Speaking from the Heart

"My husband, Robert Coleman, was a complicated man," Mrs. Coleman apprises from behind the podium positioned in front of the small group of people gathered in the room. She is wearing a simple black, long-sleeved dress and has no makeup on. Her demeanor is strong, but her eyes look fatigued and despondent.

Everett is in a sensible dark gray sweater and khakis next to Beau who has on a black collared shirt and slacks. Finn slouches in his seat in the front row on the other side of Beau. The younger brother has been not-so-discreetly wiping at his eyes all day. Meanwhile, Beau continues to clutch onto Everett's right hand like he has been since they arrived at the funeral home. Their connected hands seem to be the only thing grounding the man during the ceremonies commencing in his father's honor.

"He made his share of mistakes," Mrs. Coleman continues, "but I would like to focus on celebrating his life today and talk about all of the positive moments that we had together. Robert was a wonderful husband and father-"

Beau squeezes his hand at this. When Everett looks over at him, he sees his boyfriend's jaw clenched as if he is physically restraining himself from interrupting his mom's eulogy. After visiting his dad in jail, Beau never really mentioned him again and Everett was honestly filled with too much trepidation to ask about the issue.

"He was born here in Columbus on December 8th, 1964 and attended school at Ferrisville Township where the two of us met and began dating in junior high. Robert was a family man from the beginning and made sure to get to work right after graduating high school to provide for the two of us and our first son, Beau, who I fell pregnant with at the time."

Glancing at his boyfriend once more out of the corner of his eye, Everett sees that he is now staring at the wall behind his mom's head. He isn't sure if Beau is trying to zone out or if he is attempting to keep himself from crying. Either way, his face looks stern and disapproving of these words.

"He enjoyed being around friends and family as well as watching the Steelers every season. Robert was multifaceted and talented in many different ways. He loved music and reading just as much as he loved his sports and working on cars with our boys."

Beau releases his hand and stands abruptly. He keeps his head down as he speed walks down the aisle and out the doors. There aren't many people in the crowd—Beau could barely identify four out of the nine people who bothered to show up today.

Everett is quick to follow after him, but not before looking at Mrs. Coleman who has a devastated expression on her face as she stutters through the eulogy. He gives her a sad smile and then follows after his boyfriend through the main doors. Beau is leaning against the railing outside of the building with his head in his hands.

Rubbing a hand up and down his back, Everett leans his forehead against Beau's shoulder and lets them sit in silence. This has all been incredibly difficult for Beau to digest since it happened. His dad was not his favorite person in the world, but he was still his dad. Everett wants to give his partner space and not force him to talk about anything yet while also being here for him.

"He was an ass."

"You've mentioned that before."

Beau groans and stands upright. Pulling Everett into his arms, he hugs him as they sway back and forth.

"Sorry for throwing a tantrum," Beau mumbles onto the top of Everett's head.

Looking up, Everett places a kiss on his lips before leaning his forehead against Beau's chest. "Don't apologize—and that wasn't a tantrum. You calmly got up and left when things got overwhelming." Beau tightens his arms briefly in a wordless gesture of appreciation.

"Besides," Everett says, "everyone is entitled to their own mourning tactics. You have been very considerate to your family during all of this."

"I feel like I should start paying you for these therapy sessions," Beau jokes lowly.

Everett takes a step back and grins at him. "No—this is just what you do when you've been in a relationship for over a year." A couple weeks after celebrating their one year anniversary together, Beau had gotten the phone call that his dad passed away in the jail he visited a while ago.

"I guess it makes sense why I didn't know that, then," he responds with a short huff of laughter. Beau revealed to him previously that the longest relationship he had ever been in was a month and a half. Needless to say, Beau has learned a lot from their year-long relationship full of ups and downs. The most important thing is that they are now extremely effective communicators.

Grabbing Beau's hand, Everett confidently declares, "Well, you know now."

"Yeah, I do."

-

Later that evening, Everett and the Coleman's go out to eat for the occasion. They are treating themselves to a fancier dinner than what they usually have. Everett, at one point, tells them he is getting up to use the restroom, but instead finds their waiter to give him his credit card ahead of time. He wants to treat Mrs. Coleman and the boys. For the last week, they have all been experiencing great amounts of stress and despair while dealing with funeral expenses and the death itself.

Back at the table, the family speaks quietly to one another. Everett rejoins them at the table as he hears Beau explaining the logistics of their move to his mom and brother.

"-so I told him that we should rent a van, but he thinks we should just buy all new stuff when we get there," Beau tells the two of them who listen intently.

"Well, how much would you really need to get for the new place?" Mrs. Coleman asks before taking a bite of her chicken marsala.

Everett decides to jump into the conversation once he catches wind of what it is that they're talking about. "It's a condo, so it's much smaller than our house. We only need to furnish two bedrooms, the kitchen and the family room."

Beau shakes his head at this disapprovingly. "You're underestimating how much all of that will cost, Rett. Also—that's all of your goddamn furniture in the house anyway. If she's not taking all of that away from you, then we should just pay to transport it instead."

"I know how much it will cost and I told you that I have no problem covering it. Besides, I want all new stuff with you—it'll be like a blank slate in PA," he counters, playfully bumping shoulders with Beau. It's true, too. Everett doesn't want to bring anything he owned with Charlotte to Pennsylvania when he and Beau move.

