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“Guilty as charged.” Holden eyed the store’s layout, trying to decide if he wanted to head to military history or look through the fiction section first. “What about you?”
Greg shrugged. “Mostly indifferent as a kid, which is why I ended up in the army. Didn’t have the grades to go to college and didn’t have much interest in it either.”
“And now?”
“I’ve always got a TBR list a mile long on my Kindle.” Another shrug. “Easier to take my library on the road that way.”
“That’s the truth. What do you like to read?”
They’d started wandering without a plan, passing into the fiction stacks but paying little attention to the books.
“Pretty much anything, but I’m partial to graphic novels.”
“You mean likeSandman?”
“Yeah. I like fantasy and superheroes but also serious books likeFun HomeandHeartstopper, books that have to do with queer lives.” A blush rose to Greg’s cheeks.
“What was that thought?” Holden asked, enthralled by the way Greg had turned suddenly shy.
Casting his gaze toward the ceiling, Greg gave a one-shoulder shrug this time. “I like romance.”
Holden restrained himself from laughing. Barely. “You mean like those heaving bosoms and scantily clad women being rescued by some slab-chested Fabio?”
“Not exactly.” Greg took a turn down a new aisle and brought Holden into the romance section of the bookstore. They stopped in front of an LGBTQ display, and Greg gestured at the books, some of which showed the ubiquitous shirtless hunk with six-pack abs, but enough of them displayed same-gendered couples that Holden knew he wasn’t looking at the kind of romances his mother had read. Not by a long shot.
“This is one of my favorites,” Greg said, pointing to an illustrated cover. “And that one.” The book displayed a devastatingly handsome guy in a tux. “It’s a whole series, and they’re all great.” Greg gave him a wicked grin. “You’d be surprised how often a shared hotel bed leads to a relationship.”
Holden’s heart nearly stopped, then skipped a beat as it started up again. He laughed to cover up what Greg’s comment was doing to him and reached for the only thing he could think of to move the conversation elsewhere. “Don’t they get boring after a while? I mean, the plot’s always the same, right?”
That comment earned Holden a withering look, but it was tempered by a twitch in the corner of Greg’s mouth.
“You almost sound like a straight guy, saying that,” Greg said, again with the barely contained smile that softened the insult. “You read thrillers and mysteries, right? Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, James Patterson.”
“Sometimes.” In truth, Holden preferred books by Michael Cunningham, George Saunders, Anthony Doerr, but reading tech and military porn was another part of his straight-guy costume, so he made a point of carrying one on his trips. Sometimes he even read them, but they weren’t his preferred choice.
“And?” Greg asked with a raised eyebrow that made Holden laugh.
“Okay. Point taken. Show me some more of your favorites.”
With a bit more prompting, Greg showed him some more of the books he liked reading. Holden made a mental note of their titles and vowed to download a couple onto his e-reader that night.
“I showed you mine. Now it’s your turn,” Greg said. “What are your favorites?”
They spent a couple of hours wandering through the store, picking up books from the shelves and sharing what they liked or didn’t about each one, or discovering new titles and authors, and comparing ideas of what they thought happened from reading the blurb on the back. They teased each other with some of the odd tchotchkes, Greg threatening to buy Holden aPride and Prejudicescarf after he’d confessed to hating that book when he was in high school. Holden retaliated by saying he needed to use the restroom, then bought a Jon Snow toy because Greg had admitted to having a huge crush on Kit Harrington. When he’d presented the toy to Greg, the man had blushed but didn’t tell Holden to return it.
As they wandered, they shared bits about themselves. In the children’s section, Greg showed Holden his favorite books from his childhood—A Series of Unfortunate Events—and Holden shared his—20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. They bonded over a shared love for Maurice Sendak andWhere the Wild Things Areand expressed joy at the diversity of LGBTQ titles now available for kids and shared a wish that more of those books had been available when they were growing up.
Holden brought Greg over to the art books and told him about his mother’s painting and his architect father while leafing through the glossy pages of a monograph on a painter with whom his mother had studied before getting married.
By the time they decided to grab some lunch, they each had a couple of new books and a longer TBR list than when they’d started. In addition, Holden knew more about Greg, his likes and dislikes, than he would have if they’d spent the time simply talking. It had been a different kind of intimacy, like getting a snapshot of how Greg’s mind worked, what touched his heart, and what broke it, and Holden had to admit he was more attracted than ever. Greg had a lively mind, a subtle but mischievous sense of humor, and truly seemed to be a kind person. He’d chosen gifts not only for his parents, but for many of the people who worked at the inn as well.
As far as first dates went, Holden had to say this one looked extremely promising, but it wasn’t over yet.
Greg suggested they get some lunch at the Denver Truck Stop Food Hall, a warehouse space that had been converted into a kind of indoor food truck plaza where they could pretty much get anything they wanted to eat. While they waited for the Lyft, Holden’s phone buzzed with an incoming call. He glanced at the caller ID, then told Greg he needed to take it and stepped to the side because it was his boss.
The phone call was short and sweet and not unexpected: Holden’s meeting had been canceled due to a change in schedules with several of the higher-ups. They’d try again in a few weeks.
“Don’t know if you’re going to be able to get out of there for a bit yet, so don’t sweat it if you want to take a few days of R and R,” his boss told him.
