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Back to how great I looked. My hair was still as thick and healthy as it had been in high school. Scott, on the other hand, was sporting a receding hairline. But somehow the short hairstyle he wore made even thinning hair work. When I had last seen him, he had been barely into his twenties, still a tad round-faced, with hair long enough to fall into his eyes more often than not. There was nothing round about his face anymore; it was strong-jawed, sculpted-angle perfection. Even the little lines next to his hazel eyes looked sexy.
Okay, fine, I looked hot, but so did they. Damn them for having aged so well! And damn me for noticing. I wanted them out of my sight. I wanted them out of my head. I wanted them out of my heart.
But, thankfully, I didn’t get any of those things.
Which brings me to the next picture in the album: Adan is sitting on the grass, surrounded by geese, and looking paler than I would have thought possible for a Latino man. Scott is a couple of feet away, balancing Stephi on his hip, holding Bobby’s hand, and laughing fondly at Adan. And even though you can’t see me, when I look at that picture, I distinctly remember hiding behind the camera and wondering whether I was in a waking dream or a living nightmare.
Scott Boone
IN ALL the years I had known Charlie, he had never yelled at me and I had never refused him anything. But there he was, shaking with anger, glaring daggers, and shouting at me to leave. And there I was, not budging an inch and refusing to give him what he wanted. It was horrible. Every single part of that exchange was horrible. So I did what came naturally and looked to Adan for help.
“I’m afraid of geese!” Adan yelled.
My jaw dropped. We were losing Charlie and he was talking about poultry? I swung around to face Charlie, ready to jump back into the driver’s seat of the regain-his-trust train, and saw that he was looking at Adan in a way that seemed interested rather than angry. That was a hopeful development, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Geese?” Charlie said curiously.
“Yes.” Adan licked his lips nervously. “When I was a kid, my parents took my sister and me to the park. It was big with walking trails and hills and a lake, and the lake had lots of ducks and swans and geese. Well, one time we were there and I had a bag of old bread to feed the ducks. I couldn’t have been more than four or five, and the geese surrounded me, trying to get the bread. I was pretty short and they’re surprisingly big and very aggressive and they have those eyes on the sides of their heads, which is scary as hell and—”
“Why are you telling me this?” Charlie whispered. “I don’t think you said word one about your family the whole time we were together. Why now?”
“Because I want you to know that I’ve changed.” Adan sounded so earnest, so hopeful.
But apparently Charlie didn’t see it that way, because he scoffed and in a disbelieving tone said, “You’ve changed?”
“Yes. You said it yourself, I never told you anything before, and now I confessed—”
“Great. You confessed your deep dark geese-fearing secret.” Charlie rolled his eyes. “Do you actually expect that to make a difference? Do you actually think I give a shit about ducks that freaked you out thirty years ago? Do you—”
“Remember when we went to get pie that night and I wouldn’t share with you?” Adan asked.
Charlie stilled and furrowed his brow. “Which time?”
“Every time,” Adan rasped.
“I remember.” Charlie closed the door and leaned back against it. “At first I thought you didn’t like pie, but when I baked them at home, you always ate them, so I figured you had a germ phobia or something about sharing food.”
“I used your toothbrush the first month we were together,” Adan reminded him. “I never had any phobias where your mouth was concerned, baby.”
“Jesus.” Charlie flicked his eyes toward me and then back to Adan. “You’re exactly the same. Still running on that same track, even with your boyfriend standing a couple of feet away.”
“No, I’m not.” Adan walked to the couch and slumped down.
“Are you saying that wasn’t a come-on? Because that’d make you a slut and a liar. At least before you had the decency to be honest about your motives.”
“I’m not denying the come-on.” Adan looked at me, the question clear from his expression. I nodded, and he turned back to Charlie. “From the first moment I saw you, I was attracted to you and that never stopped. Not while we were together. Not while we were apart. And not now.” He glanced at me again, and I could see how nervous he was, so I walked to the couch and sat next to him, resting my hand on his knee to give him support. With his gaze fixed on Charlie, he said, “I want you, baby. I never stopped wanting you. I was honest with you about that then and I’m being honest about it now.” He covered my hand with his. “But I wasn’t always honest about everything.”
