"Yes, I thought about you and got a little lonely when I realized Otis wasn't here." The woman's voice echoed through the phone's microphone. "I'm in my study catching up on work."
Kyle remained quiet.
"Anyway, how's my little boy doing?" the woman asked.
"He's doing fine," Kyle muttered in response, squeezing Chaska's hand as he used the other to drive them out of the parking lot and into the road. They passed by the noisy bar, and Anastasia seemed to notice.
"Are you outside? I can hear the music."
"Yes," Kyle replied, licking his lips. "I went out for the night."
There was silence, and then a cough. "Did you leave Otis alone by himself?"
Kyle sighed. "No, he's with my mother, and was fast asleep when I left at eleven."
"Okay."
The call was silent for a bit until the woman on the other end cleared her throat. "How are you getting along with Otis? The last time I called he was crying a lot."
"That was months ago," Kyle sighed as his eyes shifted a bit. He looked embarrassed to have that said in front of Chaska.
"I know, but I was worried," Anastasia sighed through the receiver. "I hope things are better now."
"They are," Kyle said, smiling. "We're getting along better. He's a good kid."
"I'm glad," the woman hummed from the other end. "I kept wondering if letting you have custody was a good idea. I wanted you to take care of your son," she said, and Kyle nodded, even though she couldn't see him.
"I have some help," Kyle said, stopping for the red light. "So, it's not like I figured things out alone," Kyle added.
"Ah, yes, your mum. I'm sure she's been helpful—"
"Not her, Ana," Kyle said looking at Chaska from the side of his eyes. "I met someone." The silence that followed showed that it had clicked in Anastasia's head.
"You're seeing someone?" she asked, and Kyle hummed in response.
"Yes." Kyle moved his hand out of Chaska's hand to squeeze the man's thigh. "He's wonderful."
Kyle telling his ex-wife that he was a man, made Chaska panic a bit. He wondered what the woman's reaction would be. He wondered if she was one of those people that didn't want her kids around gay people for fear that they would get 'infected.'
"Oh." Was the only thing the woman said. Kyle kept driving, not saying anything in response for a while. Chaska became nervous and started to squeeze his fingers of his free hand into his palm. The reaction didn't sound good.
"Kyle?" The voice seemed to ask, checking off he was still on the other end.
"I'm still on the line," Kyle muttered, looking straight out into the road. "Is there anything you want to say?"
"I'm just a bit shocked," she said. "Is that why things didn't work out? You were gay?" she asked, and Kyle licked his lips, seeming to search his mind for a proper answer.
"I loved you, Anastasia," Kyle said, and the woman sighed from the other end. "But now I love Chaska. He means the world to me," Kyle said.
"Are you gay?" the woman asked again, ignoring his words.
"No." Chaska's chest fell at Kyle's response. "I think I'm bisexual." Chaska's dread quickly faded. Thinking about 'gay for you' men and how they had treated him in the past had triggered something, but if Kyle was learning about his sexuality and wasn't rejecting the part of him that loved him—loved a man, that was enough to make Chaska feel secure.
"Is this something you're just figuring out?" Anastasia said.
Kyle nodded as if forgetting at she wasn't there. "Yes," he added quickly, looking out of the window before making a turn. "I just—I fell in love is what I'm saying," he said, sighing. It was hard to put his feelings into words. Chaska had come into his life, and the awe and respect he had felt for the man initially had turned into something more.
"He's a daycare teacher," Kyle added, licking his lips. "Otis likes him a lot," he added, hoping that Anastasia wouldn't mind.
"I'm glad," the woman said from the other end. Her voice shook a bit, and Chaska could sense that she was about to say something emotional.
"Kyle," she called out, making the man hum. "I know I was the one who asked for a divorce. I had thought that some time away would help us and that you would get a wake-up call. I felt that later along the line we would get married again..." she trailed. Kyle's eyes widened a bit. He was shocked by the information, but the expression soon cleared from his face.
"I have woken up," Kyle said. "I want a lot of things I didn't consider before."
Kyle bit down on his lower lip. "I used to tell myself I never wanted to come back to this place," he said, giving the passing farms a glance. "I had tunnel vision. All I wanted was not to be poor—not to live here." Kyle paused, letting out a sigh.
The car was quiet for a while, but Anastasia didn't say anything, she waited for him to put his thoughts together so that he could finish saying what he wanted to.
"When I got back here with Otis, I noticed a lot of things I missed," he started again. Chaska reached out to squeeze the hand Kyle had on his lap. The older man was tearing up. "I didn't know how much I missed my mum, how much I missed the town, and how much I had neglected my son until I got here."
