The women appeared to be in their early twenties. One had long hair, the other’s cropped close to her skull, almost militarily so. Their hands were joined between them.
Don waved in greeting. “Hello, there.”
The woman with short hair spoke first. “Hi! We saw you over here and wanted to come say hello.”
“So,” the other woman said. “Hello.”
“I’m Amy. This is Becca.”
“Rodney,” Don said, pointing at his husband. “And I’m Don.”
Amy smiled at them. “It’s nice to meet you. Forgive me for being forward, but I saw you two kiss when you arrived. It’s nice to meet other queer people on the road.”
Becca rolled her eyes. “Just right out there with it. Spied on you two macking on each other, and now we’re here. Good job, Ames.”
“Gay,” Rodney said. “I don’t know about all the queer stuff.”
“He’s not fond of that word,” Don said. “We’ve heard it spat in anger and vitriol more times than we can count.”
“You can reclaim it all you like,” Rodney said, arms crossed. “And I won’t ever stop you from using it, but it can still be hard to hear sometimes. Also, I do notmack. Anything I do is with purpose.”
“I don’t think that’s quite what she meant,” Don said, patting his arm.
Rodney scowled at all of them. “Any lingo I’ve learned in the last twenty years has been against my will.”
“I love them,” Amy breathed.
“Oh dear god,” Becca said with a sigh. “Sorry about her. She’s just… exuberant.”
“So is he,” Don said as Rodney snorted. “Would you like to sit? We don’t have any more chairs, but you’re welcome to enjoy the fire.”
“Thanks,” Amy said, plopping down on the ground on the other side of the fire. She kicked off her sandals, pointing her feet toward the flames. “Sorry if I seem all over the place. I have ADHD and ran out of meds. Thought I’d stockpiled enough, but.” She shrugged. “You know how it goes. You can’t really plan for the end of the world.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Becca grunted as she sat down next to Amy. She peered at them over the top of the flickering fire. “We haven’t met older people like us. Queer elders, you know?”
Rodney barked out a laugh. “Elders. Good lord.”
“She’s not wrong,” Don told him. He looked back at the women. “How long have you two been together?”
Becca and Amy glanced at each other for a long moment. “Since we were fourteen. Almost ten years now.”
“Goodness,” Don said. “That’s quite a long time for being so young.”
Amy beamed at them. “When you know, you know. She transferred into our school in Texas. I was smitten almost immediately. She didn’t like me at first.”
“Cheerleader,” Becca said, like she was proud. “Jock boyfriend. Preacher dad. The whole nine yards. Little Miss Americana.”
“And then you corrupted me,” Amy said gleefully.
“You’re damn right I did. Didn’t take much, either.”
Amy looked at Don and Rodney. “It was almost like deprogramming. You know what some people have to go through when they leave a cult? It was like that. Only this cult was Texas Christianity. I grew up being taught that a woman needed to find a husband as soon as possible. A woman’s place was in the home, making sure it was kept neat and orderly for her husband when he arrived from work. Get loaded up with three children, church every Sunday and voilà! You have the life of every woman in my family going back generations.”
“She was almost there, too,” Becca said. “Her father was already talking about her wedding, how she was going to make a God-fearing wife and mother.”
“At fourteen,” Amy said, shaking her head. “Can you imagine what that’s like? In so many words, being told that you’re essentially breeding stock. I’ll tell you what, though. Getting finger-blasted the first time by a girl was certainly eye-opening.”
“Jesus Christ,” Rodney muttered.