Flare (18 page)

As the evening went on, the adults got louder, probably because of the freely flowing wine, but also because of the fun they were having with charades. Again, Hugo impressed the crowd, and when he returned to his seat after a particularly good performance, Kevin kissed him.

The sound died down for half of a beat, and then some of the women were crooning and telling Hugo and Kevin how cute they were together. Kevin moved so he and Hugo weren’t sitting quite so close. All the guys except for Mike looked away as if nothing had happened and then Andrew tried to get the women to put their focus back on the game.

It was late when they got home, and the kids were exhausted after they’d expended so much energy on the Slip ’n Slide and running through the numerous sprinklers, so getting them to bed was a snap. Kevin was happily buzzing, feeling almost giddy with how well the night had gone.

“So?” Kevin asked as he stripped out of his clothes and tossed them into the laundry basket in their closet.

“So what?” Hugo asked around his toothbrush.

“What did you think? Did you have fun?”

Hugo shrugged as he disappeared into the bathroom to spit and rinse his mouth out. “I suppose,” he said as he returned.

“What do you mean?”

“The games were really fun. I haven’t done that in a long time.”

“What did you think of the people?” Kevin asked.

“I don’t know. It’s hard to tell when you’re in the middle of game play. They seemed fun.”

Hugo’s smile was guarded. Kevin didn’t know what to make of that.

“Come on, Kevin, let’s get to bed. We have an early morning.”

“Okay.”

As they curled together under the cool covers, Kevin kissed the top of Hugo’s head and allowed his fingers to drift up and down the curves of Hugo’s back and butt cheeks. It must’ve been relaxing, because Hugo started to snore. Maybe game night had just been extra exhausting for Hugo because of his concussion.

“Night, my tired one,” Kevin said into his hair. “Love you.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Growing Up

H
UGO
SLEPT
in a little later in the mornings, but always made sure he was awake to give Kevin a kiss before he left for work. After the accident, Kevin seemed to need that no matter what. It was something Hugo was more than willing to do. Then he went downstairs and sipped his coffee while Brooke and Finn ate. The kids got up early to eat a healthy breakfast Rowan had made for them, they got on their respective buses, and then Rowan left the house for a run around the neighborhood.

After Hugo’s concussion, they’d decided to keep Rowan on until at least December because she helped the kids so much with her quiet, gentle ways. Hugo still had jobs coming out his ears too. With Kevin’s encouragement, Hugo started negotiating with his agent about doing more of the voice-over work with local sound engineers rather than having him travel. It was more cost-effective to not have producers pay for flights, hotel rooms, and studios that charged much more than they did in Minneapolis, and there were amazing sound engineers just miles from their house, including Russell. Some employers agreed, but others didn’t, so Rowan’s presence ended up being necessary, and Hugo was glad Kevin had taken the initiative and asked her to stay.

Brooke was settling into middle school, which was far different from elementary. Before classes had even started, they visited the new building, where she walked around the halls looking for her classrooms. Hugo remembered how it felt to change from elementary school, where class was basically held in one room, to junior high, where he had to move about between so many different rooms. Hugo saw the look of disbelief that crossed Brooke’s face as they walked around the building.

“You’ll figure it out,” he had promised.

“But, how will I get back to my locker and to my next class in time? There’s only five minutes between bells. That’s not enough time,” she had said, her gray eyes wide with fear.

“Let’s try it. Not timed or anything, but let’s just do a dry run.”

“Yeah,” Kevin had said with a warm smile. “Let’s just try it.”

Hugo was grateful Rowan had stayed home with Finn. His mere presence there would’ve put additional stress on Brooke. She didn’t like feeling unprepared or incompetent in anything she did, especially when she had an audience. Practice would be the only way to ensure she slept the last weekend of summer, and the distraction of Finn wouldn’t have helped.

So, Hugo and Kevin had stood back, trailing behind Brooke as she’d walked back and forth between classrooms and her locker. Hugo looked at his phone and timed her a few times, noticing she was easily able to beat the clock when halls were empty, but he knew how hard a crowded hallway could be to maneuver. Nevertheless, she was making it with at least two minutes to spare on average, and Hugo shared that with her much later while she was eating ice cream mixed with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and feeling more confident.