Kyle took a deep breath. "I want things now. I'm happy. I want to take care of Otis. I want to give my mum the time I couldn't give her when I was out of town—" he paused, turning his head to look over at Chaska. "I want to build a life with Chaska. I love him."
Chaska felt like his heart was going to burst. He held back the sob that has made its way to his throat. He didn't want to scare Kyle's ex-wife, so instead, he rubbed furiously at his eyes with his free hand, not wanting the tears whirling up in his eyes to fall.
"One day I'm going to ask him to marry me..." Kyle trailed, and Chaska stiffened in the passenger seat, not able to believe what he had just heard. "I hope he'll have me when I ask in the future," Kyle said, rubbing his thumb over Chaska's knuckles.
He was done talking. Inside the car was silent. Occasionally, a sigh from the other end of the line would fill the car. Anastasia seemed to be looking for what to say.
"I hope you're happy," Anastasia's voice finally said from the other end.
"I am," Kyle muttered, squeezing Chaska's hand. "I really am."
The woman at the other end sighed. "I'll leave you to head home, then," she said, and the sound of things being picked and rearranged came from her side of the speaker.
"Anastasia."
"Yes?"
"Thank you," Kyle said.
"It's alright. I'm happy that things worked out for you," she said, but one could sense the shakiness in her voice.
The call screen vanished, leaving behind the home screen with a picture of Otis and his grandmother as the wallpaper.
"Why did you do that?" Chaska asked, still feeling his heart racing.
"I figured talking to you just wasn't enough," Kyle said as they got into the street that led to his mother's house. "I'm serious, and I wanted you to know it."
Chaska swallowed the spit in his mouth. His face was hot, and it felt like his stomach would sink.
He was so unbelievably happy.
After Kyle parked the car, the two got down and headed to the porch. Chaska watched Kyle's back as the man took out his keys to open the door. He wanted to say something, but words weren't forming at the tip of his tongue. Before he could open his mouth, Kyle had opened the door, and all Chaska could do was walk behind him in the darkness until he flipped a switch that flooded the small living room with orange light.
"It's almost time for them to get up," Kyle said, referring to his mother and Otis. It was five A.M. now, and it didn't matter that it was the weekend. Kyle's mother got up at eight A.M. sharp.
"We should go and get some sleep," Kyle said, turning to face Chaska. The man was still dazed from the call in the car. He looked at Kyle with a blank look and parted lips. He wanted to say something.
"Is something the matter?" The blond man asked, noticing that Chaska was oddly silent.
Chaska looked down at the floor. "I—"
The sound of something falling over, followed by the cries of a child stole the attention of both men.
Kyle ran over when he noticed his son sitting on the floor and holding his foot next to the sofa. He must have bumped into the edge on his way to greet the two men.
"Daddy!" the boy sobbed when Kyle picked him up. Chaska approached them, watching as Kyle swayed from side to side with the little boy in his hands. He kissed the toddler's forehead, repeatedly telling the young boy that he would be fine.
"How did he get out of your mother's room?" Chaska whispered into Kyle's ear when he came up next to the man.
"I don't know," Kyle said under his breath before looking back at his son who had stopped crying.
"You have to go back to granny's room," Kyle said, and the little boy's features wrinkled into a frown. It looked like he was about to cry again.
"No, you'll come sleep with us," Chaska muttered, and the boy's features softened. The younger man took Otis out of Kyle's hand, and the group walked in the direction of Kyle's struck room. Chaska climbed up with Otis first, and Kyle followed behind him.
Snuggling up in bed wasn't a problem. They did it often—though, that was when they slept over at Chaska's house.
The boy, although having slept for hours already, was the first to doze off. Chaska and Kyle remained awake, and they stared at each other in the dimly lit room, welcoming the light of the rising sun that was piercing through the one window in the attic.
"Kyle," Chaska muttered, breaking the silence. The blond man raised a brow at him, silently asking him to continue.
"I would say yes," Chaska said, feeling himself choke up with nerves. "If you asked me, I would say yes."
Kyle stared at him in confusion for a bit before his eyes went wide with realization. What he had said in the car.
If he asked Chaska to marry him...
The younger man, seeming not to be able to handle the seriousness of his own words turned in bed until Otis and Kyle were facing his back. He expected Kyle to probe him—to ask him to say it again, but he didn't. Instead, the man hugged him from behind and breathed down his neck until they both fell asleep.