I like dandelions–as I like anything that doesn’t require care and feeding and watering to thrive, because I’m not good with the gardening thing. I’m sure in my photo archives, I have lots of pictures of dandelion flower heads, as well as dandelion seed heads like these that I spotted on a family vacation in 2010.
A fun fact about dandelions: some of the species produce seeds without pollination, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant.
That little factoid interested me because of Tony Calvert’s use of the humble wildflower in his story “Dandelions.” Jim–or Jimmy, as his mother still calls him–is a romance writer who’s returned to his small hometown to be company for and “look after” his mother and help her with her bed and breakfast after his father dies. But as readers, we begin to wonder who’s looking after whom, as unbeknownst to Jim, Mama is setting him up for a bit of matchmaking with someone she thinks is the perfect eligible bachelor. Here they are at breakfast on the fateful day that she sets her plan in motion.
Mom believed in a big breakfast, at least for other people. She’d made me a mess of SOS, and no one appreciated chipped beef and gravy over toast like me. Mom picked at her muffin while I ate.
“We have a lot to do today. It’s the first time we’ll have guests since your father passed…. All three couples are newlyweds. That’s so exciting!”
I kept eating.
“Jimmy, don’t roll your eyes at me.”
I wasn’t aware that I had.
“Mom, most people call me Jim now, because you know, I’m a man, not a twelve-year-old.”
“If there’s one thing I never understood, it’s why you have such a disdain for love.”
“What? I don’t have a disdain for love. I write about love. I’m all about love! I am love!”
She put her cup down. “No, Avalon Dupre is all about love. Jimmy Hutton is scared of it. I have to tell you: Avalon Dupre is the most ridiculous name. Where did you get that?”
“Lots of people like Avalon Dupre.” It was true. I wasn’t a best seller, but I made a pretty decent living from writing historicals, or hystericals as [my brother] Tom called them.
“And why do you refer to her like she’s real?” She pursed her lips the way she always did when she thought she was making a good point. “You’re Avalon Dupre. Have you ever wondered why you write all those dramatic love stories?”
“I wouldn’t call them dramatic.”
“Anything that features pirates is dramatic.”
“One pirate. I’ve only done the pirate thing once.”
“What’s the one you’re writing now?”
“It’s titled Under the Gypsy Moon.”
“You don’t think pirates and gypsies are just a tinge dramatic?”
“Mom…” I really didn’t want to explain my writing to her, especially at breakfast after I’d been awakened by a vacuum cleaner.
“I’m just saying. I think you write these sweeping love stories because that’s what you’re looking for. You and your sister Valerie have always had these grand expectations. That’s why she’s been married three times and you’ve never made it down the aisle once.”
“Or maybe because it isn’t legal.”
“Love can be a very quiet thing.”
I knew she was thinking of Dad. I considered her judgment of my sister and me. It might be true that Valerie was looking for the dramatic; certainly she’d married some swindling jackasses who were missing a few teeth. But I wrote about a betrayed, justice-seeking pirate with a heart of gold in The Scoundrel Takes a Mistress, and all I’d ever wanted was a love story like my parents’.
Frank and Lilah were introduced on a blind date arranged by friends who thought they’d complement each other. Frank Hutton was reserved and quiet, and Lilah Lynn Lyons was a force of nature, free spirited and wild. The night ended when my mother danced in the fountain in the center of town during a rainstorm. Frank fell in love. They were married for almost fifty years, and they never stopped dating. When a kid grew up bearing witness to the world’s greatest romance, it was hard not to want the same thing.
Lilah swooped in and took my plate. “Let’s go. How many times do I need to tell you we have lots to do?”
You can read the rest of “Dandelions” and meet Jim’s potential Mr. Right in Best Gay Romance 2014, on sale now in trade paperback and ebook format.
Excerpt reprinted with permission from Cleis Press. All rights reserved