He debated texting David to find out if he was coming or if changed his mind. If David was walking, it would have taken him five minutes from his house, ten minutes tops.

  He sighed and was about to text when David showed up table side.

  “Sorry, I’m late.” David made a face like even he couldn’t believe he was able to make it.

  “No worries.”

  “I hate being late. I debated walking or driving. First Sarah and Vi showed up late because Vi had to leave work late. And then Quinn got upset with me leaving him home. I had to calm him down, and remind him he was grounded, and he was not going out with me. Then I made the mistake of driving here instead of walking because I wasn’t sure when the rain was coming. And I couldn’t find parking! I had to circle a few times, and finally got one right up front after someone left.”

  “Yeah, it’s supposed to rain later tonight. I hope it’ll be much later because I walked.” Kaden smiled. “I’m glad you made it.”

  “Well, since you wouldn’t take any payment for working on the A/C and checking the water heater, this was the least I could do. And thanks for agreeing to meet here and not the house.”

  “Not a problem. I understand your point. You’re just being protective of your son.” Kaden smiled.

  David nodded. “The ex and I also promised no one-night stands, when we have Quinn in our homes, so I’m trying to make a conscious effort that no strange men show up at our house at night.”

  “Nice, so I’m strange?”

  “Well, that didn’t come out right. I mean someone unknown to Quinn.” David paused. “Okay, that’s probably the wrong word since he’s met you and wants to adopt Ginger.” David’s voice trembled.

  Shit! Was David nervous?

  “I get it. You don’t have to explain further. You kid’s very cute by the way.”

  “Thanks. He can be really sweet, and then other times, he can be really bratty. You’ve seen him on his best behavior, not when he is acting as Quinn the Terrible.”

  “How’s Quinn doing with being grounded?”

  “He hates it,” David said. “But he has to learn his lesson.”

  “You wanted him to be with you, not Jason, right? Just to be clear?”

  “I wanted legal custody of him, and I got it, yeah, but I also want him to have a relationship with Jason.”

  Kaden bit his lip. He didn’t want to keep talking about David’s ex. “Ginger sure likes him.”

  David laughed. His smile brightened the table, and Kaden wanted to see this happen more often. “Seriously. Quinn asked if we couldn’t adopt Ginger, if we could get a dog.”

  “And?”

  “And, I think you could have a dog sitter in Quinn because there is no way we are getting a dog. If we got one, who would be taking care of her? Me?” David picked up the menu. His hands trembled slightly.

  Kaden laughed. “Fair enough.” He wondered if their dinner made David nervous.

  David cocked his head. “What’s good here?”

  “Everything. I’ve never had a bad meal.”

  “You eat here a lot then?” David’s voice pitched higher.

  Kaden nodded. “Ever since I moved down. The hostess was actually surprised I was having dinner with anyone. Usually I eat alone.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  Kaden laughed. “Really?”

  “Yes, and you know why I would say that. There shouldn’t be any reason for any girl or guy to have a date with you.”

  “So, this is a date?”

  David reached for his glass of water, and almost spilled it. “No, this is a thank you for fixing our A/C and checking on the water heater. I’m paying for your dinner and there’s no night cap involved.”

  “So no sleepovers either?”

  David blushed. “I knew I shouldn’t have said that. It’s a Jason and my rule.” David’s smile quickly disappeared. “No. This is just a thank you dinner.”

  The rest of the dinner went by fast. David thawed out more. The nervousness dissipated, probably helped by the wine. Kaden laughed at the good-natured ribbing he got from David about the Tampa Bay Bucs.

  And of course, they talked about baseball.

  By the time dessert arrived, David was on his second glass of wine; Kaden nursed his third.

  “I think I should leave the car here and not drive. It’s not a far walk. I just hope I don’t get it towed.”

  “Do you care? It’s a rental, right?”

  “True. I intend on doing some car shopping tomorrow and the next day.”

