Dinner at the Gates house.

“This is it, this is where I grew up.” August said as he moved his car into park as he pulled up in front of one of the two garage doors that was attached to the stretched out ranch style house. Bailey wasn’t going to be the first girl he brought home for his mother to meet, not that he had a lot of experience dating. He remembered a girl coming home with him to play a video game when he was in middle school and his mother wouldn’t let it go about how cute she was. He wasn’t even dating the girl, not that he didn’t want to, he just didn’t have the courage to ask her out and looking back on it only made him feel stupid for telling his mom she was crazy, that they were just friends. All the clues were there, including the big one, that she kept coming over to spend time with him, but now things were very different. August knew Bailey liked him, he knew he loved her, but wasn’t sure how to tell her after she shot him down about evening bringing up the word love before. He was bringing home a girl he loved to meet his mother and it made him nervous and somehow felt just as strong of an emotional reaction as the dread he felt about having to give up his freedom. Going to prison, even with what he was told was a sweetheart deal, shouldn't fill him with the same amount of trepidation as bringing a girl home and hoping his mother liked her.

“You live here!?” It wasn’t dark out yet, the sun was just starting to hang low in the sky and he could clearly make out what looked like a sprawling home. “This place is like huuuuge!” The home wasn’t some mansion or even close, Aunt Megan’s place wasn’t small with its three bedrooms, but the way this house was laid out just made it feel large and Bailey for some reason had it in his mind that Auggy lived in a two bedroom apartment with his mom like he did.

“Yeah… I mean it isn’t that big, but we make good use of the space. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths and I think it is somewhere just over three thousand square feet. It is a pretty old house, but my Mom did one of those extra mortgage things, so we still have one of those to pay, but it looks great inside, she used the money to renovate. That was around the time April decided to move out and I’m going to tell you. My Mom was not happy to hear she was going to move out before she got married.”

“I live in a shoe box compared to this Auggy.” Bailey said looking between the taller man and the house with what looked like it had a field of clovers instead of grass for its lawn. “Wait… do you have like, four leaf clovers for a yard?”

“Umm” August rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that was April’s idea. We had a yard that was honestly more weeds than grass and then I thought I would be clever and when I mowed the lawn I lowered the blade so I wouldn’t have to cut it as often. Turns out… that kills things and you get a lot of dead spots. My Mom was a little miffed at me.” August said remembering the verbal beat down she had given him. “Well, April did some research and said something about using clovers for a lawn, how it drought resistant and…” He trailed off briefly, seeing he was losing his girlfriend. “They are easier to maintain and need less water.”

“Oh, yeah, that totally makes sense.” He could remember his own father riding on a mower, with a beer in hand, but mowing a yard or field or whatever had never been a chore he had to do. He did do some weeding, but he hated that. “But why did your sister move out if it was her idea? And it seems a bit silly to move out because you killed some gross.” Bailey said, showing the man he sat next to just how little he had grasped the conversation with his mind drifting.

Bailey getting confused, getting facts wrong about something that was just said wasn’t something new to August. “She didn’t.” He said, holding up a palm to stall the girl when she opened her mouth to retort, him anticipating her saying how he had just said it. “My sister moved out because she wanted to be on her own and… well… I love my Mom. I”m a bit of a mama’s boy in truth, but she likes to be involved in her children’s lives. April and I are actually first generation Americans, she came here from Italy in her teens and then had my sister when she was pretty young. From what she says, it is common for daughters to stay at home till they get married and…” He was about to say how April didn’t so much as have a boyfriend right now, but he realized she recently had a date and who knows what had happened from there. She could have found a real connection like he had, or she could have chased the man away.

Tilting his head to the side Bailey felt his ponytail shift and his earrings sway as he gave the dark haired man next to him a sideways glance. “I can totally see you being a mama’s boy.”

“Hey!” August made a face at his girlfriend, pretending like what she said hurt. “I don’t call her Mommy at least.” He teased her, having no clue of the conditioning that gripped the blonde green eyed person’s mind. “Though, if I’m honest when I hear you say that I think it is adorable, but I think that about most of the things you do, because you are adorable.”

