"What do you want from me?" Kenny asked. "Maybe I should ask you, 'Hey there, you drunk, had any shots today?' when I come home from school every day."
Evan laughed. He didn't take offense to this. "Okay. I'm sorry. I guess I forget it's not easy for you either. I'll try to remember that. But please don't feel as if you have to walk around on your tiptoes with me. I'm really doing okay now. I've started working again, I'm thrilled to have my kid living with me full time, and I'm really looking forward to the boxing match tomorrow night. I've never been to one before."
When he mentioned the boxing match, Kenny rolled his eyes.
"Did your dad ask about Mr. Savione?" Evan asked. He found it interesting that Jeffery hadn't called to see how his date with Carson had gone. He knew Jeffery hadn't forgotten. The man could listen to ten different conversations at one time and repeat each one verbatim an hour later.
"Yes, he asked," Kenny said.
"Well, what did he say?"
"He asked if you were seeing him again and I said you were," Kenny said. "That was it. You were sitting right here."
He could see his son was getting frustrated. He knew he had to lighten the mood so he smiled and said, "I think I might take up boxing as a hobby, too. Carson said I could join his gym and work out like boxers train."
Kenny dropped his fork and started laughing so hard he almost choked on a French fry. Although Evan wasn't effeminate, he'd always been gentle and quiet and passive. Anyone who knew him well knew he avoided confrontation at all cost. The thought of him putting on boxing gloves and beating up another guy must have sounded ludicrous to his son. Evan wouldn't even kill a bug, let alone hit another human being. Kenny held one hand to his stomach and pointed at Evan with the other. He laughed so hard he had trouble speaking. "I want ringside seats to that one."
* * * *On Friday night, Kenny went to the movies with a few friends. He was sleeping over a friend's house that night and he promised Evan he'd call him a few times to let him know where
he was. Evan had learned through experience this meant he would call him once, not a few times. But at least he had a teenager who phoned to check in. He knew some parents who didn't.
Evan had asked Kenny to come downtown with him to watch Carson's boxing match, but Kenny had rolled his eyes and said, "I think I'd rather eat a bowl of worms and diced scrotum than watch my English teacher, who happens to be dating my dad, box while my dad cheers him on."
Evan had said, "It's not like I'm bringing pompons along. I'm just going to watch an amateur boxing match. Stop being so dramatic."
"What do you know about boxing?" Kenny had asked. As Evan stood there in silence, trying to come up with a reply, he shrugged and said, "I can learn, can't I?" Kenny kissed him on the cheek and said, "I'll call you when I'm at Zack's house so you know I'm in for the night. If you need me, I'll have the phone on all the time."
"I'll be fine," Evan said. He wished his friends and family would stop treating him as if he needed to be watched round the clock. "I'm not going to drink."
An hour after that, Evan's cab pulled up to a small gym on Delancey Street and dropped Evan off. It was a neighborhood with which he wasn't familiar. When Evan climbed out of the backseat and glanced up, he saw two men walking down the street, pushing a child in a wheelchair. He knew they were gay; he could tell by looking at them. He felt more comfortable seeing two gay men for reasons he couldn't explain. He heard one of them call the other one Jonah and say, "I think we should spend the night here instead of driving all the way back to D.C. tonight. I'll call Bobby's mom when we get home." The one named Jonah nodded in agreement and said, "I'm fine with that," and he looked down at the kid in the wheelchair and said, "We'll watch that movie you like so much, Bobby." When he lifted his head, he glanced at Evan in passing and smiled as if he'd just read Evan's mind.
The gym on Delancey Street looked more like an old storefront huddled between a barbershop and a bakery. There was a group of young guys gathered near the front door, smoking cigarettes and bouncing a basketball. Evan was glad he'd dressed casually that night. In his blue hoodie, jeans, and black work boots he could have joined the young guys and fit in perfectly.
When he entered the gym, he felt like turning around and going back home. There didn't seem to be any gay people in there. He wondered if maybe his son and his best friend had been right about him dating a boxer. It all started to seem so bizarre to him. The only thing he knew about boxing was that guys put on cute outfits and punched each other around. They got all sweaty and people poured bottles of water over their heads to cool them down. The only boxing movie he'd ever seen had been Rocky, and he'd fallen asleep halfway through it. He figured this was a mistake. He could turn around and leave and he could call Carson and tell him something came up and he couldn't make it. They didn't know each other that well and neither of them was obligated to each other in any way.