AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Friday, August 12, 2022
San Francisco
Sol’s fingers were as busy as his mind, and the website for the Redbridge Theater was looking good. He estimated a couple more days, three at the most, and it’d be finished. It was one of his more interesting jobs.
He had a list of others that promised to be a whole lot less interesting, but hey, the boring stuff paid the bills too, and it filled the hours when he wasn’t working as a counselor.
Sol was never one to stand still for very long. He had to be doing something. As far as he was concerned, inactivity only led to one thing—too much time to think—and he’d done enough of that in recent years to be in gold medal qualification.
Right on cue, his gaze drifted to the framed photo on his desk. Liam’s eyes held their habitual light, and he was laughing. Sol remembered the moment as if it were yesterday. Liam had tried to keep a straight face, but at the last minute Sol had cracked a joke, and that was that.
Hey babe.
Time might have diminished the pain, but not the memories, thank God. They were still as fresh and vibrant as ever.
His phone pinged, and he glanced at it. Sol smiled.Wow. Four days.He was impressed. He’d expected some communication from Toby way before now.
Maybe that cowboy of his is slowing him down a little.
He scanned the text.
I’ve checked. Aug 20-27 would be good for a visit. No pressure.
Yeah right.
Sol peered at the desk calendar sitting next to his keyboard. It’d be tight, but if he worked all week and avoided the club, he could manage it—if he wanted to, of course. He picked his phone up and messaged back, smiling to himself. He wasn’t about to capitulatethateasily.
I said I’d think about it.
He set his phone back down and resumed tapping on the keys, anticipating the arrival of another message, maybe one laced with more persuasion.
Nothing.
That made him smile even more. The Toby he’d known prior to this summer wouldn’t have stopped at one text. Maybe life in Montana was teaching him to slow the fuck down. The change of pace had to be huge. He tried to picture Toby in a cowboy hat with spurs on his boots, but it wouldn’t compute.
Now, a whip in his hand? That was something else entirely.
What was the name of that place again? Salvation?
He opened a new window and typed in the search field,Salvation dude ranch Montana.The header for the website was a stunning photo of a lush green pasture, with a huge expanse of cloudless sky, and in the background, a couple of figures on horseback.
When was the last time I did that?
Except he knew. He and his sister Alli had learned to ride pretty much as soon as they were tall enough to grab a saddle. It was something they’d done often, as natural as breathing.
What came as a shock was that he’d missed it, and the image tugged at him.
Sol switched into developer mode and scrolled through the website. Once he’d seen enough, he reached for his phone again.
You don’t need me for your new site. Whoever did the dude ranch website is good. Let them build it.
It didn’t take long for Toby’s reply to appear.
But I think you can do a better job. Plus I want someone who knows the lifestyle.
Sol knew a good designer could turn their hand to anything, provided they had all the information at their fingertips. Still, Toby had a point. Plus, he’d liked what Sol had done for the club.
That header image kept on tugging.
