into a scowl. “I texted him before I even left the auditorium. I texted him first.”
Steven felt a little pang, but shook it off.
“He cares a lot about you and your sister.”
Pedro nodded.
His eyes wandered, took on a distant air.
He looked down the hall toward the family room, where Nancy and Maria watched TV.
“Dad…ummm…when Uncle Joe…uh…picked me up. Nevermind. Goodnight.”
Steven stood and followed his son into the bedroom.
“What about Uncle Joe? If he was speeding, Pedro, I basically instructed him to.”
Pedro smiled. “Yeah, he was speeding, but that’s…I’m glad I didn’t miss the plane. Goodnight.”
“There seems like something else you wanna tell me.”
“Ummm…it’s stupid…kinda. Goodnight.”
“Talk to me, Pade. What did Uncle Joe do?”
Pedro tapped one of his baseball bobbleheads, watched the head bobble.
“He…umm…Uncle Joe was wearing a shirt…from The Platinum Bar.”
Steven nodded, his eyes locked on his son as though the rest of the house had disappeared.
“Yeah,” Steven said, “Uncle Joe likes that place.”
Pedro made eye contact with his dad, nodded, mumbled okay.
“That’s the bar that Proud Boy who used to work at Russell’s Sandwiches tried to set on fire.”
Steven rolled his tongue around in his mouth.
“That’s the one.”
“Platinum is a gay bar, Dad.”
“Yes.That’s right. Uncle Joe is gay.”
“You love Uncle Joe, right?”
“Absolutely, Pedro.”
“You don’t hate him for anything…or wish…”
Pedro was now looking at the floor.
Feeling the heaviness, Steven said “I hate him once a year when he puts 100 bucks on the Derby horse with the name he liked the best.”
At the word “hate,” Pedro’s eyes were locked on his dad in terror.
“Do you wish he wasn’t gay?”
Pedro’s voice cracked at gay.
Steven shook his head like he wanted it to rewind and erase the stupid joke, the word hate, all of it.
“No, no, I don’t wish that. No. That’s Uncle Joe. I love him. I fucking love him.”
Pedro asked : “Promise?” in a voice that was helium, fear, and confusion.
Steven reached for his son.
“I promise, Pedro.”
His son’s tears touched Steven before he touched his son.
He called Maria!
Maria grabbed her crutch and stood.
She hadn’t heard a word that her son and her husband said, but when Steven called for her, she knew exactly what was going on, and had prepared.
***
I’m not sure what’s going on here...
Awwe Jimmy, What a great job you did there. You don't have to explain any further.. What a nice family.