Page 56 of Love in Mission City: The Shorts

With that, we made love long into the night.

Epilogue

Isaac

Showing up at The Owl’s Nest to let Dickens know I’d moved to Mission City was easier than I expected.

He knew of Ben and seemed genuinely pleased for both of us.Glowing with new love, he promised to introduce me to his new beau.

I was happy for him.

My job as harbormaster differed greatly from lightkeeper.All these people.Less so, given winter was well and truly entrenched.But come summer, the place’d be hopping.

I was locking up for the night on my fifth day on the job when a familiar car turned into the parking lot.The walk home was twenty-minutes uphill, but I didn’t mind.Gave me time to settle the day and clear my mind.Yet, Ben had shown up three of the past five days.

“Hop in, it’s cold.”

Barely at the freezing mark and no wind today.Tofino had high winds and was below freezing.

I might’ve been keeping track.Just wishing the new guy luck.Here I tracked river levels, debris, and snow packs.The more snow that fell, the higher the river would crest in the spring.Something to monitor.

I slid into Ben’s ten-year-old Honda.Somewhere on the list of things to buy was a newer car for him.Then he planned to gift me this one.I didn’t need a car, but he pointed out it’d be handy on the days of torrential downpours that were common in the Fraser Valley.

He wasn’t wrong.

I leaned over to give him a kiss on his cheek, but at the last moment, he turned, and our lips met.We might’ve lingered a bit with that one.

He grunted.“Now I want to take you home.”

“So take me home.”

“But I wanted to take you out to Stavros’s tonight.”

“We can go another night.”Truthfully, I looked forward to a night of quiet and could wait to try the local Greek restaurant everyone raved about.

“I made reservations.”A slight tinge of exasperation.

Whether at me or himself, I couldn’t tell.“Then by all means, let’s go.”

It took little time, and soon we parked in the lot behind the restaurant.

I was about to get out of the car when Ben put a restraining hand on my arm.I cocked my head.

“I just…” His blue eyes shone with worry in the streetlight.

Night came early in January.

“We don’t have to go.”Discomfort settled in my chest.“I mean, if it’s important to you, then of course we’ll go.I’m sure they’d be okay if we begged off.”

“No.”He cleared his throat.“We’re going.”He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.

I followed suit.What was going on?

We walked up the staircase and stepped inside the warm and welcoming space.

A gigantic man greeted us with a massive smile.“You must be Ben and Isaac.Everyone is here.”

Everyone?

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