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Zach said, and suddenly his father wanted in the conversation.
    “Why—are you finally interested in helping with the campaign?” He shook his son’s hand and smiled as the camera went off. It was like they didn’t even have to think about it—every reaction went with a pose. Well, let’s see what pose they chose for this.
    “No, actually. I, uhm, I wanted to talk to you about something personal, but you never got back to me, so I thought I’d warn you in case it hit the news, which it might do since you didn’t want to talk to me personally.”
    Uh-oh. That got his parents’ attention. “Mr. Crosby, could you leave us a moment?”
    Gordon Driscoll dismissed his aide, and the man—short, balding, fortyish and invisible—ushered the photographer away as he went.
    “What have you done?” his mother asked, her matronly smile all but gone.
    “Nothing. But I’d really like to go out on a date, and given that I’m gay, and with you two, it’s actually a meet-the-press moment.”
    There was a sudden moment of shock, and Zach hopped up and down on his toes. Suddenly he wished he’d brought Leah, because she would have been so proud of that.
    “You’re not gay,” his father told him dismissively.
    “Yes, yes I am.”
    “But you date women!” his mother protested.
    “Name one!”
    They both stopped, mouths slightly open, eyes wide.
    “But—but your father’s campaign….” his mother sputtered. “How could you do this to him!”
    “I can’t wait for your campaign to clear so I can get laid!” Zach snapped, and he was loud enough for most of the beautiful people in the expensive clothes to turn around to see what the fuss was about.
    “What do you want from us?” his father asked coldly. “You come here, in a public venue and—”
    Okay. Well, at least Zach knew what to expect. “All I want to know,” he said, interrupting, “is if I need to move either my residence or my business. And I need to know if my employees lose their discount if they rent from one of your properties. They need to know, as soon as possible, so there’s that too. Have your lawyers contact me. But tell them to watch their language, because if you try to make this about the gay, I’ll fight and I’ll fight ugly.”
    And with that he bowed slightly and turned around and walked away.
     
     
    “Y OU DID what ?”
    He grimaced at Leah, and scrubbed his face with his hands. Leah was scanning the papers that had just been delivered complete with vellum envelope and gold seal, and he knew what they said, because the lawyers had called him on a Sunday and told him what they said. While his father couldn’t evict him or change his rent or even refuse to renew his lease for the apartment, the same did not go for the business address, and Zach was going to have to spend his next month frantically tracking down a new building that his firm could afford, and then moving four years of accrued stuff from one building to the other.
    “I outed myself to my family?” Zach said, wrinkling his nose. “I’m sorry?”
    Leah tapped a foot encased in a frighteningly bright-fuchsia-and-gold pump, and scraped her fingers through her lime-colored hair. “Wow. Wow. I mean, I thought you were kidding. I mean—I mean, you go to those benefits, and everyone’s so pretty, and there’s champagne in a fucking fountain—I had no idea!”
    Zach shrugged, telling himself it didn’t hurt. It couldn’t hurt. Why would it hurt? If he had to be penciled into his parents’ schedule to out himself, odds were good they weren’t close.
    “Well, you know. I guess the train really was a fair assessment of them,” he said, and tried not to let his voice shake. “But, I’m sorry it had to be here. Here is all of you guys. At least if it was just me, I could find my own damned apartment.” His apartment really was huge, he thought dismally. He could use a smaller apartment.
    “Why don’t you move?” Leah asked, and Zach gave her a weak smile,