The Ties That Bind

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

     Kasden's phone rang for the umpteenth time. The number of the caller was 'unknown', he'd been getting a lot of these calls ever since the articles had begun about his mother in a local gossip column. He rejected the call as had become his custom; if he didn't recognize a number, he rejected the call.

     The phone buzzed again from the same unknown number as before; Kasden declined the call for the second time and then blocked the number; he didn't need the frustration that these unwanted calls caused. He wanted to get away from everything and just get his life back to the way it was before. It was hard to do that when others kept making a big deal out of it.

     Things were changing in his life, a lot more, and faster than he would have liked; and for the most part he wasn't thrilled with the changes. Strangers introduced themselves at school, thinking that knowing him would be of some benefit to them; these were easy to spot, and he was polite but noncommittal to their advances.

     Reporters approached him for interviews, which he always declined. Photographers snapped his picture anywhere, anytime; he was starting to get paranoid about being in public.

     Girls would flirt with him incessantly, even though it was now public knowledge that he was gay; some of them even took that as a challenge. After all, he would be a good catch, even though he was gay. Money was an irresistible incentive to a certain type of person. He'd even had a few advances from other men.

     The most uncomfortable change for Kasden, though, was his mother and grandmother; they'd inserted themselves into his life and routine. They showed up at his work, at his school, even at his apartment once - Luke had answered the door and invited them in. They were cordial, if only barely. They had visited with the two boys, largely ignoring Luke's presence; Kasden invited them to leave if they were going to be rude to his boyfriend.

     Kasden's having essentially told them to 'fuck off' about the conversion therapy didn't dissuade them in the least, and they started pushing girls at him every chance they got. He was sure that some of the girls who flirted with him at school had been put up to it by the two women.

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     "Hey Stacey, how's it going today?" Kasden asked as he walked through the doors at the start of his shift.

     "It's been steady, but not too busy; it's slowed down quite a bit from earlier." Stacey told the boy.      

     "Carol has a big order of cupcakes she wanted you to take care of tonight. The customer will be in later to pick them up; she left the information in the back on the prep table. I'll handle the front while you take care of that."

     "Sounds good. How did you do on your American History exam the other day? You said you were worried about it."

     "I did okay, I guess. I passed the test, but I was lucky. I had to guess on a bunch of questions, and I guessed the right answers. I have such a hard time remembering all those dates. It should be enough to know about the event, why do you have to know the date as well? Ugh."

     She went on about how much she hated memorizing dates while Kasden clocked in and donned his apron. She stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the front talking as Kasden collected ingredients for the cupcakes, measured them out and began mixing them in the giant mixer that was essential to the bakery.

     Every once in a while, she had to go take care of a customer, but afterwards, she came back and continued their conversation. She was bored and talking with Kasden gave her something to do.

     Kasden finished baking the cupcakes and put them on a wire rack to cool, placing the rack on the shelf in the walk-in refrigerator so they would cool that much faster. He then made the frosting for their decorations. They were for a little girl's birthday party, so they would be pink, covered with sprinkles, an easy decoration.

     The customer arrived to pick up her cupcakes and Stacey went back out front to start cleaning the front area before closing time and Kasden started cleaning the kitchen area, washing all the pans and bowls he'd used making the treats.

     There were other tasks to occupy the boy as he inventoried the supplies on hand. This didn't take that much time because it was a daily task, and Carol kept everything well organized. He put together a list of items that Carol would need to order for the coming week and left it on her desk where she would see it in the morning.

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     Kasden was still in the Carol's office when Stacey called into the back to tell him that there was someone out front who wanted to talk with him. She said the man insisted he wasn't a reporter and just wanted to talk to the boy, finally convincing the girl to go and get Kasden. He assured his co-worker that it was okay, and said he'd be out in just a minute once he was finished with his last tasks. As he walked through the door into the front of the bakery, he noticed a man sitting at one of the tables.

     The moment he saw the man, he froze, not certain what he should do or say, once more his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. This was someone he'd been thinking about a lot lately; someone he wanted to meet but didn't quite know how to go about it.

     The man stood up as Kasden walked through the door, his expression was as nervous as Kasden was sure his own was. It was only a moment though, and his face broke into a huge smile, lighting up a face that Kasden would recognize anywhere.

     "Dad?"