“Why are you on the floor?” She looked at them, letting her backpack dangle from her arm.
“Oops,” Wyatt whispered.
Del guessed that was as much of an explanation either he or Wyatt was going to be able to give her, so he ran with it. “Yeah, there was an oops, but it’s all better now. Do you guys want a snack?”
“Sure, what do we have?” Harper plopped the backpack by the wall out of the way—there’d been an incident where Del had almost fallen one day, and they’d all learned from that experience—and waited for Del to get off the floor.
“I’m not sure, but we’ll check. Dinner is a bit later than usual, Justin has to stay at work for a bit longer so we’ll wait for him, all right?”
Wyatt went back to his chair and Del went to check the fridge.
“So how was school?” he asked Harper, who had come to lean on the island.
There was something on her mind, but Del knew her well enough by now that asking about it directly wouldn’t work.
“Okay.” Her striped sock moved in his peripheral vision as she scuffed her toes against the tiled floor. “Neve’s moving.”
Del dug his memory. This was something he should know, more important than what feed or seeds Justin was moving around at work.
“Neve with the fun backpack?” At least he hoped it was the same kid.
He exhaled with relief when Harper made an agreeing little sound. Jesus, remembering things once Wyatt went to school too would be fun for sure.
“See, she has two moms.” Well, that was news to Del, but he nodded, glancing at her, then continued making the sandwiches and cutting the fruit for snacks. “Someone at her Mama’s work was mean to her, and now she has to get a new job, so they’re moving. Her Mom is mad, but Neve said it doesn’t help.”
“Yeah, things like that can be really complicated,” Del said just to say something. Besides, it was the truth. In a town like this, most people wouldn’t be openly homophobic, but he could picture gay people getting into trouble at narrow-minded workplaces.
“So they’re moving.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I just…” Harper sighed and looked at Del more pointedly. Then she glanced at Wyatt who was coloring again, and moved closer to Del. “I don’t get it. I know our mom wasn’t nice about Neve’s mommies, but at least she has a mom? Like a real mom?” Harper was whispering now, obviously so she wouldn’t be talking about their mother around Wyatt.
“Do you know what homophobia is?” Del asked quietly. Harper thought for a moment, and then shook her head. “But you know what gay means, right?”
“Yeah, like, you’re gay because you had a husband.” They’d talked about that a couple of times. It had been fascinating for her to learn that not only could there be two mommies, but two daddies were also an option.
“Yeah. So when someone is homophobic, it means that they don’t like gay people.”
“But why?”
“Many reasons, but some of them might think their church doesn’t approve of gay people, or some just think it’s somehow wrong, because two moms or two dads can’t make a baby together,” Del explained quietly.
Harper mulled this over for a bit. “Because there needs to be a boy and a girl to make a baby,” she stated finally. “Neve’s Mama is her real mom and her Mom is her other mom.”
Del smiled a bit. “Yeah, and Neve’s happy, right?”
“Yeah, she has the best moms.”
“It might be that someone at her Mama’s work was homophobic. Now, I don’t know if it was that or something else”—but he could make an educated guess for sure—”but sometimes it’s harder for people at work if they’re gay.”
“Mean people are stupid,” Harper announced, just as Scarlett’s sleepy babble carried from the living room.
“That they are,” Del agreed, hoping he’d said even remotely the right stuff when it came to the conversation, because fuck if he knew.
* * * *
When Justin came from work, he looked exhausted and sore as hell.
“We were waiting for you, but we’ll eat and you’ll go soak in the tub for a bit, okay?” Del suggested after Justin had greeted the kids.
“I…” Justin started, but then the little fight he could muster just left him, and he nodded. “Okay.”
The only bath tub, an old claw-footed one, was in Del’s bathroom, but that wasn’t an issue. Occasionally when the O’Dwyers stayed over, they gave the kids their baths there anyway.
“Come down when you feel a bit better.” A huge part of Del wanted to just hug and kiss Justin. Instead, he went to put food on the table.