Page 99 of Resilience on Canvas

“You want to be Henry Davis?” he said, his voice trembling from the rush of emotion. “You want to take my name?”

“Uhm, maybe? If you want me to.”

“Really?” Robert said, blinking fast to try to keep the tears falling.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m yers, Robert. Forever. Even if we can’t get married for real.”

“God, Hen, I’d love that.”

“Good, ’cause I’ve been practicin’ my signature,” Henry said with a little laugh. “Obviously.”

“Was that what you were workin’ on when you woke up this mornin’? I noticed you had yer sketchbook in bed, but I figured you were drawin’.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep well. I kept thinkin’ about how excited I was for our life together out here.”

“Yer too sweet,” Robert said before kissing the side of Henry’s head.

“I know, but you like sweet things, right?”

Robert smiled, his entire body filling with wonderful warmth. “Right.” He looked at Henry’s messy signatures and sighed. “I love you, Henry.”

“I love you too, Robert.”

Later that night, Robert fell asleep holding Henry close, Henry’s new name echoing in his head as visions of their future together unfolded like a movie behind his eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Robert

Earlythenextmorning,Robert and Henry woke when the sun was only barely peeking up over the horizon. Quickly, they hopped out of bed and got ready to hopefully catch one of the trucks that would be heading out east to the valley. After putting on a pair of blue overalls and a long-sleeved tan shirt, Robert turned to his nightstand to grab his wallet (which only had a few pitiful coins left in it) and shoved it into his right front pocket.

Just before leaving to meet Henry, who was waiting in the kitchen, Robert caught sight of Henry’s sketchbook and paused to look at the page where Henry had scribbled his new name. A smile split Robert’s face when he saw the twenty or so versions ofHenry Davisscrawled across the off-white paper. He traced one of them with his index finger, the oils from his hand smudging some of the charcoal. Even though the streaks his finger left behind had blurred some of the letters together, it was still perfect. Because Henry’s new name was perfect.Henrywas perfect. What a lucky bastard Robert was to have found him.

Carefully, Robert tore off the bottom right corner of the paper, ripping only enough so that he could save one of the signatures for himself, and tucked it into his wallet. Now Robert could seeHenry’s new name whenever he wanted. If fruit picking ever became too Goddamn boring, if Robert ever wondered why he was exhausting himself in them fields, he could take out the paper, see the nameHenry Davis, and remind himself of the future they were working toward. Together.

Robert and Henry Davis.

After tossing Henry’s sketchbook onto the mattress, Robert hurried to meet Henry. He found Henry sitting at the kitchen table, looking more than a little uncomfortable, shifting this way and that. When the two men locked eyes, Robert raised a curious eyebrow, and the sweetest blush bloomed on Henry’s cheeks.

“Um, I think I’m still feelin’ last night, you know?” he whispered.

Robert cupped his hand over his mouth to hold in his laughter.

They each inhaled a bowl of oatmeal and then raced outside to try to catch one of the trucks they’d seen the previous morning only a few blocks over. Sure enough, they found the same truck waiting in the same spot.

“Mornin’,” Robert said to the man who was leaning against the driver’s side door as him and Henry approached. He took a pause to catch his breath. “Are you takin’ folks out to one of them farms east of the city?”

The burly man nodded. “Yup. Ten cents per rider per trip.”

“Round trip?” Robert tried to clarify.

“One way.”

Holy hell.One way?!Anger seized Robert by the throat, its clutches so tight and forceful, he couldn’t even manage a reply. How could one trip out of the city cost that much money?!

Henry said to the man, “Why’s it so much?”

“Gas costs me nineteen cents a gallon. Ain’t cheap to take people out there.”

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