Mulligans

31. Pie

Chase took another step away from Nathan. "Tyler, this isn't what it looks like."

"Then what is it?" Tyler yelled and turned abruptly out of the garage.

Chase ran after him and onto the driveway, grabbing his shoulder. "Tyler, I can explain!"

"Don't touch me!" Tyler roared, shaking the hand from his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to...," Chase pleaded as Nathan arrived behind him.

"It's not Chase's fault, Tyler."

Tyler turned with rage on his father. "You stay out of this! I don't even know who you are!"

Chase tried to grab Tyler's shoulder again, determined to have his friend hear him out. "Tyler, please...."

"I said don't you fucking touch me!" Tyler turned and punched Chase, giving him a bloody nose. Chase recoiled momentarily and then tackled Tyler, pinning him to the ground.

Nathan jumped in and tried to pull them off each other. "Stop it!"

Stacey came running out of the house. "What's happening?"

Tyler pushed his father away from him and struggled to get back to his feet. "Get away from me!"

"Tyler, I didn't mean for—" Chase begged again.

"Shut up!" he spat. "You can leave, right now."

Chase was too ashamed to look at any of the Davidson family, and so he walked away, empty-handed and without a plan. He could still hear them behind him, though.

"Tyler...," Nathan tried his son one more time, but Tyler didn't respond.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Chase saw Birdy run up the driveway from the neighbor's. "Why is everyone yelling?"

Without a word of explanation, Stacey took Birdy by the hand and quickly led her into the house.

The lights in the Davidson family lake house stayed on late into the night while Nathan, Stacey, and Tyler stood in the living room circling around arguments, excuses, and resentful words in a symphony complete with crescendos, staccato accusations, and brief but welcome interludes of silence. Finally, it was Tyler, standing with his arms folded firmly across his chest, who broke the latest stillness that had descended. "But why did you stay, Dad?"

His father looked up at Tyler from where he had resigned himself to sitting in an easy chair, an easy and fixed target for their relentless questions and arraignment. "Because your mother was pregnant... with you."

"So, it's my fault?" Tyler asked, bewildered.

His mother lifted her head from where it rested on her fist and assured him, "Tyler, nothing is your fault. We stayed together because we thought it was best for both of us, and you."

"So, this... all of this... my parents, the family... it's all a lie?" Tyler asked, wiping away the tears forming at the edges of his eyes, too proud to let his parents see him cry.

"It's not a lie, Tyler. I love you, I love your mother," his dad reassured him. "I just had other feelings I'd never explored."

Tyler shot him a look laced with daggers. "So, my best friend is a fag and now my dad is a fag too."

His mother interrupted. "I know this is difficult, Tyler, but imagine what life would have been like without both of us...."

"Are you sticking up for him? Mom, you need to kick him out!"

She turned abruptly. Birdy was standing shyly against the doorframe. "Birdy! How long have you been standing there?"

"I'm hungry..." was all she responded, looking around at her family.

"All right, sweetheart. How about some pie? We should all have a piece of pie," his mom suggested and ducked into the kitchen.

Tyler watched in disbelief as his mother poured tea and dished out four slices of apple pie. The elephant seemed to be sucking all the oxygen from the room as she politely handed out the china cups and plates. Birdy cuddled up on their father's lap and stabbed a cinnamon-sprinkled apple slice with her fork contentedly. Tyler shook his head and unsuccessfully tried to hide his scorn from his younger sister. "Dad... this is bullshit." He pushed his plate away.

Birdy glanced at her father and then at Tyler's abandoned pie. "I like it. I'll have Tyler's piece."

Tyler stormed out before his tears could betray him again. If his sister's innocence could be protected, even for only a little while longer, he couldn't bear the thought of crushing it.