Page 33 of Out of the Storm

“Pretty much.” He took the ice cream tub out of the freezer and set it on the counter. Then he found two spoons and handed one to Jeff. “Now, remember:savor.”

With a roll of his eyes, Jeff scooped up a spoonful. He took his time eating it and then went in for a second spoonful.

“It’s...” Jeff took a third bite. “Yeah, I like it. I mean, it’s vanilla.”

“Better than you remember, huh?”

Instead of responding, Jeff went foranotherscoop.

“Huh?” Gary said, verbally nudging him.

Jeffreallynudged him. With his elbow. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Gloating.”

“Oh, let me have some fun. I’m converting someone from chocolate ice cream to vanilla. That’s no small feat.”

“Uh-huh,” Jeff said, scooping up some more ice cream, clearly unable to resist both a smileandsome more ice cream.

“Good ol’ vanilla,” Gary teased before eating a bite himself. He set the spoon back on the counter. “It may lookplain or, heck,boringeven, but take two seconds to really sit with the flavor, andbam!” Gary clapped his hands together. “You see that it isn’t plain or boring in the least.”

By now, Jeff was practically beaming, and, wow, what a rare sight that was. If only Gary could somehow save Jeff’s million-watt smile so that he could see it whenever he wanted. But he’d never be able to keep such a thing, not even if he’d been able to take a photograph that very instant. Because Jeff’s smile had an energy to it, one that Gary knew couldn’t be sufficiently captured by a roll of film.

For the next few minutes, they stood next to each other in the kitchen, eating spoonful after spoonful of ice cream, both of them smiling like they had maybe lost their minds.

When they had nearly finished the entire stripe of vanilla, Gary noticed that Jeff’s hand had come to rest on the counter close to his own. He really wanted to hold it. Even though Gary couldn’t be sure Jeff liked him like that, the two of themhadbeen becoming closer over the last few weeks. Earlier that evening, Jeff had shared his burger. And, heck, he had come over unannounced to watch Gary do his radio show in the first place. Maybe there was something there. Maybe...

Taking a breath, Gary shifted his hand to cover Jeff’s. Before Gary could even recover from the thrill of it—the feeling that one thousand volts of electricity had been sent surging through his veins—Jeff’s head snapped up to meet Gary’s eyes, and the expression he had wasn’t happiness or excitement or the playful sort of nervousness one might expect if someone you liked was trying to hold your hand. Instead, it was fear. Quickly, Gary pulled his hand away. His stomach plummeted to the floor.

“Sorry, I—”

“No.” Jeff took a step backward, pausing to swallow. “It’s late. Ineed to...”

“Yeah, of course,” Gary blurted out. “Go ahead. I’ll talk to you... some other time.”

Or never, probably.

Jeff set his spoon down in the sink and then turned and left while Gary stayed in the kitchen, regret still sitting heavy in his stomach and fixing him to the spot like an iron shackle. After a while, Gary finally mustered up the will to put the rest of the ice cream away, and then he started toward his bedroom.

Cheese and crackers, he had really screwed up.

***

The next evening, Gary’s stomach was churning unpleasantly as he wrapped up the end ofTell Me S’more. Normally, he’d have been excited—practically bursting out of his skin, really—because he’d be preparing to sputter sometinywhite lie over the mic—some incorrect factoid conveniently related to something he and Jeff had previously discussed—in order to playfully bait Jeff into calling him. But Jeff wouldn’t ever call him anymore, he was sure of it. Gary could have kicked himself for his behavior. Why had he made the stupid assumption that Jeff had been into him? Poor Jeff had obviously only wanted to be his friend. And, in typical-Gary fashion, he’d now mucked everything up.

Heart heavy, Gary started for the bedroom, his muscles sore and tired from not having slept much the previous night, and the moment he turned the knob, the phone began to ring. He froze there, unable to move for a moment, each ring hitting him like a slap in the face. Because it should have been Jeff calling. It was probably Mel instead.

With a sigh, Gary returned to the studio to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, radio man,” Jeff said from the other end of the line.

Gary’s eyes flew open wide. “Jeff?!”

“Yes?”

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