You Belong to Me - 5

 

 

A week after Christmas, Corey was back home, his visit with his family now only a happy memory. Despite the fact he'd grumbled to himself about it, he had enjoyed the time spent with his parents and brothers. Still, if asked, he’d have to admit he was glad it was just once a year. One-on-one is fine. The whole lot together can be too overpowering. Yeah, I’ll stick to it’s being just at Christmas.

 

Then he realized they’d all be together again in a month when he had to attend Phil’s wedding. “God help me,” he muttered as he unpacked from his trip. “I’m happy for him, but…damn.”

 

Now he was back to his real life, or would be in the morning. At the moment he had nothing more exciting planned than getting into comfortable clothes and going out to find something to eat.

 

As he put on a pair of old jeans and a fisherman’s sweater, he grinned. If Phil could see me now. I’m sure he thinks I’m always dressed in slacks and good shirts… and ties.

 

The only reason Corey had worn the tie on Christmas Eve was because the family was going to midnight Mass and he didn’t feel like returning to the motel to change clothes for that. Christmas Day he’d foregone the tie, but had to admit that otherwise he had still been overdressed compared to the rest of them. But that’s just me when I’m around them. It’s my defense so that they can’t see the real me.

 

“Not that there’s anything wrong with the real me, but somehow I don’t think they’d agree. At least Mom and Dad wouldn’t,” he told his image in the mirror as he combed his hair. “They may consider themselves fairly liberal, but when it comes to family, they expect us to be ‘normal’ in every sense of the word.”

 

That was the reason he had the reputation as the playboy of the family. He claimed he dated a variety of girls, never more than once or twice each. He’d describe the dates and what they did on them in his weekly e-mails to his mother. He had done that ever since going away to college. It kept his parents off his back and—he knew—amused his brothers.

 

The truth was, he had been in relationships. Twice. Once had been with a very nice man, one who had finally given up on Corey because he wouldn’t come out of the closet. Corey had learned his lesson from that and avoided any involvements for a while. Then he met a man who was as closeted as he was. They had hit it off and managed to make things work until they both realized the only reason they were together was because they weren’t ready to let the world know they were gay.

 

“Hardly the best basis for a relationship,” Mike said when they mutually decided to break up.

 

Corey agreed. Since then he’d stopped looking. He’d had offers, when he’d had time to go to a club or a bar. But none of the men really appealed to him on more than a transitory basis.

 

He shuddered as he put on his winter jacket, envisioning one of his brothers—or, God forbid, his parents—deciding to drop in for a surprise visit. Not that that had ever happened. He made it quite clear to all of them that the demands of his job meant he was rarely free on a moment’s notice to entertain them. So far they had honored that. The one time his folks had come to town, they had given him plenty of warning. Their time together had been fun. Still, Corey had kept looking over his shoulder, waiting for some man he’d met at a club to appear and say something that would blow everything out of the water.

 

“Yeah, the single life is for the best,” he said under his breath as he walked down the snowy street to a restaurant he favored.