Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Together,” Emerson said, interlacing their fingers, hoping to help bolster his courage. “In love.”
They grinned goofily at each other. Damn, did he adore the man.
His mother stared as if working the information through in her brain. “You…you’re in a relationship? For how long?”
“It just happened,” Rhys replied. “The relationship part, not the feelings part. It’s a long story.”
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, then clapped her hands excitedly. “This is amazing.”
Emerson squeezed his hand as Rhys leaned forward. “Sorry if this wasn’t the right time to—”
“Of course it was. You two are made for each other.”
Emerson threw Rhys a smug look. Told you so.
“In fact, your mother and I…” She trailed off, her eyes snagging on a photo on the wall of their family, as his pulse throbbed at his neck. The framed picture had been there so long, Emerson had nearly forgotten about it, along with all the others in the house he’d never placed in storage. Aunt Janice had encouraged him to keep them as a reminder for the kids’ sake—for his as well. It was the year of his sixteenth birthday, if his memory served him well. He was holding up his license in the picture, a huge smile on his face, and even Rhys had somehow gotten in the shot, probably at his mom’s urging. Christ, look at them. So young and innocent. And now, six years later, he knew just how brutal life could be. How beautiful too.
“Please,” Emerson said with a hint of desperation in his tone. “What about my mom?”
“We’d joke about it, you know?” she mused. “We’d say if only both of our boys were gay, we’d have a match made in heaven. I mean, the way you two cared for each other all your lives.”
Holy shit. Emerson blinked back tears.
“She’d be happy if she was looking down right now—wherever she is.”
Emerson began swiping furiously at his eyes, which only created a chain reaction in the room. Rhys, then his mom, began sniffling too as Rhys wound his arm around his shoulder and kissed his temple.
“Oh, honey,” Mrs. Lancaster said. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
Emerson shook his head. “I’m not sad.” Well, maybe a little. Okay, a lot. But mostly in awe. “Thank you for telling me that. It means so much.”
“Of course. You boys make me so happy.” His mom stood up, kissed each of them on the head, then padded out of the room, complaining about having to reapply her mascara.
Once she left, they sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
“You really want me to live here?” Rhys murmured.
“Only if you want. I’m sorry I sprang that on you. Maybe it wasn’t the right—”
“I feel like this is where I belong. Is that okay?”
“It’s more than okay. It’s the best news I’ve heard.”
Rhys lifted Emerson’s hand and kissed his palm. “This is one of those big moments again, isn’t it?”
“Where we fall more deeply in love?”
“Totally and completely.”
They tangled their arms together in a tight embrace, filling all the spaces in between them.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Rhys
“You can do it, Audrey,” Rhys said from beside her on the mat.
Once in her harness she’d balked, looking upward toward the summit, which wasn’t a summit at all but only the ceiling above the climbing wall at a local gym.
Still, the wall would’ve seemed steep to a group of teens who’d never done anything more than hike on different trails, sometimes at a higher altitude but mostly only on winding, rugged terrain.
She bit her lip. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“I’ll climb with you.” Decision made, he reached his hand out to the instructor he knew from Flying High, then strapped on a harness.
Some kids from their hiking group clapped in encouragement. Audrey was the last to go up, having stalled all afternoon, even though climbing had been her idea to begin with and most in the group agreed to try it.
Their teen hiking group had gotten started late fall, and they were making do during the winter months, sticking to warmer days and paved—less treacherous—paths.
Hiking had fulfilled Rhys in ways he’d never imagined, as well as being with the teen group, most of whom were enthusiastic and fun to be around. Those who couldn’t hang usually dropped out, which was for the best. He’d encouraged them to try again next year.
Audrey had gotten her friend Maddy to join as well as Kevin, who’d only hung in for two weeks, because according to Audrey, it just wasn’t his thing. Emerson tried not to drill Rhys about the kid, but Rhys knew he worried, so he assured him that Kevin and Audrey were just friends, which at their age was for the best, though she’d roll her eyes if he told her that. Plus, he didn’t want to blow his cool-boyfriend-slash-parental-figure status. They had a good relationship, and even though Audrey occasionally tried to pull the divide-and-conquer, dramatic teen stuff, he and Emerson had remained a united front.