“So you know you can do it,” Hugo said before he took a bite of his own ice cream, looking over at Kevin, whose face was that of a proud father. “You’ll be fine. And even if you are tardy a time or two, the teachers usually give kids slack those first weeks in middle school. They know this is new to you.”

“Yeah,” Brooke had said confidently. “I’ll be fine. It’s just walking. Besides, I can bring books in a bag for a few classes, if I really want to.”

“And then you’ll have time to stop and drop love notes into a boy’s locker that you like,” Hugo teased, much to Kevin’s dismay.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. She’s not even twelve yet.” Kevin’s voice was deep and powerful.

“Yeah, but I will be soon,” she retorted, her tone a little sassy.

Hugo sat back and watched the two of them debating boys and dating, and he could see Kevin starting to panic.

“Kevin,” Hugo said, “I didn’t say she was going to start going out on actual dates, but think back to when you were her age. I bet you had a girlfriend. Right?”

“Well, if you want to call it that. We basically said we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but that didn’t mean a thing. We passed notes and occasionally gave each other little presents.”

“See? Innocuous. Innocent. Nothing scary.”

Hugo watched as Kevin took a deep breath and slowly released it, calming himself and smiling at Brooke, who was laughing under her breath at her father’s reaction.

“It’s not like I’m going to have sex, Dad. Geez!”

A furious blush spread across Kevin’s cheeks, which signaled anger, but Hugo couldn’t help but laugh at how easily he could be played. Brooke knew which buttons to push, but she so rarely did it that Kevin wasn’t used to it. Brooke was extremely open and honest with Hugo, talking to him about many subjects she’d never broach with Kevin. Boys was one of them. Kevin often overreacted, getting protective and telling Brooke she couldn’t date until she was in college, which was bullshit, obviously.

Rather than dealing with her dad’s flustered utterances, Brooke had just started coming to Hugo whenever she had worries. It had started when Erin was still alive. Some concerns she’d share with Erin, but nothing stressful. The last thing Brooke wanted to do was worry her mom, so she came to Hugo to talk about things that bothered her, or that she didn’t know how to handle.

One of the hardest conversations Brooke had with Hugo was after Erin’s cancer caused a seizure which robbed Erin of her consciousness. Brooke had no one else to go to, and to top it off, she felt foolish for worrying about something so trivial, but she came to Hugo to tell him she was afraid she would never become a woman. Girls in her class were starting to wear bras, or what Brooke perceived as bras but were really just sports bras with no support or cup, aside from a few girls who had full-on breasts. It had been a strange conversation, but had led to Hugo ordering several training bras for Brooke from an online store. When they came, Hugo waited while she tried them on, asking through the closed bedroom door how she was doing.

“I have no clue. This is stupid,” she said. “I think I found one that works, but it seems dumb. It’s like a T-shirt for my barely there boobs.”

Hugo had smiled. That was exactly what the training bra was, even made from the same material. “Is it comfortable? Do you think you’d be okay wearing that to school?” he asked, making sure his smile didn’t shine through his voice.

“Yeah. Thanks, Hugo,” Brooke said, opening the door with her shirt back on over the new bra. “It’s embarrassing. Thanks for not laughing at me.”

Hugo got down on Brooke’s level so he could look right in her eyes, and he got real serious. “I’ll help you with anything you need, and I promise to never laugh. No matter what it is, I want you to know you can come to me. Okay?”

Brooke nodded and smiled, moving in to give him a hug. “Okay.”

“I’ve been helping people dress backstage for years. I’ve worn tights and pantyhose, and even bras, so I know a lot more about this sort of thing than the average guy does. I’ll help. I promise.”

The mere mention of boys freaked Kevin out, so Hugo was glad he was around to deal with things like bras. He’d recently mentioned to Brooke that she could talk to Rowan about any and all girl things too, but Brooke had wrinkled her nose at the idea.

“You might change your mind,” Hugo told her, but Brooke only shrugged him off.

