Will glanced around the living room cataloging everything that he saw. Some things were exactly as he remembered them and others had been added since he left home. When they initially arrived at the house, Betsy had taken both Will and Kevin directly upstairs to their rooms to unburden themselves of their bags. Will had been shocked to see "his" room. It was a completely different room devoid of anything related to Will. Everything had been changed from the paint color to the drapes to the bed to the furniture. It was nothing like he remembered. Will felt his insides clench as he thought, "I've been erased." It was just one more thing that didn't add up based on his mother's reaction to seeing him.

Once Will and Kevin had gotten settled, they went downstairs to have something to eat. As is common with a death in a family especially one in a small town like Sweetwater, friends and neighbors had offered their condolences in the form of food. The refrigerator was jammed with casserole dishes and the kitchen counters were littered with pans and plates filled with cookies, pies, brownies and the like. They ate and made small talk through dinner avoiding anything serious. Not long after eating, Kevin excused himself saying that he was tired from the trip and was going to turn in. Of course, Will knew that Kevin was just giving Will and his mother a chance to talk privately knowing that Will had questions that needed answers.

Will perused the house as he waited for his mother to clear up the dinner dishes and tidy the kitchen. He was also trying to gather his thoughts. He had so many questions but should he hit his mother with them tonight? She had just lost her husband and was trying to cope with the grief. Maybe discussing their fractured relationship would be more than she could handle all at once. Will started as he felt a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry Will. I didn't mean to startle you."

Will took a relieved breath. "Sorry, I was deep in thought."

Betsy looked at him closely. "What kind of thoughts?"

Will hesitated wondering how he should answer her. He stepped around her and walked over to the couch sitting down with his elbows on his thighs wringing his hands. "That's a loaded question."

Betsy slowly walked over to the couch and sat down next to Will. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

Will searched his mother's face for a long moment before saying quietly, "Are you sure you want to talk about this now?"

Will watched as tears started to run down his mother's face as she said confidently, "No." She quickly brushed away some tears as she turned to him. "But I doubt I ever will be so…ask."

Will took some time to think about what he wanted to say. "I'm so confused. You haven't tried to contact me in over ten years. I show up today and you act like I'm your long lost child that you've been pining away for. Like I've been lost or missing. All you had to do was pick up a phone."

"I know." Betsy said quietly as she sat rigidly on the couch with her hands clasped tightly in her lap. "Please don't think I'm speaking ill of the dead." She said glancing at Will as he nodded. "A lot of that was your father. I'm not trying to absolve myself. I know that I was equally to blame." Betsy stopped to collect herself. "This is so hard." Will waited patiently for her to continue. "That day…the day your father put you in the truck and drove away…the day he saw you…he was so angry."

"And you?" Will asked.

"I wasn't angry. I was shocked, stunned. I didn't know what to think. All my life…our lives…we had been told that being…" Betsy stopped as she struggled with the word.

"Gay Mom. The word is gay." Will said trying to keep the hardness out of his voice.

Betsy nodded. "Gay. All our lives we were told that being…gay…was a sin. That it was wrong and subversive. It was something that happened to other people, not good Christians like us." Will clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists in his lap. "It was easier for your father. Bill was always very black or white. He never saw things in shades of gray. He said that you had made your choice…"

Will shot up off the couch in anger. "Choice? Is that what you think?" Will started pacing the floor with pent up anger. "Do you honestly believe that I would choose this?"

Betsy looked straight at him and said with conviction, "No." Will felt some of his anger dissipate when he heard that. "It was something your father and I disagreed on. He felt that you had chosen that way of life. I never believed that." Will stopped pacing and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he stood before his mother. "I felt like I had been torn in two. On the one hand, I believed what I had been taught. That being…gay…was evil. But, on the other hand, I saw my precious little boy. So young and so innocent…and I knew it wasn't true. I didn't know what to do."

Will waited as his mother took a moment to wipe the tears from her face and blow her nose. "I wanted to reach out to you…so many times. But your father was adamant that you had made your choice and that all we could do was pray for you to come to your senses. For God to save you. When we started seeing you on TV and then married to that girl Layla, we thought our prayers had been answered. That's when Bill decided to reach out to you. I was devastated when he came back and told me that you hadn't changed. That it was all a lie."

"It was a lie," Will said grimly. "I was so ashamed of who I really was that I used Layla to prove to the world…to myself…that I was something that I'm not. I nearly destroyed her to protect myself. By the time Dad showed up in Nashville, I was finally in love for the first time. Truly, honestly in love." Will shook his head as he remembered back. "Dad showing up in Nashville threw me. I wanted his acceptance so badly that I nearly lost Kev…." Will stopped short hoping his mother hadn't heard what he had started to say without thinking.

Betsy looked at him with wide eyes that glanced from Will to the stairs leading up and back again. "Kevin?" Will's eyes darted away as he fidgeted from side to side. "Kevin's your…"

"No." Will said emphatically. At his Mother's bewildered expression, he placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "It's complicated."

Will wasn't sure where to go from here and was surprised when his mother said, "Tell me."

He snorted. "That is not something you want to hear about."

Betsy surprised him. She sat up straighter with a determined look in her eyes and repeated, "Tell me."

Will looked at her hard almost daring her to back down but she didn't. "Okay, fine. Luke Wheeler put Kevin and me together to write songs for a new album. I hadn't written anything before so I needed help. Kevin's a great songwriter, successful too." Will paused as he remembered back. "Kevin pushed me to be honest with myself. He didn't let me skate through with a bunch of fluff songs. He made me dig deep inside myself to write songs that meant something. I ended up falling in love with him. When Dad came to town, we hadn't been together long. I almost threw Kevin away to keep up the pretense of being straight. But when it came down to it, I couldn't watch him walk away. So I came out publicly instead with Dad standing right there."

Will closed his eyes seeing both the look on Kevin's face as he had turned and walked out the door as well as his Dad's face after he had said the now infamous words. He opened his eyes when he heard his mother say, "Tell me the rest."

"I screwed up." Will swallowed down the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. "Kevin and I were together for about two months after that but I screwed it up."

Betsy said sympathetically, "How?"

"I didn't handle coming out very well. I'm still not. Kevin got tired of my whining so he dumped me."

Betsy narrowed her eyes at him. "Then why is he here with you?"

"He heard about Dad passing away. He reached out to me. Offered to come with me as a friend, to support me. He was there when Dad and I last saw each other. He knew I'd have a hard time with it."

Betsy looked at him thoughtfully. "Huh."

"Huh what?" Will said suspiciously.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Betsy said quickly. A few moments of silence passed between them before Betsy said timidly, "Are you still in love with him?"

Will fought back tears as he said, "Yes."

Betsy sighed deeply. "I don't know if I'll ever understand it. I'm still very conflicted."

Will snorted in laughter as he smiled ironically at her. "I completely understand that."

Betsy looked up at Will imploringly. "I want to try. I don't want to lose you again."

Will lost his fight to hold back his tears as he choked out, "I don't want to lose you either."

Betsy stood up and walked over to Will encircling him in a tight embrace. Will hugged her back fiercely as he gave up trying to keep his tears at bay.