Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

what to expect. I’m not saying that it’s right.”
    “Well, I can take it. I’d rather be happy with Parry than accepted with somebody I don’t love.”
    “Laura, you’re fifteen. Let’s not get too carried away here. Who knows what will come of you and Parry?”
    “Whatever becomes of me and Parry isn’t going to change the fact that I’m gay.”
    “I hate labels. It makes people sound like cans of tuna.”
    “I am gay, Mom. That’s that.” Laura stopped, exasperated.
    “You’re my daughter and I love you.” Cig abruptly stood up. “I’m a little confused. Let’s sort this out later.”
    “There’s nothing to sort out.”
    “About the dance, there is.”
    “I’m going!” Laura’s jaw jutted out.
    “I know. I’m not forbidding you but perhaps I’d better go along. I don’t want any trouble.”
    “Hunter will be there. No one’s going to beat us up.”
    “I don’t know that. It’s a crazy world.” Cig leaned against the doorway for a moment. “Laura, go slow. Take lots of time.”
    “Mother, I know who I am. Inside.”
    “Well, I’m glad one of us does.” Cig smiled at her. “I’ll take a little time to get used to this.”
    Laura wanted instant acceptance but was smart enough to know this wasn’t a bad beginning. “Okay.”
    “Just let me think about the dance, okay? I’m not saying you can’t go. Just let me think about the repercussions.”
    “Okay.”
    Cig left her daughter’s room, nearly tripping over Peachpaws who was lying over the threshold. She alternated between wanting to go to sleep and wanting to rip Grace’s face off for usurping her maternal role. How easy to be glorious Aunt Grace who counsels that you follow your heart, indulge in a sapphic rapture. She wouldn’t have to pay the price. Then Cig caught herself.
    Damn the Benedicts! If they’d bought Hardtack Manor, she could rub money on her troubles.

4

    Closing her bedroom door behind her, Cig flopped on her bed, covered by a faded Black Watch down comforter. Woodrow flopped down beside her. He was all set for serious interspecies kissing when he saw Cig pick up the telephone. He decided to wash himself instead.
    “Hi, Will, how are you?”
    “Can’t complain,” said the man who usually did. “Want to speak to Grace?”
    “Sure.”
    “Oh, before I buzz her—she’s in her office—I wanted to ask you why Laura turned down Donny Forbush’s invitation to the dance.”
    Cig knew Will’s “can’t complain” was bull. “Will, I was a teenaged girl once, and all I can say is it’s a wildly irrational time.” Cig scrambled to think of something more original to say but originality wasn’t her strong suit.
    Will chuckled. ‘Teenaged boys are worse but you might want to have a talk with her. Apparently, Donny is trashed, I believe that’s the word he used with his father.”
    “It’s probably the first time any girl has ever turned him down.”
    “I wouldn’t know about that, but the Forbushes are valuable friends. One can’t have enough friends in elected office, you know.”
    “Will, these are kids. Surely Gene Forbush knows that.”
    “Gene Forbush has a big ego for himself and for his son.” Will attempted to keep a genial tone.
    “Come on, don’t pressure Laura. She doesn’t want to go out with the boy. Anyway, at that age they’re in love one day and at each other’s throats the next.”
    “Umm, well, let me buzz Grace.” Will tired of the subject. “But Cig, if there’s anything you can do to change her mind I do believe it would be beneficial to all of us.”
    She heard a click and then Grace picked up. “Hello.”
    “Grace, what are you doing telling my daughter to be a lesbian?”
    A sharp intake of breath preceded her reply. “I did not!”
    “She thinks you did.”
    “What I said,” Grace patiently, even patronizingly, began, “was that the leopard can’t change its spots.”
    “We’re talking about my daughter, not a leopard.”
    “You know what I