  “It won’t be towed. I know the managers here. I’ll ask tonight’s manager to make sure it isn’t.” Kaden paused. “I’ll walk back with you. As friends, of course.”

  “As friends of course!” David smiled and rested easily back in his chair as they toasted. When their wine glasses were emptied, David closed out their bill and got up.

  After Kaden talked to the manager about David’s car, they walked to David’s house with neither of them saying a word until they left the business district and encountered the residential side of the neighborhood. “Are you glad to be back home?”

  “I am. I didn’t think I would ever come back. So many—”

  “Bad memories?” Kaden asked. No one said anything for a good minute. But the silence was knifing Kaden in the heart. “Was I one of them?”

  David continued walking slowly and didn’t say anything.

  “I’m sorry, David.”

  “For what?”

  “For bringing up the past. It’s been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve recently wondered if I had done things differently. I was pretty confused back then. About a lot of things. I’m sorry what I said to you that night,” Kaden said in a whisper. ‘I wish I could turn back the clock and take everything back. I lost a good friend. A best friend. I lost someone I cared about. A lot. I wish I had never acted that way that night. I wished I had never let my fear about you and me to get to me.”

  David stopped walking and leaned against the wall, his face and body obscured by the evening’s shadows.

  Kaden moved close and stood inches away from David. David averted his gaze and crossed his arms. Kaden’s nose was a fingertip or two away from David’s. “I’m sorry, and I’ll keep repeating it,” Kaden repeated. “Do you forgive me?”

  “We were eighteen, David. Of course, I forgive you. I’ve made so many mistakes in my life myself, and I’m not perfect.”

  Kaden cut the distance between them. With David’s head down, and his eyes were closed, Kaden lifted David’s chin. It was something he used to do with David. He softly kissed David’s lips. David kissed him back, and Kaden moved closer, his thumb stroking David’s cheek. A warm tear wet his thumb. Then David sighed, resting his head on Kaden’s shoulder. For a moment, Kaden closed his eyes and remembered the first time they kissed.

  He closed his eyes and thought back to when they were seventeen, right before senior year. They were in the shadows then, like they were now.

  “David, I want to say something.” Before he could finish his thoughts as his voice trembled, David’s shaking hands were on Kaden’s chest, stopping Kaden from pressing his body closer.

  “Kaden,” David’s voice broke, “I can’t do this again.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kaden said, saddened to hear the pain in David’s voice. He tried to find the words but couldn’t. He was gutted that Kaden still caused him pain. He couldn’t see clearly in the dark but David, his David, was crying, softly. “Are you okay?”

  David didn’t answer but broke away and started walking again, his head down. Kaden followed him, half a step behind until they reached the corner and he caught up. Neither of them said a word until they reached David’s house.

  “Good night,” David said, his voice compressed, as if it was drowning in emotion. David refused to face Kaden.

  “Good night,” Kaden responded. Kaden stood by the steps and didn’t leave his spot until David entered the house and closed the door.

  Kaden’s own house was two blocks north and down a side street, but it seemed a continent away from David.

  Chapter 9

  May 29, 2002, the morning before the senior pool party

  Kaden biked the mile from his parents’ home to David’s. He had a tough time falling asleep the night before. He’d ignored all the signs the last few weeks that their friendship had gotten more complicated.

  He knew David wanted to be more than friends with benefits, and he thought maybe it wasn’t too late for both of them to stay in Orlando. Kaden’s own parents might actually be actually be happy if didn’t go to Emory. He wondered if David had the same thoughts. Maybe go to school here, instead of UCLA?

  LA was so far. At least with Emory, Atlanta was just a few hours’ drive.

  When he pulled up to David’s house, he texted him. No answer. Then he decided to call. It was ten A.M., so David should have been up already. Most of David’s friends from baseball were juniors. They weren’t attending graduation tomorrow, and some had already left for different baseball summer camps since classes and mandatory attendance had already ended, so he knew David wouldn’t be hanging out with anyone this morning unless it was with Sarah, but Sarah told him she was doing something with the graduation committee.

