Finally some peace and quiet.

The chaos of the funeral, the move, and all the paperwork had done a real number on me.

My new project didn't start until Wednesday and I definitely deserved some R&R.

Olivia didn't know that I was gay and for the time being, I wasn't going to tell her. I was definitely not ready for a relationship but that didn't mean that I was going to starve my libido.

Surely, my hookup app would give me some results. This place was small but it couldn't be completely devoid of queer people, could it?

Holy shit! Only three hits?!

The first two were burly Daddies, who were probably a couple. The background of their profile pic was exactly the same. 

The third one was... exactly what I needed. 

***

"Hey, sweetheart. How was your first day?" I asked as Olivia walked through the front door.

"Fine," she mumbled, dumping her bag onto a kitchen chair.

"Well, that sounds somber. Did you not make any new friends?"

Olivia looked at a spot to my left seemingly thinking about her answer.

"I did actually," she said with a smile.

***

What the hell? I checked my watch and again it read three o' three AM.

It wasn't a banging sound this time but it sounded like voices. I got super creeped out but when I approached the living room, I could have sworn that I recognized one of them.

Tricia?

The room was completely dark except for the TV. A DVD of her birthday party was playing, my sister was singing next to a cake with six candles.

How did this happen? Was the disc already in the player? How did it start playing in the middle of the night?

The remote was lying on the armrest of the sofa. I reached for it but... a hand grabbed me!

I screamed so loud that I probably woke Kathy.

"Uncle Darren?" Olivia said quietly. "I'm sorry I scared you. I couldn't sleep and I wanted to see mom and show..."

"C'mon, it's three AM, Liv! You can watch your mom for as long as you like tomorrow, but now it's time to sleep."

***

Damn! I forgot to get milk. Did I have time to make eggs? Two nights of broken sleep and I felt heavy.

Olivia sat at the kitchen table and looked at me intensely. "What is a sodomite?" she asked out of nowhere.

What the hell!?

I took a deep breath and tried to play it cool. "Where did you learn this word, Olivia?"

She shrugged in answer.

Shit! This was one of those parenting moments that I wasn't quite ready for. I figured the best approach was the truth.

"It's an old word for someone who is..." Was this going to end up in a long conversation? We had seven minutes till the bus came.

Screw it!

"It refers to someone who is gay. And it's not a particularly nice word."

"Oh, well that makes sense then," she said mysteriously.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, confused.

"Don't worry, mom told me a long time ago," she said, taking a bite of her toast.

I no longer knew what was going on.

"I know that you are gay, Uncle Darren."

I almost spat out my coffee.