Page 16 of Something Like Forever
“There’s a big differencebetween Texas and Oregon,” Allison said amiably. “That makes sense.Do you ever get so busy with work and friends that you don’t seeBen and Tim as often as you’d like? Has, oh I don’t know, a weekgone by that way?”
Jason nodded. “Yeah, but we still text andstuff. And I know they’re not far away.”
“Good.” Allison made aquick note. “So if you’re comfortable spending a week apart, asyou’ve already proven, maybe you would be willing to do soagain?”
Jason shrugged. “Sure.”
Allison’s face remainedneutral, but Tim swore he could see a gleam of victory in her eyes.“Right now you’re facing a lot of unknowns. Nobody could blame youfor being apprehensive about visiting a new state. Why don’t youtake a week off and go up there? You’ll get to see William andspend time with him. Even if you decide to stay in Austinpermanently, at least you’ll know what Astoria looks like. Youwon’t have to imagine where he lives. You’ll have seen it foryourself. Wouldn’t that be comforting?”
“Yeah,” Jason admitted,seeming open to the idea.
“Excellent,” Allison said.“Now then, does anyone have a question they want to ask orsomething else they need to say? We’ll take turns. Let’s start withyou again, Jason.”
The therapy session wenton, but Tim’s focus kept returning to Jason. He had never realizedhow much they had in common, how they both came from broken homes,albeit in different ways. Going forth, no matter what Jason decidedfor himself, Tim was determined to be there for him. Not only tolove him in a way his own father never had, but to guide him towardthe happiness Tim had found, and that he knew Jason could discovertoo.
Chapter Three
Christmas had come aroundagain, which couldn’t be right, because Ben swore the last one wasonly a few months ago. Had each year gotten shorter? Had someonetrimmed days off the calendar without him noticing? He could stillremember being young, when a year had felt like an eternity. Bensupposed that, to someone who was ten, a year was a significantportion of their life. Now it was just a sliver of his own. Herefused to do the math. Not with forty looming so close.
Instead he considered thehouse. He hadn’t gone overboard this year, keeping the decorationsconfined to the living room. Tim had wanted to string up lights onthe roof and put creepy animatronic robots on the lawn, including alife-sized Santa who supposedly danced, but to Ben’s eye, lookedmore like he was thrusting. The live display at a hardware storehad given him flashbacks to Chuck E. Cheese’s and its nightmarishsinging animals, so he talked Tim out of it, which wasn’t easy. Hishusband insisted this might be their last family Christmas for awhile. Ben had his doubts.
Jason wasn’t makingprogress. In fact, he seemed to be getting worse. Ben had seen himgo through this when William first joined the Coast Guard. Jasonwould throw himself into his work and try to keep himself asoccupied as possible. During the rare instances when he had timeoff, he would be depressed until he found a new distraction. Todaywould be rough on Jason. With both the pet store he managed and theshelter where he volunteered closed, he would be forced to thinkabout the man he missed. Even worse was that William wasn’t able tocome home for the holidays, still too low in the pecking order ofhis new air station. Maritime accidents didn’t take a day off, andthe Coast Guard couldn’t either. Ben almost wished he had let Timgo overboard with the holiday festivities, but then again, thiscould be for the best. Jason feeling sad might finally motivate himto take action.
“Can we open some presentsnow?”
This was asked by Tim, whostood next to the Christmas tree in the living room. He wore acream sweater with navy blue snowflakes the same color as hisjeans. The scene looked like something from a catalog, completewith model. Ben pulled out his phone and snapped a photo, Tim’sexpression increasingly impatient.
“Wait until Jason getshere.”
“Just one present,” Timpleaded, putting on his best smile. “Or two.”
“Do you see any presentswith your name under the tree?”
“No,” Tim said, his grinwidening. “I wonder why.”
“You must have been anaughty boy.” Ben went to the kitchen to check on the food. He hadprepped a number of dishes in advance, easy things like scallopedpotatoes that he knew he couldn’t mess up. A ham waited in theoven, already cooked to perfection, thanks to the grocery storewhere he had bought it. Ben wanted to enjoy the holiday instead ofstressing, and he didn’t have the best record with meat. He wastempted to go vegetarian, just so he never had to deal with itagain.
“He’s here!” Tim criedout, sounding like a little kid who had spotted SantaClaus.
Ben felt excited too.Jason keeping himself busy meant that they hadn’t seen each othermuch. The irony wasn’t lost on Ben. Jason refused to leave town sohe could stay close to them, but the emotional turmoil of notleaving town made him work hard enough that they didn’t see eachother anyway. This had to stop. Today.
They met Jason in theentryway, where he was treated like a star. Chinchilla hoppedaround his legs, Tim had him trapped in a hug, and Ben fussed withgetting his jacket off and hung up.
“Too much love!” Jasonsaid, laughing at their antics.
Tim finally released him.“We’re just excited you’re here so we can finally openpresents.”
“Oh man,” Jason said,turning around. “I left mine in the car.”
“I’ll go get them,” Timoffered.
“No!” Ben and Jasonshouted at the same time.
Tim seemed puzzled by this. Was he alreadysuspicious?
“I’ll get them,” Jasonsaid. “I had the heater turned up too high and that coat is crazythick. I need to cool down.”
Tim remained confused. “Ifyou’re sure.”
