Page 23 of The Woodcarver's Model
“Why do you say that?”
“You say what you feel. I would have been terrified to use the boyfriend word.”
“Why? Isn’t that what you want?”
“Yes,” Rob said hesitantly. “Yes!” he repeated with confidence. “I guess I would have just been afraid to say it in case I was wrong and I’d make a fool of myself.”
“Listen to you. You climb mountains. You sailed solo around the world before you were thirty—and yes, I have read all your books, you do that when you’re crushing on someone—and, from some of those scars on your body, I’m guessing you’ve seen some things that would have scared most of us to death. But here you’re telling me you are afraid of calling me your boyfriend just in case you’re wrong.”
Rob plopped down beside him. “I’m sorry.”
Mitch took him by the hands. “There’s nothing to be sorry for,” he said. “I think it’s adorable. It proves you’re real, and not some fictional macho character. But you never have to be afraid of me. Ever.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“So, tell me something about you, Mr Hanson. Something I haven’t read in any of your books.”
“Hm. Something you haven’t read… My middle name is Walker. I’m the last of my family, if you don’t count my sister.”
“I never knew you had a sister. What’s her name?” Mitch asked.
“Jessica.”
“Jessica…I like it.”
“She’d like you,” Rob said. “She’d see you as a good influence on her wayward brother.”
“Intelligent woman. What else?”
“I’m patient, persistent, pathologically goal-oriented.”
Mitch nodded his head. “No surprise there.”
“Oh, you’re looking for surprises, are you? Well, in spite of what you might think, I haven’t had sex with another man in almost two years. Lots of flirting, but no sex.”
Mitch leaned in. “Well, I’m glad I broke you of that nasty habit.”
“And I thank you for it,” Rob said, then gave him a kiss. “I had sex with a woman once in South America when I was a teenager just to see what it was like.”
“And?”
“It was nice…but there was something missing.”
Rob reached down and stroked Mitch’s crotch with the back of his index finger. Mitch purred.
“I’ve been afraid a few times in my life,” Rob continued. “Never in the wilderness, though. In spite of what some people say, nature doesn’t try to kill you. Oh, you can die out there easily enough, but nature isn’t malicious. Out there you’re just part of it. You’re one with it. It’s not like a human who can try and hurt you just for the sake of making you afraid or gaining power over you. The only times I’ve been afraid were in the city. One time out of sheer loneliness when I almost did something stupid to myself…another time when someone almost did something stupid to me.”
Mitch squeezed his hand.
“Maybe what I’m afraid of is stupidity.” Rob laughed. “Good thing I’m not a politician.”
They both laughed.
“What do see in your future? For you? Where do you travel next?”
“Wow. Trying to get rid of me so soon?”
“That’s not what I meant. But you are a traveller.”
