Make Me (Remdy)

We All Deserve Honesty

Trigger warnings: Mention of death, suicide, depression

"My ex wife?" Andy questions. "You've spoken to my ex wife?" 

"No." 

Andy looks at his questionably. 

"I just happened to...listen."

"You eavesdropped on my ex wife?" 

"Yes." 

"How do you know she was called Juliet, then?"

"The woman she was talking to was like-" He raises the pitch of his voice, "-Juliet! Oh Juliet! It's so good to see you Juliet!" 

Andy saws through the steak with the perforated knife. "I see." 

"Then Juliet was like, Oh Angie! " 

"Oh, Angie's her sister. That makes sense." 

"Yeah." 

"Then what?" The man urges. "Where was this?" 

"The graveyard." 

"They were at the graveyard?" 

"Yes. They were very close to where I was. It was like they wanted me to hear. Anyway. It wasn't just them." 

"No?" Andy asks, watching Remington cut up his steak. 

The younger shakes his head. "No." 

"Do elaborate." 

A long hesitation. "There was a child." 

"A child?" 

"Yes." 

"A child?" Andy asks again. 

Remington nods, looks at him. "He was calling her - Juliet - he was calling Juliet, uh...'mummy'." Immediately after speaking, he drops his eyes to his plate. 

Andy is quiet for long enough that Remington is about to say something, but then he opens his mouth and says uncertainly, "There was a child calling her...calling her 'mummy." He puts the cutlery down and clasps his hands together. "How...how old did he look?" 

"I don't know, maybe four. Three or four. Five at a push." 

"Okay." His voice is calm but Remington knows it's a front. "When was this?" 

To avoid answering, the younger sips his wine. Andy looks at him expectantly. "Please don't be mad at me, I-" 

"When was this, Remington?" There's a sharpness to his voice now. 

"A few weeks ago." 

Andy stares at him. "A few weeks. You've known about this for a few weeks and you didn't mention it?" He closes his eyes. "Bloody hell." 

"I'm sorry, Andy, I wanted to, but-" 

Waving a hand to cut him off, the elder shakes his head. "Did anything else happen?" He asks. "When they were at the graveyard. Did they say anything else?" 

"No, nothing. Look, I'm sorry. I know I should have said something but I didn't know how. And I every time I tried, it wouldn't come out, and then it made it harder. And there was so much going on with the band and we kept arguing and there was never a good time to say it, and then I tried to kill myself and how could I tell you when all that was going on? And the more I kept it a secret the worse I felt, and-" 

"I'm not mad at you, Remington." 

A surprised pause. "You're not?" 

"No." 

"But..." 

"I know you've been dealing with a lot and this wasn't ever something you needed to have on top of that. It's not your fault that you found out."

"Oh," he whispers. "Thanks." 

"Thank you for telling me now." 

"You're, uh, you're welcome." 

"What you said about her wanting you to overhear, you're probably right. She'll recognise you from photos online with the band. This is just her style." Andy shakes his head and picks up the cutlery again. "Do you think it was him?" He asks in an oddly soft tone. "Do you think it was my son?" 

Remington has the urge to get up and hug him. "I'd say the chances are pretty high." 

"This is very strange," Andy says, more to himself than anything. "I don't know how to react to this." He stabs a roasted carrot. 

"Sorry for throwing it at you." 

"No, thank you. I'd rather hear it from you than from someone else. Even if it did take a month for you to say it." 

"I thought you'd be mad." 

A shrug. "You know, so did I. I probably would be, if it wasn't you." He smiles for a moment. "Alright, I'm gonna say this once and once only. Since we're in the spirit of getting things off our chests, I feel you should know that you were right. I did break my own heart when I broke up with you, and I was- I am - awfully jealous of your mean rebound Bob The Builder, and everything in me is screaming to grab you right now and never let go." 

Remington stares at him. "What's stopping you?" He asks. 

"I don't want to be the reason you spiral again." 

"That was the most honest thing you've ever said to me." 

"To anyone," Andy corrects. "This is good, though. We're being calm and honest and I don't think we've spoken like this for a while. It's good." 

"Yes. I agree." 

"And even though I want to kiss you right now, I'm not going to." 

"Okay." 

"And I know you understand." 

"I do." 

"But if you want to help me fuck with Juliet, I won't stop you." 

"Okay." 

"And if that happens to lead us into a dimly lit room very late at night, what happens next would be purely coincidental, and who would I be to stop it." 

"Exactly. Coincidental."