Home of His Own by T. Chase (classic fiction .TXT) 📗

house. The houses on the street were older, but it didn’t look like anything else had changed since the last time he was there. He looked away as they drove past his parents’ house. He wasn’t going to stop by and visit them. Didn’t need to have the door slammed in his face. He stepped out of the car.

He stood on the sidewalk, trying to gather his courage. Tony never thought he’d be afraid to see his sister. He was older and had learned how to survive without approval from his family. Taking a deep breath, he made his way up the walk to the front porch.

He knocked on the door and waited.

“Antonio,” his sister greeted him coolly.

“Maria. It’s nice to see you.” He didn’t try to enter the house.

“I can see your family means so much to you that it’s taken you a week to come.”

She crossed her arms and glared at him.

“No one is dying and I wished to spend Thanksgiving with family.” There wasn’t any way he would apologize.

“Ah yes. Luis told me about those two gringos you live with. Are they your boyfriends, Antonio?” Her disgust and scorn dripped like venom in her words.

“Stop right there, Maria Mendoza. I haven’t come here to let you pass judgment on my friends or me. I didn’t come for you. I’d be more than happy to go back to Wyoming and forget I ever had family in Texas.”

No guilt. It had taken three years after he ran away before he stopped feeling guilty because he was gay. He wouldn’t allow his sister to take him back into his old ways.

“Mama, who’s this?”

Tony turned to see a tall good-looking teenager standing at the bottom of the porch steps. His heart skipped a beat. If this was Juan and he was gay, the boy would have to beat the men off with a stick when he was older.

“You must be Juan. I’m your Tio Antonio.” Tony held out his hand. He wasn’t sure what Maria might have told his nephew about him, so he didn’t expect Juan to actually shake his hand.

“Tio Tony?” A bright smile broke over the young man’s face. Juan bounded up the step, ignored Tony’s hand and hugged him. “Tia Elena said you were coming for a visit.

Are you staying at her place?”

“Yes. At least for a little while.” Tony hugged his nephew.

“Juan, go inside and do your homework.” Maria’s voice was frigid now.

“But I want to talk to Tio Tony,” Juan protested.

“Maybe later. I’ll be here for a week or so.” Tony clapped the boy’s shoulder.

“Great.” Juan smiled. The teenager kissed his mother’s cheek as he went by her.

Tony waited until his nephew was out of hearing range. “Do you want me to talk to him or not?”

“I’m not sure it’d be a good idea to let you into his life. Juan’s a good boy, Antonio.

I don’t want you influencing him.”

“You mean seducing him to the dark side. Don’t worry about that, sis. I wouldn’t dream of corrupting him.” Tony turned to leave, but something made him stop and look back at Maria. “Please, promise me, you’ll love him no matter what. Don’t make him have to choose between you and his happiness.”

Maria shut the door in his face. Tony sighed and headed towards the rental car. Why had he come home? He’d known it was a stupid thing to do, yet deep inside, he’d hoped things had changed. Judging by his sister’s attitude, they hadn’t changed at all.

“Tio Tony.”

Looking up, he saw Juan standing beside his car. He glance back to see if Maria could see them.

“Don’t worry. She’s on the phone, arguing with Tia Angelina.” Juan shifted nervously.

“Won’t she be angry with you for talking to me?” Tony didn’t want to get Juan in trouble with his mom.

“I’ll be back inside before they’re done. Can we talk?”

“That’s what I’m here for. Come see me at Tia Elena’s.” Tony rummaged around his rental car, finding a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled down his cell number. “Call me before you come over.”

“Muchas gracias, Tio Tony.” Juan tucked the paper in his pocket. “Tia Elena said I should talk to you.”

“Yea, well, I’ll be glad to help, but I don’t want to cause problems for you. As you can see, I’m not very popular around here,” Tony gestured at the houses surrounding them.

His nephew shrugged. “There were problems before you came. I should go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

He watched Juan jog back to the house. His nephew’s tone told him everything wasn’t perfect in paradise. He’d have to wait until tomorrow to find out why.

Later that night, Tony settled on his aunt’s couch with a beer and the remote. He’d flipped on a basketball game when his cell phone rang. Toby Keith’s ‘ Should Have Been a Cowboy’ blared out.

“Hey there, Les.” He grinned as he leaned back against the cushions.

“Tony. How’s old home week going?” Les’ drawl held laughter.

“Why didn’t you tie me up and refuse to let me come down here?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know why I thought this would be a good idea.”

“Because if what your ass of a brother-in-law says is right, you don’t want your nephew going through the same crap you did.”

Les was right. Tony didn’t want to risk Juan feeling like the entire world hated him, which was the reason why Tony took off all those years ago.

“You’re right as usual. Doesn’t Randy ever get tired of your perfection,” he teased.

Les chuckled. “Randy loves me, so he’s blind to my faults. You better not try to open his eyes to them either.”

“I wouldn’t want to disillusion the kid. Couldn’t stand to see him disappointed.”

“We agree on that.” Les’ words held a fond tone to them.

A voice spoke in the background.

Les’ voice was muffled and then he came back on to tell Tony, “Peter needs me to sign some checks. I’ll have Randy call you tomorrow evening.”

“Great.