A light blush came to Bailey’s cheeks at the complement as he scrunched up his nose. He wanted to protest, but he had thought similar thoughts. Like back when he went to the mall last in that yellow dress he really did feel adorable and he had put in a lot of effort tonight and it felt good to be appreciated. He was just glad Auggy hadn’t been around any of the times Candi had made him call her father Daddy, or when he had done it without thinking. “Are you like trying to stall so I don’t get to meet your Mommy?” Bailey said, adding emphasis to his last word. “You are like talking up your sister and telling me about a mortgage or whatever, but I don’t see you opening my car door so we can go inside.”

Opening his mouth to argue the point, to say how she was the one asking questions, but stopped himself, knowing she was teasing him. “Okay, well you stay right there, can’t have you using your delicate hands to open the door yourself.” August liked playing the role of a gentleman, holding doors open, for women, it felt like the polite thing to do, it was how he was raised. He had read articles about how some men have been berated for doing such things, but he hadn’t experienced it.

Having a bit of fun messing with Auggy, when Bailey got out of the car he pretended to collapse in his direction so that he would catch him. “Oh! My Hero! What would I ever do without you.” Bailey held the back of his hand up to his forehead to play up the dramatic act, something Candi did from time to time. “I surely could never have gotten out of this prison without your aid!” Bailey continued on before sticking his tongue out to give him a raspberry. Causing both of them to laugh and release some of the tension both had inside that they were trying to cover up.

“Well not that you are rescued, I think it is time for you to meet the matriarch of the Gates family. Are you ready?”

“I was born ready!” Bailey exclaimed, very much not feeling ready.

“Oh yeah? How long did it take you to get ready tonight?” August asked as the two made their way up the cobbled path from the driveway to the front door. “Not that I’m complaining, however long you spent, every second was worth it.” He knew the beautiful girl on his arm wasn’t shy, but the fact she averted her gaze and he could see that little blush come to her cheeks at his words made his heart sing. ‘Another moment in time that I will miss.’ He thought.

Unlocking the front door August led his date inside the entrance way to his home, an area with large tiles that seemed like a swirl of light and dark tan. He was about to call out in the house to his mother to say he was home, but soon as the heavy wooden front door to the house he heard his mother coming, the click clack of her heels on the tiled house floor. “Mom, I would like you to meet my girlfriend Bailey Ann Best.” he said as soon as he saw her round the corner. He loved Bailey, and had been one hundred percent shocked that his older sister was her god mother. That was something he thought would come up, and yet she seemed to have a problem with the girl. He really hoped his mother saw what he saw in Bailey. “Bailey, this is my Mom.”

The normal smile on Bailey’s face grew in volumes as he saw the gorgeous woman come into view. Instantly seeing both Miss and and Auggy in her. She had their same dark brown hair, hers long enough to come down to her upper back and styled in a way where she kept it down, but pulled back behind her ears, but still let it flow down the front of her shoulder instead of letting it all hang back. While bailey was wearing the tall heeled boots, the woman was wearing a pair of simple magenta pointed toe three inch heels and ended up being a bit shorter than him. Making Bailey believe they were close to the same height. She wore a long dark purplish red satin skirt and a sleeveless black blouse that had a neckline the stoped just short of showing off what he imagined would be impressive cleavage. She accessorized the outfit with a thick gold bangle that was designed to look like it was hammer forged and a thick emblemed gold ring on her right middle finger and a pair of pendant earrings with a multicolored stone in them that reminded Bailey of a mood ring. ‘Wow! Auggy like, said she had Miss April when she was young but she looks great!’

“Auggy, I thought you were going to introduce me to your Mom and you didn’t tell me you had another sister.” Bailey said, using a piece of old flattery he had used on more than one of his date’s mothers in the past.

