“I’m a good listener.” Jeff poked him. “Anyway, go on.”
“Right. So I’ve been building a database of the research, trying to get in touch with someone at every park to contribute. Because climate and ecological science—the whole point is to conserve the natural world. The goal for most of these scientists is the same, and giving them the information will only benefit the parks system in the long run. But it’s time-consuming.”
“Hence the sleep you’re still not getting?”
Carter groaned and hauled himself upright. “Speaking of the sleep I’m not getting.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m supposed to coach T-ball in an hour.”
Oh for fuck’s sake. “You can barely keep yourdickvertical,” Jeff protested.
Carter raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t complaining five minutes ago.”
Fine. Jeff’s remark was uncalled for, but—“Seriously. You look exhausted, babe. Not that you’re not still ridiculously good-looking, but maybe this is one thing you can let go, you know?”
“I know,” Carter admitted. Jeff almost had a heart attack from shock. “Except that means I have to find someone else to take over, and that’s just one more thing to add to my to-do list.”
Jeff huffed, thinking of his own to-do list and the ever-shrinking window he had to complete the items on it. “Tell me about it.”
And then he had an idea.
Carter went off to shower and change, and Jeff pulled out his cell phone and sent a text message.Hey so sorry if this comes across as stereotyping, he said,but you know how Carter coaches a T-ball team…?
The reply came a few seconds later:!!! No I did NOT know. Also, what stereotyping?Following this, Kara sent a blurry picture of a dusty OV duffel bag with two metal bats looped through the handles.
Jeff smiled.Do you and Jeri want to meet us at the diamonds in 25? Uh and also maybe I might invite Carter’s queer niece?
Please do!!!!
When they pulled up at the diamond, Carter frowned at the truck parked next to them. “Is that Kara’s?”
Jeff cleared his throat. “Yeah. I invited her. Well. I might be attempting to recruit her.”
Carter blinked at him, openmouthed, but before he could say anything, there was a spray of gravel as Charlie skidded into the parking lot on their other side.
“And also I did some networking on behalf of the baby queer? Come on, she’d be a cute bat girl, or whatever.”
Finally Carter shook his head and unbuckled his seat belt. “Are you planning on swooping in like this to solve all my problems?” he asked, but he sounded reluctantly pleased and not at all resentful.
“Uh, yeah, whenever possible.” Jeff nodded enthusiastically. He was getting a huge rush from being a good boyfriend, mostly because he was being a good boyfriend to Carter, who deserved it. “Until you, like, get tired of it or decide it’s smothering or whatever.”
But he just got a smile and Carter leaning over to kiss him. “Thank you. You might have to tone it down when the boot comes off, but right now I appreciate it. Although where did you get Charlie’s number?”
“Your mom.” Obviously. He reached for the door handle.
“You’re not worried about a twelve-year-old fan having your phone number?”
Jeff paused for a moment and then lifted a shoulder. “I can get a new phone number. I’m more worried about a twelve-year-old fan having plenty of queer role models.” It wasn’t like he’d given her his email address.Thatwould’ve been a pain. Besides, as Carter had already pointed out, she was used to living with fame. “Anyway, I owe her another guitar lesson. Gotta schedule it somehow.”
Charlie greeted Jeff with attempted aloofness, which was pretty adorable. He introduced her to Kara and Jeri as he slung the equipment bag over his shoulder.
“Are we gonna get T-shirts?” Jeri asked, eyeing the way Carter filled out his. Jeff couldn’t blame them.
Carter said, “Oh, I think we handed them all out—”
“We can get more printed,” Jeff said, linking arms with Kara. “You should cut the sleeves off yours. It’ll be hot.”
“Read my mind. These kids absolutely need to see my cool tattoos.”
Unsurprisingly, Kara and Jeri were a hit with the five-year-olds, and it didn’t hurt that they creamed the red team.