  He should’ve asked David last night when they got together what his plans were for today. But hormones had Kaden wanting to do something else with David. To David.

  In the last few weeks, it was getting easier to distance himself from Emily and spend time with David. Emily had wanted to hang out with her friends. She insisted that he would never get past third base with her anyway unless he put a ring on it. She didn’t want to be in high school and pregnant. And, even though they were going to Emory together, she made it very clear she didn’t plan on getting pregnant during college either, so she always put the brakes on when things got too heated.

  Unlike with Emily, his relationship with David had already moved beyond fingering, hand jobs, and blow jobs. When David gave up his virginity to Kaden on Easter weekend when both their parents were out of town, everything changed.

  Things he did with Emily paled by comparison in intensity, passion, and meaning.

  The last few weeks, Kaden’s thoughts when he was alone in bed had turned toward David, away from Emily.

  He knew his father, the pastor, wouldn’t approve of his sexual relationship with David. He wasn’t sure about his mother.

  Kaden walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. He tried David’s phone again, and David’s familiar ring tone could be heard behind the front door.

  When the front door opened, Kaden expected to see David smiling. Instead, Mr. Peterson answered the door and stepped out in the porch. At six-foot-four and wider than the front door, Mr. Peterson was intimidating.

  “Morning, Kaden. If you’re looking for David, he’s not here. Sarah picked him up about ten minutes ago. I would say call or text him, but he left his cell phone behind.”

  “Oh,” Kaden hesitated for a moment. “I wanted to drop off a gift for him. A graduation gift.”

  Mr. Peterson crossed his arms. “Well, I can give it to him, or you can wait until graduation.”

  “I’d rather leave it with him now. Graduation tomorrow might be hectic.”

  Kaden fished out the gift from his book bag and handed it to Mr. Peterson. The gold bow on the small rectangular box was slightly crushed from being in his bag.

  Mr. Peterson studied the outside of the gift, as if expecting a snake to bite him.

  “It’s a Cross pen and pencil set. For college.”

  Mr. Peterson nodded, then eyed Kaden. “You know, Kaden, you’re a good friend to David. But David’s got a bright future ahead of him in baseball. The next four or five years are going to be very important to him. Sometimes life tries to be very distracting. Girls can be distracting.” Mr. Peterson paused. “Friends can be distracting.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kaden nodded, though he wasn’t sure where this was going.

  “My wife and I had frankly been worried about his friendship with you. David has OCD, so whenever he takes on something, he commits more than one hundred percent to it. He obsesses about every little thing. From when he was a little kid, he obsessed about every type of pitch. He’d make me videotape the big pitchers of the day so he could watch them throw the ball. Every type of pitch, he wanted to know. I can’t tell you how many hours I took him to the batting cage or took him to spring training games just to watch the pros play.” Mr. Peterson paused. “He wants to be an MLB pitcher.”

  “Yes, sir, I understand that.” Kaden knew what he was talking about. “I’ve felt that way about sports too. But David takes his passion to another level.”

  “But lately, he hasn’t been doing that. He’s been obsessing about something else.”

  There was an awkward pause.

  Kaden’s face flushed. He worried Mr. Peterson was going into something he couldn’t confirm or deny.

  “He’s been obsessing about you. Mrs. Peterson does the laundry you know. A few times, she’s found clothing that didn’t belong to him. We’re not talking shirts, either.” Mr. Peterson crossed his arms, glanced up at the sky as if making a silent prayer. “We’d catch him staring at his cell phone a few times. He’s either debating calling you, or he stares at it, after you’ve called like a lost person. The other day, his mother brought me his yearbook. There’s a picture of you and David sitting in the bleachers. I guess one of your school photographers caught it. Some of the comments were nice, but a lot of them were not very nice.”