Bailey let the woman take his hand in her own, and felt her put her other hand on his shoulder as she smiled while giving him an appraising look, a happy smile on her face that showed the wrinkles on her face, smile lines. “That is too sweet of you, it is a pleasure to meet you Bailey. August here has kept you hidden for too long I think. Honestly I’m surprised I hadn’t met you sooner considering who your mother is. Feel free to call me Laura, no need to call me Mrs. Gates.”

“Auggy has not told me enough about you.” Bailey, still having his hand held by the woman, reached over to his date and gave his forearm a light squeeze. “If you are really are, like my Auggy’s Mom, I have just so many questions. Like, what skin care routine do you use, because Laura you are positively glowing!” Bailey had read so many different articles about skin care and if Auggy was telling the truth about her she would be a little older that Aunt Megan, but could pass for late thirties instead of mid forties.

Turning her attention to her son the elder Gates spoke. “She’s such a sweet girl August, you found a real nice one this time. Take care of her and remember to use adequate protections, we cannot have you messing things up because you didn’t think them through.” She said in English before speaking in her native Italian, more to herself than her child. “Signore ti ringrazio per aver portato questa bella ragazza a quel disgraziato di mio figlio! Speriamo che sia quella buona stavolta che voglio tanti bei nipotini!” (Lord I thank you for bringing this beautiful girl to my wretched son! Let's hope it's the good one this time that I want many beautiful grandchildren!)

Hearing the gorgeous woman speak fluent Italian, Bailey turned his head, mouth open in a wide smile. He didn’t think of Auggy as being from another country, he wasn’t of course, but his mother wasn’t from the United States and seeing the look at his date’s face made him think that Auggy had been hiding the fact that he spoke another language. “Oh my god! What did she say? Auggy you speak another language!?” He asked, seeing a bright blush on the man’s face as he once more rubbed the back of his neck and tried to avoid eye contact.

“What is going on over here?” April said coming around the corner as she finished taking off a borrowed apron she had been wearing to help her mother in the kitchen.

Giving her son a wink Laura turned to look at her daughter who had come over for the family dinner. “We were just introducing ourselves and I have to say, Bailey seems to be a delight.”

Hearing her mother call the little shit a delight made April give a sneering glare in the skirt wearing man’s direction, one that Bailey didn’t just see, but felt. He had once thought her dark eyes were alluring, but when she glared on him it felt like a physical weight was on him. Knowing what his role was here he acted, rather than have that glare on him all night. Turning to Auggy, Bailey moved up to his tiptoes on one foot, while kicking back the other in order to give the man a kiss on the cheek that lingered for a full second. In the heeled boots Bailey didn’t need to get on his tiptoes, but it felt flirtier to do that while kicking back one leg. “Auggy, thank you for letting me meet your family. It means like, sooo much!” Out of the corner of his eye, Bailey could see the slight nod from his tormentor, very much missing the days when he could look at her as a sexy woman and ignore any of her venom filled words.

It didn’t take long for the group of four to sit around the dinner table and a large dish of something called Coniglio all’Ischitana and when Bailey had just smiled and blinked, fluttering his lashes Miss April was quick to explain that it was a type of rabbit stew. One bite into it and Bailey felt like his mouth had gone to heaven. “OMG, this is like the best thing ever!” Bailey proclaimed before putting one hand on his date’s thigh and turned to look at him. “Auggy, please tell me you know how to make this because it is delish!” He said, making a point touch the younger man as much as he could in front of his mother.

“I am pleased you are enjoying it. It is a dish that has been passed down for generations, from mother to daughter. April hasn’t perfected it yet, but my girl knows enough to keep a man happy, at least if she can ever find one to stick around long enough to taste her cooking.” Laura said, with a little barb in her daughter’s direction while she complimented her. “How about you Bailey, do you have any signature dishes? The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and my boy is no exception.”

“Mom…” August said in an exasperated tone as he topped his empty fork to his plate once.

“Okay… okay…” Laura threw one of her hands up. “Forgive me for wanting you to be happy.”