The divorce has finally come to a close, so Everett hopefully never has to deal with the countless phone calls with lawyers and fighting over possessions ever again. He has forfeited the house to Charlotte, who has been open about her plans to sell it as soon as the couple moves out.

Everett and Beau had several talks about what they want to do regarding their futures and where they want to live. They both love Sinting, but mutually agree on the fact that they have outgrown the small town. Neither of them were too fond of the idea of moving back to Columbus either, so Everett suggested Harrisburg as a possible landing place for them. His company has another office in the city, so he'd be able to keep his job if they decided to move there. After months of house hunting, they found a new condominium that they fell in love with.

"Don't you two move in, like, a week? How have you not made a decision yet?" Finn asks judgmentally.

"We move in a week and a half, bitch. There's plenty of time for me to convince him to keep the furniture," Beau says snarkily with narrowed eyes at the younger man. Everett rolls his own eyes at the comment. "Let's talk about this later when we're back home," he suggests calmly to his other half.

Beau softens as he redirects his gaze at his boyfriend. "Alright," he concedes with a sigh.

"No chance you're getting your way, dude. Fowler's got you wrapped around his finger," Finn taunts him gleefully.

"Keep talking, see what happens," Beau leans forward threateningly towards Finn who has a shit-eating grin on his face across the table.

Everett's eyes meet Mrs. Coleman's, she seems just as over the conversation as he feels. They share a knowing look and snicker as the two men throw jabs back and forth at each other until she decides to step in. "Will you two cut it out?" Her words don't hold much heat considering she laughs at the end of her sentence.

The family dinner is much needed after the arduous events of the day. It is easy to see that the Coleman's are both emotionally and physically drained, but this wind-down time is bringing some life back into them. Everett finds it interesting that they don't talk about Mr. Coleman at all. He supposes that it is an unspoken agreement amongst the three of them not to bring him up since it will most likely cause more unnecessary fighting and unease.

"How have your classes been, Beau?" Mrs. Coleman asks, effectively changing the subject.

Beau successfully received his GED after all of the hard work that he put into studying months ago. This accomplishment inspired his curiosity to try online college which Everett was very supportive of. Now an online student at UMass Global, Beau is working for a BA in Applied Humanities. After working with books at Mrs. T's and the library, Beau realized how much he enjoys reading and writing. He was anxious at first about delving into higher education, but now thoroughly enjoys his classes and schoolwork.

"Pretty good," Beau perks up at the mention of his studies. "I'm working on a project about 'ethical leadership' right now. At first I was like 'what the fuck is that', but listen to this-"

Everett loves seeing his boyfriend so passionate about a subject. He always offers to help him study and with his assignments, but Beau almost always kindly declines the help. There is an eager look in his eye that tells Everett that he wants to get this degree on his own.

The couple is decently busy with their jobs, moving and Beau's studies. They manage to balance everything with skill and grace, which impresses both of their families. Everett's parents had flown to Sinting to re-meet Beau as Everett's boyfriend as well as to help them pack up the house. It had been a surprise visit, but Everett was still grateful for their support.

His parents absolutely adore Beau, much to Everett's delight. Beau, however, is not quite convinced that they like him as much as Everett says that they do.

"There's no way they're cool with me after we broke up that one time," he had whispered to Everett one night when they were in their bedroom. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler were staying at the house for a couple of nights to assist them with packing up the house.

Everett simply laughed at the stressed man laying underneath his body as they relaxed in bed. "You're way too in your head about this. I promise my parents don't hold grudges over stuff like that—they genuinely like you."

When Everett and the Coleman's finish eating, the waiter brings the check out to Everett along with his credit card.

"Oh, Everett," Mrs. Coleman coos fondly, "you didn't need to do that."

"Thanks, man," Finn says giving him a pat on the back when he stands up and walks past his chair.

Beau is still sitting next to him and watches as Everett puts his card back in his wallet and signs the check while writing down a tip amount. When he looks up, Beau is staring at him with soft eyes and the corners of his mouth tilted upward. He places a hand on Everett's cheek, gently turning it so he faces Beau.

"I love you," he says, making Everett's stomach flutter with butterflies. It's amazing that Beau can still do that to him over a year after they got together.

"Love you too," Everett smiles and pecks him on the lips once more.

They hear groaning, but don't give it any attention. "Jesus Christ, we get it. You too are a power couple. Can we fucking go now?" Finn teases them.

Beau stands up and offers Everett a hand to stand as well.

"Finnegan—please stop being rude," Mrs. Coleman scolds her youngest.

Throwing an arm over Everett's shoulders, Beau flicks Finn in the ear before returning his hand to Everett's arm where it rests.

"Ow!"

They receive looks from the other patrons at the restaurant as they exit. Whether that's because Finn keeps muttering curses under his breath or possibly due to Beau and Everett's acts of PDA, Beau finds himself not giving a shit. Despite today being as bittersweet as it was, he still somehow feels like the luckiest man in the world.

He looks back down at the love of his life as they walk out the front doors.

"What are you smiling about?" Everett questions with a dimpled smile of his own.

Grin growing even wider, Beau thumbs at the divot in his cheek as he says, "What? I just like what I see."

Everett's nose scrunches in embarrassment at this and he pushes his pink face into Beau's chest while they continue to shuffle through the parking lot. Beau laughs at this reaction and directs them to the car where he opens the passenger side door for his boyfriend.

"After you, snookums," he chuckles as Everett climbs into the car.

"Ugh," Everett groans at the nickname. "You're such a nerd."