Page 8 of Country Road Romance

“I’m starting to think that you have this idea of what celebrities are like, that they’re just…some sort of heavenly beings that forget what it’s like to be on Earth once they hit it big, but I can assure you that that’s not the case at all,” Charlie said. For a brief moment, Jared almost felt bad at how he’d been treating the other man, particularly since he’d givenhim no reason to be like that. Then he remembered all of the reasons he’d never liked Charlie Garrett to start with. The way that he seemed to only helicopter into West Virginia when it was convenient, the way that he’d try to say something meaningful about LGBTQ+ rights in the country before stepping back from any controversy, the way he didn’t seem to have an investment in the place that gave birth to him.

He also hadn’t forgotten that the entire reason he was letting Charlie go on like this was because he wanted to find out the truth about him. So far, he hadn’t heard anything that outlandish or unexpected, which just made him want to find out more.

“I guess I just got used to the idea that some people do seem to separate themselves from their birthplace.”

“I think you’ll find that people contain multitudes.”

“So you're both a philosopher and an actor? That’s quite impressive.”

Again there was that little bit of an edge to his voice that he couldn’t quite control, but fortunately Charlie seemed to take it in stride.

Jared found a parking space close to the garden–it wasn’t hard, considering it was fairly early on a Thursday and the park wasn’t yet swarmed with its afternoon visitors–and they got out of the truck. Jared closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the clear fall air. As he did almost every time he came here, he marveled that there was this little oasis of calm and nature in the middle of a fairly big city. For a minute he could almost imagine that he was back in the country where he always wanted to be.

“Um…are you okay?”

Jared shook himself out of his reverie. “Yeah, I’m fine. I…,” he stopped, not sure what he was going to say or whether he wanted to be honest with this guy. Then, shrugging, he went on. “I was just thinking about how lucky we are to have a park likethis in the middle of the city. It makes me feel like I’m back in the country.”

“You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy?”

It was an undeniably cheesy thing to say, but for some reason coming from Charlie Garrett–who had that earnest look in his eyes again–it felt just right.

“I guess you could say that. I’ve lived in Huntington for the better part of two decades, but there’s always a part of me that wants to just move back to the country in a nice little cottage with a flock of chickens and forget the rest of the world.”

“I gotta say I didn’t peg you for the type of guy who would like chickens. You strike me more as the turkey sort of man.”

Jared couldn’t resist a laugh at that.

“You know what, Charlie Garrett? You’re not so bad.”

“That’s quite a compliment coming from you.”

Jared narrowed his eyes. “If you keep that up, I might just take it back.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Jared just shook his head and led them over to the small creek that ran through the edge of the park. As they walked up the stairs leading to the garden, Jared couldn’t help but think how he would like to be doing this with someone that he was dating. It had been quite a while since he’d brought anyone here on a date–most guys he’d been with were far too cynical for that sort of thing–and it was actually quite refreshing to see how genuinely invested Charlie seemed to be. He almost seemed like a great big kid, so caught up in the adventure that he forgot to be on his dignity.

Jared wasn’t ready just yet to give Charlie the benefit of the doubt, but he was definitely softening.

You’re getting sentimental in your old age,he thought.

It certainly helped that the roses were in the full flush of their bloom. Even though it was early October, there were still blooms on almost every bush, and as they walked the brick pathways the air was filled with heady scents. This was, Jared thought, the most magical place in all of Huntington and, as absurd as it sounded even to himself, he was glad that he’d brought Charlie here.

“You know,” he said, “this is the place that made me first fall in love with Huntington when I first came here back in the early 2000s. It was just…so magical, and so unlike anything I’d ever encountered. I almost couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to be in a city that had something like this.”

Charlie gave him a little smile. “You really were a little country boy brought to the big city of Huntington, weren’t you?”

Jared knew that Charlie was gently kidding him, but he’d put up with so much teasing about being a country boy (and for being a gay country boy at that), that it always put his back up a bit when someone said something like that.

Charlie, however, with that sixth sense that so many actors seemed to have, immediately recognized his mistake.

“I didn’t mean anything by that, you know. In case you’ve forgotten already, I’m a country boy too, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Then why do you spend so much of your time trying to convince people to forget that about you?Jared almost said. Instead he just gave him a weak smile.

They spent the next few minutes just ambling through the roses, pausing every now and again to lean down and sniff a particularly beautiful specimen. Jared was particularly impressed by the one suitably called “Perfume Factory,” which was perhaps the most fragrant and intensely aromatic rose he’d ever encountered. When Charlie bent down to give it a whiff, hegot such a look of pleasure on his face that Jared couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be the one to cause it.

Behave yourself,he reminded himself.You definitely do not have that kind of relationship with Charlie Garrett and you’re not going to.

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