So, Brooke started middle school dressed more like a woman than a little girl, including wearing the bras Hugo bought months ago. She was also spending what seemed like hours on her hair. A few weeks after school started, she’d asked Kevin when she could start wearing makeup, and Kevin made a noise in his throat that told Hugo he had no clue how to answer.

“We’ll talk about it,” Hugo told her with a smile as he reached out to soothe Kevin by placing his palm on the back of his neck.

That night in bed, Kevin asked, “How did this happen? She was the little girl that begged for me to tickle her and wanted me to carry her to bed every night. That wasn’t that long ago, you know?”

“I do know,” Hugo said. “But she’s nearly twelve. She’s been wearing a bra for months.”

“What? A bra? Oh geez. How did I miss that?”

“Because she’s not comfortable talking to you about certain things.”

“What do you mean?” Kevin looked worried.

Hugo tried to be aware of Kevin’s feelings as he spoke. “You love Brooke and want to protect her. I know that. She loves you too, but sometimes you react in ways that shut her down. Like the makeup thing tonight. You didn’t really say anything, but your body language screamed your shock and… disapproval.”

“But it’s
makeup
. She’s beautiful like she is. Why ruin that with blue-painted eyelids? I want her to know she’s more than a fucking product. She’s more than what her…
outside
advertises.”

Hugo threaded his fingers between Kevin’s and kissed across the back of his knuckles, pausing at each one and hoping the extra moments of touch would soothe Kevin. This was coming from a deep place, a
really
deep place that pulled Peder Magnus from his grave. Kevin had been Peder’s product for far too many years, so it was no surprise he’d be so protective of Brooke in this situation.

“It’s not unusual. Even last year a lot of the girls in her class were wearing makeup to school.”

“That’s not a good enough reason.” Kevin wasn’t budging, and Hugo could practically hear him thinking about following friends who jumped off cliffs and other such nonsense.

“It’s not the end of the world. It’s just makeup.” Hugo tried the lighthearted approach.

“But it’s not. It’s Brooke thinking she’s not pretty enough, so she feels like she needs to cover up with color. She’s still my baby girl. I don’t want to see painted red lips or streaks of color on her cheekbones that make her look thirty when she’s not even twelve.”

Hugo had to concede that point to Kevin. The last thing Hugo wanted was for Brooke to feel as if she was only worthy if she had makeup on like so many women did. He thought of Summer and how, even with the minimal amount of makeup she wore, she felt she wasn’t beautiful until her
face was on
, even refusing to go camping without bringing her makeup along. Personally, Hugo felt Summer was the most beautiful when she was freshly scrubbed from a shower and totally free from products, in part because that fit more with her personality than makeup ever did.

“I can teach her how to do it tastefully,” Hugo promised. “Light colors. Nothing drastic. The natural look. But I’m going to warn you, the girl loves sparkle. When we were shopping for school clothes, she was automatically drawn to anything with glitz on it.”

“You did a good job with the school clothes. Thanks for that. I probably didn’t say that enough. There’s nothing I objected to there,” Kevin said. “She doesn’t look like some of these tweens I’ve seen running around. How do they get out of the house looking like that?”

“Who knows? But Brooke isn’t that kid who leaves the house looking one way and totally transforming herself to look like someone else at school. That’s not Brooke. She’s never been one that wants to stand out from the crowd. She wants to blend in, and by being one of the only girls that isn’t wearing makeup, she’s starting to stand out. That’s what I think this is about, more than anything.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to her about it,” Kevin conceded. “She can wear makeup, but you have to help her. That’s part of the deal, if you’ll agree to it.”

“Yeah. I’d love to show her how. I know tricks most grown women would maim to know. She’ll be the makeup guru of her school before long.”

“Geez, Hugo. You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

Hugo chuckled so hard the bed shook. It was funny to see Kevin out of sorts like this because it so rarely happened. Hugo knew Kevin had moments of doubt and worry inside his head, but his feathers were never ruffled. He always had the reserved calm his father had conditioned him to keep unmarred. Since Hugo’s car accident, Kevin had started to show more feeling and less of that mask. For the most part, Hugo knew how to read him, but it was refreshing to not have to try so hard, to just be given these moments of utter, eye-opening surprise.