Chapter 42

“My brother is gay,” Rye said after a while.

She’d never met Will, but she’d heard about the youngest Stokes brother. She was familiar with his quiet, introspective nature, so she wasn’t the least bit surprised. Growing up around her boisterous cousins, to Netty, men who didn’t chase girls and preferred books to strip clubs, were either ugly, studying theology, or queerer than her mom’s second cousin Pablo.

But from the look on Rye’s face, this was obviously shattering news for him. His face was paler than the white table cloth.

“How do you know? Has he been hinting around about it? Did he flat out tell you?”

Rye shook his head, turning the plastic pear in his thin fingers.

She raised her brow. “Well?”

“My brother says he’s in love with a boy,” Rye whispered. “A boy Netty, a teenager. And I think they’re living together. Can you believe that? My brother. My own brother sleeping with another male, a kid no less. I can’t understand how he could do a thing like that.”