Ignoring the family drama, Bailey pushed forward, knowing his job was to get the woman to dislike him or at least make the pretty woman not think he was good enough for Auggy, something that he knew was true. “Umm, well I like cooked a little with Mommy the other week, we made something, but there was like a lot of steps. My Aunt signed me up with her for a baking class, she is like a suuuper good baker, she makes the best pie and she showed me how to make one, but oof I don’t think I could do it again. There are like so many steps and you have to get them all right. Peaches… the class sounds super fun though so maybe after that I could cook for Auggy!” He said adding some extra cheer at the end, instinctually wanting more of her approval when she obviously was hard to please with how she spoke to her children. It was at a cross purpose with his goal, but Bailey couldn’t help himself and he really was looking forward to the class with Aunt Megan and Candi.

Tilting her head slightly forward, April had a light mocking tone to her voice as she commented on what Bailey said, wanting to drive it home that Bailey was a bad fit. “It is okay to admit you are a bad cook Bailey, we all have our limitations and cooking does have a lot of steps.”

Holding up one finger Laura her daughter out, disliking how she was speaking to their guest. Her little boy was obviously smitten with the sweet girl and her with him. She didn’t seem very bright, but she was more than aware that many men weren’t looking for someone to be their intellectual equal, not that her son was a genius. Her August was clever, but tended to not think things through before acting. “April Alessia Gates, that is no way to talk to our guest.”

“It’s okay, Miss April isn’t being mean.” Bailey said, trying to cover for the woman that had been tormenting him. She was both his adversary and an ally and wasn’t sure how much she did in the background to help get rid of Brannon, a thought that still made him feel a bit giddy about. “I used to feel bad because of things I couldn’t do, but Miss April told me it is ok that I can’t do everything and that it was okay. That I had a lot to offer the world if I focused on things I like can do.”

Laura looked at the girl, an internal ‘Awww’ Going through her mind. “Questa ragazza e preziosa.” (This girl is precious) “Well, still. If you have the desire to learn, I bet I could teach you how to make this you wish. A few pounds of rabbit, fresh tomatoes that we crush, a little white wine, garlic…” Laura gave a small shrug as if saying this wasn’t too much, or too difficult. “Thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes and a bit of salt and all cooked over some olive oil. Would you like to learn how to make this?”

Looking down at his plate, Bailey skewered another piece of meat, he had never had rabbit before. Someone had said it tasted gamey, but he wasn’t even sure what that actually meant. This meal was incredible and if he could make it on his own he would jump at the chance. “I would love to learn how to cook this!” Bailey said, missing the knowing look the woman he was talking to gave her son. After taking another bite, savoring the taste a thought occurred to Bailey. If she was from Italy, the names of her kids didn’t feel very italian. “I was like wondering, Auggy said your are from Italy, but August doesn’t sound very Italian.”

“Well.” Laura glance between her children, knowing very much how the subject could embarrass them both and continued despite the fact. “It is simple, both their names do come from back home, my April here is a goddess and my August is a king. My late husband Matteo loved his history and mythology stories. The name April has changed over the years, I couldn’t tell you how, but I do remember him telling me how it comes from or is equivalent to Aphrodite. So my beautiful little girl was named after the goddess of love.”

“Mom… I’m not little any longer.” April said, disliking how she always treated them like they were children.

“To me, you always will be, but you still are truly beautiful.” She said with a contented smile before looking to her other child. “August, comes from Augustus, meaning great and the name of a Roman emperor, or king. So my little boy is a king. Or so Matteo and I named him.”

“Awww!” Bailey said, leaning over to Auggy to give him a quick peck of a kiss on his lips. “I didn’t know my boyfriend was royalty!”

The kiss wasn’t anything special, or at least it wouldn’t except for who it came from and how August felt about her. An innocent conversation at the dinner table where his mother offered to teach his girlfriend how to cook one of his favorite meals that had been passed down through the family and then feeling his girlfriend give him a tender kiss, the smell of her perfume filling his nose, all of that was so simple, so pure and it broke him. Closing his eyes tightly he flexed the muscles in his hands as he opened and closed them.”I’m sorry…” He said with his eyes still closed, before opening them and not daring to look anyone in the eye. “I have something I have to tell you all, something that isn’t easy for me to say.”

