Page 136 of Out of the Storm

“Uh . . . me.”

Gary’s heart fluttered from excitement. “Really?”

“Only if I can expand our hours. I’d be able to sell more ads that way too.”

Gary studied Jeff’s face for even a hint of insincerity. Was Jeff teasing him? Gary still hadn’t responded when Jeff continued on.

“I’ll need better music too.Mymusic.”

“Still not a fan of my yard-sale albums?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, so, you want your own shows, then?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“And we’ll keep living together?”

“I should fucking hope so,” Jeff said. He reached up to touch Gary’s cheek. “Come on, radio man. Let’s run the station together.”

Gary leaned into Jeff’s palm. “Jeff, that would like a fairy tale to me, but...” He pulled back. “Gosh, it’d be like fourteen hours of work every day. Are you sure you’d be up for it?”

“Yeah. I’m sure,” Jeff said automatically.

Overjoyed, Gary went to pull Jeff in for another body-crushing hug, but Jeff placed a hand on Gary’s chest, stopping him.

“Except Sundays,” Jeff insisted. “I want to make sure we have time together. Alone.”

“No programmingat all? Boy, I’m not sure how our listeners will feel about that.”

“Gare.”

“Alright, fine, we can try it. But if we ever need to fill the time, I think we’d have to sell it. Maybe to a couple of churches orsomething. Not that they’d want to buy radio time from two men living in sin.”

“Who else would they buy it from?”

“Good point. I’m sure Youngstown and Cleveland prices are through the roof, comparatively.”

Gary chewed on his lip. Could they really make this work? He still had a hefty sum coming to him from his father’s passing. Maybe they could purchase newer, better equipment with it, too, not only better records. Wow, how incredible this could be! Working with Jeff!

For a couple of seconds, Gary started losing himself to the fantasy of it—waking up next to each other every morning, having coffee together while they prepared the morning news segment, co-hosting a couple of hours of programming every morning and evening—it would be nothing short of magical.

“So? Yes?” Jeff asked.

“Yes.Of courseyes,” Gary answered without hesitation. “I can hardly believe it. Jeffrey, this is... this is a dream come true.”

Jeff hooked his arms around Gary’s neck and leaned forward, pausing when their lips were mere inches apart.

“Yeah, it is,” Jeff said softly. “Dream come true.”

And then Jeff captured Gary’s mouth in a kiss.

Epilogue

Jeff

One year later . . .

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