He dropped the names as if it were as simple as getting online and booking a hotel. Maybe? I wouldn’t know. Living this far north, things got complicated. Driving to the airport could take a couple hours, then hopping a plane depended on the weather. The moment I thought of all the moving parts, I had to ask myself if the hassle was worth the reward?
“Iceland.” The word surprised even me.
“Really? Not what I thought you’d say.”
“It’s kind of like Maine. It’s cold as hell for half the year. Bar Harbor is filled with fishermen, so it’s kind of the same.”
“But different,” he said.
“Yeah. It’d be like a warped mirror. Don’t forget they live on a volcano. I kind of want to see a volcano.”
Truthfully, I’d be happy seeing any part of the world. Short vacations would scratch my itch for something more. When I got tuckered out and visited all the tourist destinations, then I could come back to Firefly. It’d be the best of both worlds. Culture and comfort,that’sthe life I wanted to lead.
We stood at the south side of the green, able to look at the length of the park. Black poles reached upward, each holding a lantern with a flickering bulb. I hadn’t wandered around downtown at night in years. Without the many characters of Firefly, the town had a beautiful peace to it. I almost expected it to snow just to complete the small-town charm.
“Australia.”
The word broke my reverie. I turned my attention to Simon. “Really?” It was on the other side of the planet. My brain barely accepted it as a reality. I had never met somebody from Australia, and other than movies, I knew nothing about the country. I loved Firefly, but there were entire worlds outside our borders.
“Why Australia?” I asked.
Simon took my hand as we crossed the street. We followed a winding path in the green, peppered with street lights. We could have walked through the park in a matter of minutes, but we moved at a snail’s pace. I didn’t want to reach a destination and have that be the end ofthe night. My pace slowed as I tried to drag out the evening.
“I almost moved there when I was younger. A chef I worked for had opened a restaurant and offered me a job. I couldn’t bring myself to uproot my entire life and move.”
“You want to find out if you made the right choice?”
“Restaurants are a brutal business. He didn’t make it three years. No doubt about it, I made the right choice. But I still wonder, what if? I figure I owe it to myself to close some doors and say I did it.”
“I want to see a koala in the wild.”
He chuckled at the statement. “When Lucas is a little older, it’ll happen.” He bumped into me. “I wouldn’t mind some company.”
Were we making plans for years down the road? Or was this one of those polite things people said and never expected to happen? Either way, I grinned. Simon thought about a future with me? It shook the chill from my body and warmed my heart.
“Why did you leave Boston? I’m sure you could have been a dad in the city.”
The question had been on my mind. I knew he wanted more time with Lucas, but he could do that anywhere. There had to be more to the story. Everybody who found themselves in Firefly had a story that brought them here. Sharing was the price of admission.
“Lucas, you know about. Have you watched a lot of chef shows?”
I shook my head.
“The nicer the restaurant, the more intense the kitchen. I tried not to yell like in the shows… but… tempers flare. Even on our best nights, it always felt like we had gone to war and come back battered. The hours were miserable, and what little time I got to spend with Lucas, I felt like I fell short.”
I squeezed his hand. “From where I’m standing, you’re shooting for the Dad-of-the-Year award.”
“I feel calmer. I’m still in the kitchen, but right now, it’s just me. I’m the king of the castle. I’m still exhausted when we close, but it’s from a hard day’s work. I still have the energy to be the dad Lucas deserves.”
“He’s a lucky kid.”
“I’m a lucky dad.”
He slowed his pace. Pulling at my arm, we took a side path that’d lead us to… Bistro on Maine? I felt that my partner in crime had conspired without me.
“What’s going on?”
He smiled. “I promised you dinner. Dammit, you’re getting dinner.”
