You Are the Reason by Renae Kaye Page B

head. I knew the feeling.
    “I think you’re lying, but that’s okay,” Lee said.
    I nodded to the baby. “She loves you. Look at her. She finds you fascinating.”
    Lee smiled down at Maxine. “She loves the hair, I think. It’s bright like a toy.” He gave a self-conscious tug at the short lock of red that flopped over his brow. “I don’t like it.”
    “You shouldn’t dye it that color, then.”
    One eyebrow rose skyward. “Would you believe me if I said it was natural?”
    “No.” I was emphatic with my reply. Nothing that lovely could be natural.
    His expression was amused. “Well, it is. And to prove it? My sister is Honey Brennan.”
    I stopped and processed that information. Honey Brennan? A picture came to me of a beautiful woman, dressed in nothing more than a bikini, strolling down the beach. I was gay, but it didn’t mean I didn’t pay attention to media. And Honey Brennan was one of the great Australian “exports” the media talked about endlessly.
    A wildly beautiful woman and an amazing actor. She’d had her start on Australia’s soapie Neighbours as a teen before switching to Home & Away in a role that made her a household name. Her acting made her popular, but it was her beauty and poise that made her famous, to the point that Hollywood noticed. So now she was known for playing April Sedgwick, a female form of James Bond in a series of high-action movies. She had two blockbusters to her resume, and her name was known worldwide.
    I focused on Lee. Yes. He had the same shade of hair as the actress, but that could be a coincidence, couldn’t it? I knew that Honey Brennan hailed from Perth, so his story was believable, but there was one thing I needed to ask that I’d always wondered. “No one names a child ‘Honey.’ That would be cruel.”
    Laughter echoed around the room. “I tell you my sister is Honey Brennan and all you can say is that no one would call a child that name?”
    I stopped and gave him a fake glare. “Oh. Was that rude? Should I treat you differently now that I know your sibling is world famous?”
    “No,” he chuckled. “But some do. And for the record, her birth name’s Rhonda. She couldn’t pronounce it as a baby, and called herself ‘Honda,’ which morphed into ‘Honey’ before she was three. She’s grown up with it and told everyone at school it was her preferred name. It suits her.”
    “It does.”
    We fell into awkward silence. Then I gathered together the non-dick and non-pussy part of my personality and said, “Lee? About the pink thing and my reference to… well… saying ‘ those gays.’ I’m sorry. I really am.”
    His smile was sad. “Someone really did a number on you, didn’t they?”
    “Huh? What do you mean?”
    Maxine gave a squawk, so Lee gently placed her on his shoulder and patted her back. He looked natural with the baby.
    “I mean that someone has obviously scared you away from being one of those gays. Someone once made fun of you or punished you for your feminine ways. Am I right?”
    I shrugged and swallowed loudly to force the lump of shame down.
    Lee sighed. “Let me guess? Your father?”
    “What? No.” I raced in to defend my sire. He didn’t deserve someone thinking about him like that. “Of course not. Dad has always been great about the whole gay thing. He was shocked at first, because I never did anything that might be gay, but he’s been fine.”
    A considering look came over Lee’s cuteness. I had a feeling there was a brilliant brain behind that pixie face, and all of those neurons were picking me apart. “You never did anything gay, so your father never guessed. Which means that you stopped all the feminine actions in your life before that. Someone, when you were younger, said something or did something.”
    I realized I was still standing in the middle of the room. Lee had come to my aid with the shit nappy of the century, and here I was being a bad host. “Can I get you something to drink?” I