An Ordinary Family Part 2
an excerpt

“You and Alex are going to do what?” exclaimed Mike Logan. He was loud enough that several of the bar’s other patrons turned around to give him dirty looks for interrupting their drinking. He smiled apologetically at them and turned back to his friend. “You must be nuts!” he said in an emphatic whisper.
“Could you say that a little louder?” asked Goren. “I’m not sure the Chief of D’s heard you.”
“Sorry,” said Logan. “But seriously man. What the hell are you thinking?”
“We want to have a baby,” said Bobby.
“Yeah, okay,” said Logan. “But that’s not how you go about it. You don’t pay money for someone to take a turkey baster of your stuff and stick it in your partner. That’s ridiculous. You’ve got a perfectly good turkey baster in your pants!”
“Mike, never let it be said that you are too much of a gentleman to say what you’re thinking,” said Bobby. He took a long slow sip of his Glenlivet scotch. “We don’t want to break policy. We want to remain partners.”
“Partners,” said Mike. “The word has a lot of definitions, Bobby.”
“I’m sure you didn’t ask me here to discuss my sex life or the etymology of the word partner,” said Bobby. “You sounded strange when you called. What’s going on, Mikey?”
Mike Logan actually blushed. “I, uh, I wanted to show you something,” he said. “You know; get your opinion.”
“On what?” asked Bobby. “What’s up?”
Mike smiled as he began fishing around in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He plunked a small black ring box down in front of his friend.
“Mike, this is so sudden,” said Bobby, batting his eyelashes. He opened the box. “And I’m pretty sure the ring is the wrong size.”
“Oh, fun–ny,” said Mike. “Jackass. What do you think of it?”
Bobby examined the ring carefully. The diamond was cut in an antique pear shape, set inside the heart of a traditional silver Irish claddagh ring. “It’s pretty,” said Bobby.
“That’s all you got?” Mike looked disappointed.
“Whose is it?”
“Mine,” said Mike. “It was my grandmother’s wedding ring.”
“Are you planning on marrying someone?” asked Bobby. “I thought you were the confirmed old bachelor for life.”
“I…” Mike rubbed the back of his head. “It’s for Carolyn.”
“Barek?” You could have knocked Bobby over with a feather. “What have you two been up to that I don’t know about?”
“Nothing,” said Mike. He took a long swig of his beer. He set it down very deliberately and stared at it as if it could give him answers. “I think I love her, Bobby.”
Bobby stared at his friend. “And you want to marry her?” He was having trouble getting past this.
“If she’ll have me,” said Mike.
“Have you ever kissed her?” Bobby nodded to the bartender for another round. “Have you ever even asked her out?”
Mike gratefully accepted the second beer. “No…er… not exactly,” he said.
“Define ‘not exactly’,” said Bobby.
“No. I have not asked her out or kissed her,” said Mike. He began peeling the label off of his empty bottle.
“There’s customarily an order to this sort of thing,” Bobby noted. Watching Mike fidget was making him nervous. He was supposed to be the one with the ticks.
“I was sort of figuring on giving her the ring and taking it from there,” said Mike.
Bobby sighed. “That’s both romantic and insane,” he said.
“You think she’s going to turn me down flat, don’t you,” said Mike. He looked horribly miserable at the prospect.
“I don’t know Mike,” said Bobby. “I really don’t know.”