Leaning back in her chair Laura crossed her arms and pressed her lips together in a line. She did want grandchildren, but she had only been teasing her boy when she met the girl. April didn’t seem to be able to hold a relationship and her son hadn’t been the best with girls and now that she finally got him to bring a sweet and pretty girl home he started in with that… making her believe she knew the new direction of the conversation. “Go on son, you can tell me anything, I will love you no matter what.”

“Mom…” August continued, his eyes shifting from her to his sister, giving her a small nod of his head. Wishing she hadn’t pulled him out from his normal job to help with her project, he didn’t blame her, him losing the files was on him. Without looking at her, August reached over and put his hand on top of Bailey’s. “At work the project I am working on, some of the documents have to be checked out and then back in after they get scanned to be on the computer. They have to keep them for compliance and some of them apparently need to be presented for a court case, a big one… Something I checked out didn’t get scanned and…” He took a deep breath. “They documents got shredded.” Forcing himself to look up to his mother he looked at her with pleading eyes. He felt like a kid again admitting to her that it was him that eat almost all the cookies she had baked for a dinner party. He wanted her to tell him things were going to be okay, even though he knew they wouldn’t.

“I’m sorry I don’t understand.” Laura said, grasping that it was a problem and it sounded like a big one. Her conclusion of the direction of the conversation wasn’t apparently going to be about her getting a grandchild, but August losing his job.

“August…” April said, drawing out her brother's name. “Are you sure you didn’t just put it back on a shelf instead of checking it back in? This is a big deal.” She said gently, even though she saw he felt the gravity of the situation. “Mom, losing these files means the company will be fined and they will need someone to pin all this on.”

Grimacing, August gave his girlfriend’s hand a squeeze. He very much knew how bad this was. “They are pinning it on me because it was me who checked out the files, it was me who organized the stacks of boxes. I can’t put any of this on Candace… the girl I was working on this project with. The company has assigned one of their lawyers to me, this isn’t just a matter of losing something. Destroying those documents is a crime, one I’m going to have to go to prison for. We are working on a deal so that if I plead guilty I wont have to do as much time and because I’m not making a fuss Mega Corp has agreed to hire me back when this is all over. They said they would take care of me…”

“That is a load of bullshit!” April said loudly as she got to her feet, throwing her cloth napkin on the table. “If you just roll over and don’t fight them they make vague promises about the future. They don’t control what a judge will do and did they even say what kind of job they would hire you back as? HMMM!? I”m bettering not, because once you serve your time, washing their hands clean they can just offer you a job as a janitor, filling their legal obligation. I have been telling them… many people have been telling them that keeping only paper files would cause problems. One box, two boxes or even three going missing is perfectly reasonable with how much they are trying to get done all at once. Are you even sure you actually checked out those boxes and they aren’t just saying you are because they can’t find them? Or worse, they don’t want to provide them for whatever court is demanding them?!”

“Hey… it is okay. I mean, not really, but it is what it is. I did… check them out and I couldn’t find them to check them back in. That means they had to have been mixed up with the boxes we shredded. If I checked my logs to see if the box was on the to shred list before I put them in, then this wouldn’t have happened. I messed up.” He said feeling like he was on the edge of crying. ‘I always mess up in the end.’

Finishing a bit of food Bailey cocked his head to the side, what Auggy was saying sounded terrible, but it brought to mind that day that he was helping bring those heavy boxes over to be shredded. They hadn’t actually made it to their destination, they were too heavy and Bailey had felt super annoyed that a few stupid boxes of paper were too much for him to carry anymore. He had never been all muscly, but paper bening too heavy wasn’t a happy thought. “That is silly, people don’t go to jail because they lost a few pieces of paper.” The thought of the boxes he had stashed away tickled something in his mind. It still sounded stupid for them to make a big deal out of this and thought Auggy should get his own lawyer. “Umm…do you know what boxes?”

