Page 48 of Out of the Storm

“Gare?”

Air rushed out of Gary’s lungs in one forceful huff as he sank to his knees.

Heart still thudding wildly, it took a moment before he pulled himself together enough to call back. “Jeff?”

Footsteps, followed by the turning of the doorknob.

“Are you okay?” Jeff asked. “You never went on the air.”

“Yeah,” Gary said, still so rattled that his hands continued to tremble. “Boy, Jeff, you nearly scared me out of my skin. I thought I had locked everything when I came home earlier.”

“I broke in.”

Gary huffed a laugh. “Oh, well, that’s normal.”

“I never said I was normal,” Jeff said with a snort.

“Didn’t you call?”

“No.”

Gary should probably make fun of Jeff for not calling first, but some strange part of him preferred it this way: Jeff rushing over to see him like a... like a knight in shining armor. Or, well, maybe more like a hitman, considering the breaking and entering.

“How’d you manage to bypass the lock?” Gary asked.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“God, that’s frightening,” Gary said, heaving a sigh, his chest warming in a pleasant way from the knowledge that his knight-in-shining-armor-slash-hitman had gone through such lengths to reach him. When Jeff knelt beside him, Gary threw him a smile. “It’s kind of sexy too, somehow.”

“Thanks,” Jeff said, smiling back. “So, uh, what happened?”

“Just . . .” Gary winced. “Someone died.”

Jeff’s smilevanished. “Someone?”

“My... uhm...” Gary’s stomach churned. He hadn’t even said it out loud yet. “My dad.”

“Oh. Fuck.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Gary said quickly. “I barely knew him. He left when I was a kid.” Embarrassed heat crept up the back of Gary’s neck, and he looked away. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Uh, seems like it is.”

“Yeah, okay, itis, but it shouldn’t be. I mean, he left, and his leaving broke everything.” Gary pushed his frames up on top of his head, rubbed his eyes, and then lowered his glasses again. “I think a part of me had been hoping that he’d come home with a perfectly valid explanation for leaving. Or maybe I was hoping he’d come back on his knees, pleading forgiveness? I’m not really sure. Silly either way, right? Geez, Gare, how pathetic.”

“Nah, it’s not silly. I’d have probably felt like that too.”

“I still loved him, I think,” Gary said softly. “Even though he left us.”

Slowly, Jeff’s hand came into view, inching across the brown carpet, and then, Jeff’s fingertips touched his. “I’m sorry you lost him, radio man.”

Gary’s fingertips started to tingle, right where he and Jeff were touching, and soon that pins-and-needles-like sensation seemed to travel up to his chest. It settled there, warming him and comforting him and taking up so much room that Gary could barely even breathe. When was the last time he’d been cared for like this? If only he had the courage, Gary would have said, as cheesy as it was, that Jeff’s sweetness had literally taken his breath away.

Instead, once the enormity of the moment passed and Gary could breathe again, he sat with the lovely tingling warmth for a while, silently savoring its beauty.

Finally, he managed to say, “Thank you, Jeffrey. I’m so happyyou’re here.”

Without even a pause, Jeff said, “Me too.”

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