Page 72 of Candy Hearts
“Yes, really. It involved brunch.”
Benji smiled shyly. “I have something for you.” He pushed a slightly wrinkled, homemade card into William’s hand. William’s heart felt raw and exposed.
It was not a pretty card. There were candy hearts glued inside it, but they made the card heavy and awkward. Two hearts had fallen off and left behind bubbles of superglue.
William loved it.
“I’d been wondering what you were making with these candy hearts.” The candy was glued in the shape of what he guessed was supposed to be an anatomically correct heart with an arrow piercing it. Benji had written William’s name on the inside of the heart in bubble letters.
“They’re called Sweethearts,” Benji said.
“What are?”
“The candy hearts. That’s the real name. Sweethearts. It’s on the bag. You call me sweetheart too.”
“I do.”
Benji tapped the other side of the card. In pencil was the word “Yes.”
“What’s theyesfor?” William asked.
“A second date.”
William caught Benji’s face in his hands and kissed him. And kissed him. And kissed him.
“Okay, Mister Boss Man, but you still have to bid. It’s for charity,” Ms. Gena Ross said. William pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and tossed it to her. Then he kissed Benji again.
Epilogue
One year later
Benji lay back on the dock and stared up at the stars. It had been a mild February. Copper Lake wasn’t even frozen.
The stars danced brightly through the sky and a train whistle sounded in the far distance. It was tranquil here in the winter.
He liked coming to William’s lake house in the winter more than the summer, he’d found. It had a stark beauty, but he’d never in a million years admit that to William. Benji still referred to it as “your ugly lake” when they made plans to spend time out here, which was basically every weekend that Benji didn’t have to work.
William’s footsteps thudded on the wooden dock. Benji tipped his head back to watch him approach.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi.”
William lay on his back next to Benji and gazed up at the stars too. They linked hands.
Benji lifted William’s hand and kissed it. “Did you get your work done?”
William’s job was busy, but he didn’t let it consume him. He didn’t ever sleep in his office. Instead, he slept with Benji, wherever Benji was. Whether they were in Benji’s one-bedroom apartment, William’s fancy penthouse, or the attic bedroom here at the lake house, they rarely spent a night apart.
“Yeah, and I did the dishes,” William said.
“A man after my own heart.”
“I know.”
Benji laughed and playfully slapped William’s stomach. William was wearing a fuzzy sweatshirt. Benji couldn’t help but turn and burrow into it.
It was pitch black on the dock but for the stars, and Benji’s mind automatically went to whether they could get away with fucking out here. It wasn’t too terribly cold. The closest neighbor was directly across the lake, and they only spent the summers here.
