Page 4

Two

Lunch wasat a gorgeous beach at the halfway point of the day. Despite a slight fall chill, there were a good number of people at the shore, in addition to the riders and crew, enjoying the cloudless day. Jason, Drew, Kyle, and Diane sat on a concrete barrier, watching the waves roll in and out while they finished lunch.

Jason caught a flash of red hair glistening in the sun. His heart fluttered a little seeing Ben’s handsome yet tired expression as he rested his bike against a tree.

“Hey, Ben!” Jason waved.

It took Ben a moment to spot him. He returned the wave and offered a weary smile.

“Hey! Let me grab some food and I’ll be over.”

“Who’s that?” Diane asked.

“The guy I helped with the flat earlier. First year. Nice guy.”

“And not bad looking either,” said Drew.

Ben joined them, and there were introductions all around.

“How’s it been going?” Jason asked as Ben sat down next to him.

“I thought it was bad enough that I walked up the big hill this morning, but the hills keep coming. Didn’t someone say it flattened out after that?” Ben took a big bite out of his turkey sandwich.

“It’s all relative,” Drew said. “Compared to that monster, it might as well be flat. It doesn’t truly smooth out until about the last twenty miles.”

“I swear the elevation chart is deceptive.”

“I stopped looking at that after the first year.” Jason nibbled on a peanut butter cookie he’d picked up with lunch. “It caused more trouble for my mental health than it was worth. Now I only pay attention to the mileage between rest stops.”

“At least the scenery is awesome and the people are fun. Coming in here, I was with iPod guy again. We arrived to the soundtrack from Priscilla. That music kept me going.”

Jason loved how, even through the tiredness he heard in Ben’s voice, the newbie sounded happy. He might even call it content, although the contentment might also come from being on the beach on a gorgeous day.

“Jason mentioned you all met each other on your first year. It’s cool how you all became a team.”

Diane nodded. “That first day I managed to round up some great company. My girlfriend is on the crew now. Michele wasn’t having any more of the biking, but she’s here. You can meet her at dinner tonight. She’s out in a van somewhere.”

“That’s great she still comes with you even though she doesn’t want to ride,” Ben said.

“We lost a friend a few years ago and wanted to give back in his honor. People forget that the virus still kills people so….”

Ben nodded and Drew put his hand on Diane’s.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to bring us all down.” Her voice swung back to the energetic tone she’d started with.

“Not at all,” Ben said.

“Anyway.” Diane strung that word out to further the transition. “I met Jason at lunch. We were getting food and got talking about a neighborhood we’d passed through with spectators holding up signs and waiving at the riders. That support was incredible. He joined Michele and me after lunch.”

“They found us toward the end of that day.” Drew laid his head on Kyle’s shoulder. “Michele helped me deal with a chain that had come off.”

Watching Drew and Kyle always made Jason ridiculously happy. The ride had a few couples on it, but something about Drew and Kyle with the way they looked out for each other and checked in was special. Sometimes it was as simple as a look across a parking lot—a cocked eyebrow or variation on a smile—other times it was bringing food, or a drink or simply quiet chatter in areas of the road where it was safe to ride side by side. Jason hoped to one day have the kind of tight relationship they did.

“So cool that you’re all so close? All of you in the city?” Ben dug into his bag of chips and popped a couple barbeque ones in his mouth.

“We bailed out last year to Seattle,” Kyle said.

“But we couldn’t miss this,” Drew added.