Page 36 of Torch Songs

“But, uhm, what about ifyouhave company,” Seth asked. Over the sound of the wind and the distance between phones, Guthrie heard him hiss, “See? Ididask him,” and Guthrie masked a smile as he realized Kelly was prying into his love life.

“If I do have company,” Guthrie said, pretending he hadn’t heard, “then company is coming over Saturday night. You said the girls would be up in Sacramento then, right?”

“Wait,” Seth said, his voice suddenly excited. “You got company?”

Guthrie shook his head, because the vote was still out on that one. “Well, sort of,” he said, clutching Tad’s shirt closer. “Ihadcompany two weeks ago, and I was supposed to have company this week, but company bailed.”

He tried not to let his disappointment be too obvious. He’d expected Tad to ghost him. He’d been waiting for it. Instead, he’d gotten a text when Tad had gotten back to Sacramento and started work again, and… and it was like they hadn’t stopped texting. Like the weekend—the awful parts and the amazing parts—were just an extension of… of…knowing Tad. He still sent Guthrie texts during the day. Guthrie still replied on his break. And at night? Oh damn. At night, once a night, unless Tad was working, Tad would call. They’d chat briefly—fifteen, twenty minutes, usually after ten at night when Tad knew Guthrie would be home—but it was so damned homey. Tad’s voice on the other end of the phone so… sonormal. Like they reallywerein each other’s lives and not an anomaly. Guthrie had started to warm to the idea that Tad would… might be… just may become sort of an actual person in his life.

Which was why the night before had been so disheartening. Tad had been planning to come see their last performance at the Washoe on Thursday night. Yeah, sure, The Crabs had the other gig at the Scorpio—at least until mid-July—but their last night was usually a thing. AndTadhad seemed to pick up on this, because he’d gotten permission to get his sister out of her halfway house. He was going to take her to the Washoe, then she was going to sleep on Guthrie’s couch, and Tad would take herhome while Guthrie had been at work on Friday so he and Tad could spend the entire weekend together.

There would be another trip to Bodega Bay on Sunday, hopefully, and… and it would be like they werereal. Guthrie Arlo Woodson was in a real relationship, something with hope at the end.

And then Tad had called him up the night before as Guthrie was leaving work.

“Baby,” he’d said, and Guthrie’s eyebrows had gone up as he’d gotten into his truck.

“What’s wrong?”

And instead of denying it, Tad had said, “Look—we’re about to go out of cell service, so if the call shorts out, don’t panic. But Chris’s old mentor called up this afternoon and asked for SAC PD’s help on a raid. He’s up in a little tiny town in Tahoe National Forest, and he’s not sure he can trust everybody up there with him. I…. Guthrie, Chris is my partner and?”

“And you need to go with him,” Guthrie said. “I get it. You got his back, he’s got yours. Don’t sweat it.” He was trying to sound grown up and mature, but some of his hurt must have seeped out.

“You know,” Tad murmured, “I was really looking forward to this weekend. I should be back tomorrow, and I can be by your apartment when you get home from work. How’s that sound?”

Guthrie swallowed. “It sounds like you need to concentrate on doing your job and staying safe,” he said firmly. “I’d love to see you this weekend, but the safe part—that’s gotta be your priority.”

“Thanks, Guth—”

And true to his word, the call had dropped.

So Guthrie wasn’t sure what to tell Seth now. “Listen,” he said softly. “The girls’ll be leaving on Friday night and cominghome on Sunday night, and if my company gets the weekend off, that’s his sweet spot right there.”

“Where does company live,” Seth asked, “that he can’t come by other days?”

Guthrie sighed. “Company lives in Sacramento,” he admitted. “Yeah, I know. It’s a long way off for company, I get it.”

“It’s a hard way to have company,” Seth said quietly. “Is he good to you?”

And by dropping the pretense of “company,” Seth made it real.

“He’s a detective in Sacramento,” Guthrie said. “And he’s been…greatso far. But you know. Guys with old-man problems. I can’t seem to stay away.”

Seth snorted. “Maybe that’s because old-man problems mean they’re invested in bigger things. Family things?”

Guthrie thought of Tad’s sister. “Yeah. Those things.”

“It’salmostlike you want a guy with a big family, because you deserve a big family of your own,” Seth said, then he ruined the snark by saying, “Did I do that right?” to Kelly, who was obviously still listening.

“You did that fine. Now give me the phone.” And suddenly Guthrie was having another conversation.

“You can do long distance,” Kelly said bluntly. “And you can do old-man problems. And you can do all the things if he treats you good. Does he treat you good?”

“Y’all, we’ve had a month of texts and a really good weekend,” Guthrie said, laughing and exasperated at once. “He’s been a prince.”

“And he’s your only prince for a really long time,” Kelly said. “And the only prince you’ve ever told us about. So this is important, and it’s going tobeimportant and—what does he do for a living?”

“Law enforcement,” Guthrie told him, cringing a little. Law enforcement would have blown right over Seth’s head, but Kelly’s family wasnota fan.

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