If You Still Want Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

try
turning the conversation back around on him. Two can play this
game. "I'll come clean to Daddy if you do."
    Joseph winces. It was a low blow, and I know it.
Our secrets are another reason we're so alike; so close.
    "I can't yet," he sighs. "I'm not ready to have
that conversation."
    "What happens this summer after you finish
college and Daddy starts bringing nice church girls around to
introduce to you?"
    His long fingers tighten their grip on the
steering wheel. "I've been trying not to think about it,
thanks."
    "It's family tradition," I smirk, happy to see
him squirming instead of me, but I understand his anxiety. "What
happens when you meet someone? Someone serious. Someone you want to
introduce to the family."
    He closes his eyes for a split second and I know
that look. "Oh my God, you've met someone? When? Who?"
    He side-glances me before pulling into Dairy
Queen. Stopping at this Dairy Queen has become a bit of a tradition
for us when we're both in town. It lets us catch up over
double-dipped soft-serve before we have to face the Harris-family
choir.
    Shifting into park, his knuckles relax against
the steering wheel. "His name's Alex. He's an architecture student
like me, but he's doing more the interior design angle instead of
engineering. He's..." He pauses to sigh with a tiny smile. "He's
great, Tori. Really great."
    Seeing that look on my brother's face fills me
with joy. "Like... picking out curtains together, great?"
    "Like, I'm thinking of moving with him to
Minnesota, great."
    "Minnesota?!" That's too far. My baby-boo is
flying away!
    "Yeah. He's got an uncle up there who says the
economy is good for our industry right now. We figure I could do
the building plans and Alex can do the interior. Plus... We'd be
legal."
    "And cold." I'm pouting like a proper
thirty-year-old. "You've never even seen snow!"
    His eyes roll at me, like I deserve, and I know
I'm being silly. "It's not a sure thing yet. Alex and I are just
discussing it."
    "When were you going to tell me about Alex?"
That's another thing I'm upset about. I thought we shared
everything.
    "I'm telling you right now. He and I have been
friends since second year, but two months ago, he asked me out.
It's kinda snowballed from there. Two months isn't long, I know,
but-"
    "No, I get it. I know how fast love can drop on
your head. So, when are you gonna tell Daddy that you've met
someone and are moving up to the North Pole to design igloos
together?"
    "Tori," he groans at me, then
a flash of worry crosses his expression. "It's going to be a lot
for the old man to take in. What if I give him a heart
attack? Hey Pops, this is Alex. He's white, he's a dude
and I'm in love with him."
    "You know Daddy's never had a
problem with white folk or interracial relationships," I toss that
unfounded worry away first. My real dad hated Saul and Brandon simply based on some fucked-up
misconceptions. Elijah just accepted Saul and the other boys as my
friends because they were good kids.
    "As for gay folk," I shrug lightly, but my
thoughts suddenly turn homeward to Dallas. "Well, it's not
something I've ever heard him discuss one way or the other."
    "Tabitha-"
    "Can kiss your ass," I butt in. "She didn't pick
up none of that 'gays are a sin' shit from any of Daddy's sermons.
Who knows where she got that idea from."
    He thinks on that for a
moment, then laughs. "How did this conversation end up being about
me and Alex? Thought we were discussing you and Saul, and how it's
time Pops knew that boy asked you to marry him but you said no. Then maybe, he'd stop
bringing men around and driving the rest of us nuts with talk about
you still being unwed."
    Something deep in my heart tightens, coiled with
fear, and I know I need to find out if my crazy idea has any chance
of ever being accepted - of my Dallas family ever being part of my
New Orleans family. "What if... What if it were a bit more
complicated than just me and Saul?"
    He shuts off the engine,
sitting there for a moment.