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Michael shook his head. “She’s twenty-three. She’s engaged to Dante. Of course she isn’t.”
“But you’re twenty. You could stay. You’re old enough to get a job, you could—”
“Mom asked me to go with them, okay?” Michael was pale. “And no, I don’t want to go.” His chest heaved. “You never know. They might hate it and move back.”
“And what if they don’t?” Keith retorted. “What then?”
He squared his shoulders. “Then I guess we both start saving up for a ticket so we can visit each other. That might have to wait a while, though. I’ll still have medical school, you’ve got three more years before you qualify as an architect...”
The front door opened, and Keith froze at the sound of his mom’s voice. “They’re back early.”
“Great. Just in time to hear the good news,” Michael remarked with a heavy hint of bitterness.
Keith grabbed his hands and squeezed. “Now you listen to me. This is not going to tear us apart, do you hear me? We will find a way to be together. And while we’re working on that, we’ll write, okay? A letter a week.” He managed a smile. “So you’d better stock up on writing paper and envelopes because you’re going to need them.”
Michael laughed, his eyes glistening. “Have I told you lately how much I love your attitude?”
“You might have mentioned it once or twice.”
“Are we interrupting something?” Mom asked as she came into the kitchen, loaded down with bags.
“Tell you when we’ve unpacked the groceries,” Keith told her, standing. He and Michael took the bags and placed them on the table.
“You’re good boys.” Mom kissed Michael on the cheek. “Can you stay for dinner?”
Keith stared at him, nodding.
Michael smiled. “Sure, Jean. I was going to ask if I could stay anyway. I’ve got some news to share with you.”
“That sounds ominous,” Dad commented as he brought the remaining bags into the room.
“I thought so too,” Michael confessed. His eyes met Keith’s. “Except someone persuaded me to look on the bright side.”
Love you, Keith mouthed.
Love you too, Michael mouthed back.
Mom chuckled. “I might not be a lip reader, but some things are pretty easy to spot.”
Keith listened as his parents told Michael about Heidi’s boyfriend who was three years older than her, which worried them to no end. He watched his boyfriend’s familiar mannerisms, the way he scraped his fingers through his hair, the way he bit his lip. Michael’s habitual smile was back, thank God, and Keith vowed he would do whatever it took to keep it there.
Australia needs architects too, right?
Friday, December 23, 2022
“I think Bill having family over there wasn’t the real reason he asked for a transfer.” Keith could never prove it, but it was what he believed. He could confront Bill with his suspicions if he could locate him—if he was still alive—but it would achieve nothing.
“I think it’s a momentous step to take to break two people up,” Yuri commented. “If that were true, he must have been a very vindictive man.”
“Well, we’ll never know the truth, will we?”
Learning Michael was dead had broken him, and he was ready to leave all the pain and misery behind.
“Yuri...I’ve made a decision.”
Yuri didn’t speak, but laced his fingers through Keith’s, and in a sudden flash of insight, Keith knew what lay behind his silence.
“You already know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”
