Gay Dad

Easter Day and myself, my ex-wife and the children head to my mother-in-law's for a family lunch. I haven't seen her since Christmas and am looking forward to it; Kate and I have maintained a good relationship since my wife and I split up. I've just returned from two nights away with Simon and sometimes it does feel as if I live two parallel lives; a little like that movie Sliding Doors . Here I am driving my family all squashed up in my Mini Cooper to lunch with the in-laws, whereas two hours earlier I was sitting in the passenger seat of Simon's Range Rover as we bombed down the motorway back from Buckinghamshire. Kate knows that I now date guys, but we never discuss it explicitly. Over a meal she will sometimes, to the rest of the table's puzzlement, discuss the beauty of male love; how in some cultures men will sleep with other men until they get married, or the marvels of gay male playwrights. My former wife and I will catch each other's eyes and snigger quietly. I wonder if one day Simon will also be sitting at one of these family gatherings; I suppose it's quite likely. I think my mother-in-law would like the idea, my ex-wife would tolerate it (although secretly see it as a non-musical version of La Cages aux Folles ) and the kids, well, I just can't decide what they'd make of it all.