August didn’t think anything of the question as Bailey pulled his hand away, it felt like the right thing that she was pulling away from him, he was going to be an inmate soon. Normally he would never remember a pair of seven digit numbers, but he had looked at the forms his lawyer had given him for hours. “Yeah, I don’t think I could forget them.”August said before reciting the numbers from heart.

What he wasn’t paying attention to was that Bailey pulled his phone from his purse, he had gone back to the boxes of files after he had left them to take a photo in order to remember where he had hidden them. Bailey had planned to wait a week so that people, namely Candi would forget the should have already been shredded and then go back and ask her to help him move some files that needed to be shredded. “Ohhh….” Bailey said, looking at a photo on his phone. “Umm Auggy, are these them?”

All the dread in August’s body spilled out of him as his floodgates opened. There in a photo on his girlfriend’s phone were two boxes among others that didn’t belong. Sitting on a shelf he had walked by a hundred times without noticing the missing objects that he was going to prison for were right there, unnoticed. “Bailey… How? Why?”

“Umm…” Bailey felt the eyes of everyone at the table on him. A sudden thought popped in his head about Miss April trying to put whatever blame was on her brother on to him. “You ahh, you asked me to help move things to be shredded, but like the numbers were different and I wasn’t sure if we should and… and…” He was not willing to admit why he really put them on the shelf he didn’t even know if the numbers really were different, one file box looked like another. “I was going to ask about them, but then we went to lunch and well… I took a photo. So they aren’t gone, that's like, good right?”

“Bailey!” August said, jumping to his feet and pulling the blonde girl up with him. Without a thought for where he was and who he was with he put one hand on her chin and kissed the woman he loved deeply. “God I love you, I love the way your mind works, those files could have easily still be shredded if I wasn't paying attention if you had asked me that day.” August said remembering one of the activities the two had been up to down in that file room. “God I love you!”

“I love you too, I mean I didn’t really…” Bailey’s words were cut off as he was pulled into an embrace and kissed once more. Grasping the taller man’s blazer, Bailey pressed into him. Knowing that he had to kiss him back, he wasn’t allowed to say no to Auggy. It wasn’t till the kiss ended that Bailey’s mind caught up to how he had replied to what Auggy had said. When someone said they love you, you say it back, that is what he had always done, or at least with anyone he wanted them to believe he loved them. “I ahhh…” A crimson blush came to Bailey’s face as he looked at the two Gate’s women. Miss April was no longer standing, leaving just him and Auggy standing next to the table, holding one another and the man had confessed his love and he had said it back.

Sitting there, watching things play out, watching her brother kiss a man who was pretending to be a girl, a man who was four years older than him, but pretending to be a girl three years younger than him… she was flabbergasted. Bailey had seen a problem and had made a decision that ultimately was going to save her brother… her family from going through a tremendous ordeal and then had confessed his love. August had told Bailey that he was in love and Bailey had said it back. Her mind ran back through the conversation she had with Amanda, how she had said this was who Bailey was, how Bailey was transgendered. How Bailey wanted this life. Then she remembered seeing Bailey in just a bra and panties, how back then she had seen Bailey with real breasts. ‘Bailey isn’t pretending… he…” She had seen Bailey, she saw Bailey when he came in the house tonight. April had even had conversations about clothing with Bailey, made judgments about what Bailey was wearing and yet it wasn’t till this second that she felt like she was really seeing this person for who they were. The person standing next to her brother was not Bailey Andrew Smith portraying some caricature of a girl, this was Bailey Ann Best being who she really wanted to be. ‘Bailey was afraid of me, she was too afraid of what I would say or do and did just what I told her even though she loves my brother.’ Clearing her through she met Bailey’s gaze, seeing that this person, this girl looked ready to break, or bolt. April knew that was her fault. “Bailey…” April said gently. “Thank you, and I’m honestly happy that the two of you have found love.”

Hearing that Bailey’s legs felt shaky, he felt like he would topple over, unbalanced in his heeled boots and without thinking about it leaned into Auggy. ‘Love!? She thinks I love him!? Peaches nooooo!’