  Kaden nodded. He’d gotten some of the comments too on his recently returned yearbook. You guys are so cute together could be laughed off as good-natured ribbing, or bromance stuff. But the others weren’t: Who’s the top and who’s the bottom? Who’s the pitcher and catcher? And Butt Pirates! Those comments couldn’t be easily overlooked by a protective parent.

  Kaden himself took a black magic marker and blacked out all those comments just in case his own parents wanted to see his yearbook.

  “Look I grew up in the sixties. I personally don’t have a problem with anything that’s different and alternative. But my only son is eighteen. You’re eighteen, Kaden. You don’t want rumors following you to college. You don’t want to be targeted with harassment, bullied, or beat on. I surely don’t that for my son. My wife and I love him to the moon and back. We’d do anything to protect his future.”

  “I certainly understand, Mr. Peterson.”

  “Well, I’m worried for him. I found catalogs for UCF and Valencia College. I hope he’s not being influenced to turn down and return his scholarship award to UCLA. UCF is a good school, but it’s not a Division 1 baseball school whose players get heavily recruited. Giving up that scholarship will be a big mistake. It will change his life like nothing else will.” Mr. Peterson exhaled loudly. “And, it pains me to say this knowing your parents are good people, but this is our son. My son. I will break up your friendship with him if it’s the last thing I do if it means he is turning down a baseball scholarship to UCLA.”

  Kaden crossed his arms. “I’ve always been supportive of David. I would never try to interfere with his dreams.”

  “That’s good. So that means you’re not planning on staying here, are you? I mean, I know from talking to your parents, that you plan to go to Emory. You haven’t changed your mind and not told them, have you?”

  “Frankly, sir, that’s still an option.”

  “Ah. So that’s probably where he got this idea of staying.” Mr. Peterson clapped his large hand on Kaden’s shoulder. “Listen, son. I’m not your father. But there are two things very important to a young man in his life. One is whether he pursues a passion for education or a trade. Two is finding someone he can partner in life. Please do not be a distraction to my son. I don’t want him giving up his dreams and career for something that hormones brought on. Boys will be boys. My wife and I turned a blind eye to what’s been going on with David and you. But you need to end it. I’m begging you. For David’s sake. If you care for David at all, don’t let him throw away his future. And if you don’t care as much for David as he cares for you, then do the right thing and stop being his new obsession. Lie to him, tell him you hate him, do anything you have to so he goes to UCLA, I’m begging you. It would literally break my heart and my wife’s heart if he doesn’t take advantage of what is being offered to him.”

  Kaden stood dumbfounded. He didn’t say anything, then Kaden without blinking, walked back to his bike, and pedaled his bike away from the house, trying to stem the wet corners of his eyes from getting teary. Without looking over his shoulder, he shouted. “Mr. Peterson, can you make sure he gets my gift?”

  He peddled off before he got another sermon.

  All these weeks, he’d thought he and David had been discreet. Now he worried if his parents knew. Half the school was laughing at him and David apparently. Why else the comments in the yearbook?

  He didn’t want to screw up his life.

  And he didn’t want to screw up David’s life. Mr. Peterson’s words replayed on his mind. Was going away, and leaving Orlando, the best thing for David and him?

  What was I thinking for messing around with David?

  Chapter 10

  David combed Quinn’s hair, fixed the little blue bow tie with pink polka dots that David put on him, and tucked in the pink shirt Quinn wore. “You look handsome. Wait right here and let me take a couple of pictures.” David moved down the stairs and stood at the sidewalk. “Now look at me. Okay, now look to your right. Now look to your left.”

  David checked the photos he took with his cell, then debated putting them on Instagram. Instead, he selected three of the best photos and texted them to Jason.

  “Are we going now?” Quinn asked, grabbing his Han Solo action figure from the bench on the porch.

  “Yes, let’s go.” David lifted Quinn, secured Quinn in the booster seat, then closed the door.

  “How far is this church?”

  “It’s not far.”

  “And this church is the one you went to when you were a kid?”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10