Someone could’ve used the airhorn, Jeff wrote back.
God save us from dumb tourists, Carter replied.
Jeff spent that night violently fighting the urge to pick up his pen, playing the Seagull until his fingertips went numb, lining up his favorite songs from his adolescence one after the other.
He forgot to close the curtains again, and the sun woke him, so he sat up in bed and watched the sunrise for a few moments and heard the echo of a melody he wanted to write. Instead he picked up his phone and took a picture, let his finger hover over the Send button.
Finally he typedHi, Momand sent it to Carter.
It was too early to be awake, or so Jeff thought, but he got an answer back a moment later—a simple heart emoji.
Snippets of songs crowded Jeff’s head all morning, but he put them off. Without Carter to distract him, he worried he’d give in to them eventually, so he took a drive. He could use a few more groceries and maybe something to read.
Somehow he ended up at the marina instead, contemplating a rental. He could probably only get a canoe or kayak, since he didn’t have a pleasure craft license. But he shouldn’t go alone. That was a big no-no for an inexperienced boater, and after fifteen years, Jeff qualified.
Maybe Carter would want to go with him one day. He pulled out his phone to text him about it and found a grease-stained selfie waiting for him.
Carter was wearing generic gray coveralls with the top half pushed down to expose the white T-shirt underneath, and he was smeared from cheekbone to neck in a way that looked deliberate. A familiar long-suffering expression sat upon his features—heavy brow, pursed lips. His eyes were laughing.You should see the other guy.
An entire parade of other guys could have marched naked right past Jeff playing brass instruments and he wouldn’t have seen them. Jeff had received less-filthy pictures whilesexting. The photograph drew him in. It made him want impossible things—to smooth his fingertips over Carter’s forehead, trace the bow curve of his mouth with his thumb. To peel him out of that stained shirt and push him into the shower—
“Hey! Jeff, right?”
He jerked his head up. Kara the park ranger was walking toward him. He guessed it was her day off too. “Hey, Kara, right?”
She grinned. “Yeah, you remembered. What’re you doing here? Thinking about renting a boat?”
Shaking his head, he admitted, “Nah, no license. I was thinking of doing a kayak… thing.”Actually I was thinking about getting my dick wet with your boss.Jeff had thought Carter suspected Jeff had a crush on him back in the day, but if he was sending pictures like that, maybe not.
“There’s rentals at the park too—a lot calmer there.” She tilted her head. “Is it true that you knew the boss man back when?”
Either she’d only been hearing very selective rumors, or she was choosing to ignore Jeff’s fame. Whatever the case, Jeff appreciated it. “Afraid so.”
She glanced to her right, where three people around her age were launching a boat. “Hey, Rufus! We okay to take on one more?”
A man Jeff assumed to be Rufus looked over from lashing an inflatable raft to the boat’s stern. “He chipping in for gas?”
Kara smiled and turned back to Jeff. “So. Let’s make a deal.”
Jeff had a feeling he knew where this was going. “I’m listening.”
“You tell me embarrassing stories about Carter as a kid and chip in for fuel, and instead of kayaking, you get to spend the afternoon clinging to the raft while Jeri does donuts. They’rereallygood at donuts.”
Part of Jeff thought he should say no. He didn’t know these people, and he could end up the subject of some banal tell-all. But what would they have to say about him after this? That he had unsuspected skill not falling off an inflatable toy?
Besides, it turned out he now desperately needed another distraction—this time from Carter. “Deal.”
There was a short delay while Jeff went into the marina shop to buy a swimsuit and, after a moment’s consideration, a giant bottle of sunscreen, and then he spent an unexpectedly pleasant afternoon with four near strangers, howling with laughter as they took turns being thrown from the raft. No one took any videos or photos of him until he asked, and that was a grinning shot with the five of them, Rufus and Justin on one side, Jeff in the middle, Jeri on the right with Kara in their lap.
Jeff looked at it fondly and then sent it to Carter,Wish you were here.
“What did he do?” Kara asked as Rufus piloted them back to the marina.
Jeff was relating the story of how Carter had headed off a potential bullying crisis when Jeff came out at thirteen, and he smiled at the memory. A few kids had whispered behind his back, but Jeff had had other things to worry about, and most people were nice enough to his face, largely because no one wanted to deal with Carter.
“Actually nothing. I don’t think he ever had to throw a punch.” He shook his head. “Gary came over all confrontational. ‘Carter, I can’t believe you’re hanging out with this—’ You can imagine how he finished that sentence. I was going into high school, and there were just enough of the right people around that you knew whatever happened was going to set the tone for what followed. And Carter just rolls his eyes and goes, ‘What do you care, Gary, it’s not like he’d be interested inyou,’ and that was it. Everybody took their cue from Carter.”
“I thought you were supposed to be telling stories we could make fun of him for,” Jeri sighed and leaned their head back against the seat. “Not, like, trying to retroactively make us fall in love with him.”
