Page 2 of Like the Season
Asubmissivekinky gay man.
I hate my life.
Once he finished his sandwich, he used his iPhone to cruise job listings. A civil engineer, he was currently working for the county zoning department and had been for the past five years. Unfortunately, he was low man on the ladder in a department of five, and he made a salary barely over minimum wage. The good things about the post were the health benefits, the paid vacation time, the relative job security, and the retirement benefits—if he stayed that long.
They nearly always promoted from within. He’d been hired to replace the guy who moved up a step when the head of zoning, Roy Innis, had retired after twenty-five years, and everyone below him had advanced a step as a result. Roy had originally started out in the same position Caleb now occupied.
Probably at the same damn salary as when Roy was first hired, too.Because god forbid they actually pay a real, living wage.
At twenty-nine, he felt like he was stuck in suspended animation. Except, meanwhile, he was still aging and life was passing him by.
Therehasto be more to life than this.
He was about to shut down his browser when he scrolled a little farther and saw a job listing in Sarasota County, Florida, for the county, working in their planning department.
Hot damn!
One good thing about the past five years—it’d given him valuable work experience that many candidates fresh out of college would not have, and planning and zoning departments worked hand-in-hand anyway, so it wasn’t like he was totally clueless. He copied the link and e-mailed it to himself to look at that night after he went home.
The last thing he wanted was to let anyone at work get so much as a hint he was thinking about changing jobs, much less moving out of the area.
Because the first thing he could count on any of them to do would be to rat him out to his family, since most of his coworkers were either friends with his parents or sisters, or attended the same church as them.
Caleb had forgotten about the job posting when he finally arrived home later that evening. He’d stopped by the grocery store for a few basics for his tiny kitchen that was such only in the loosest of definitions. He had a large sink that also doubled as his bathroom sink, a four-burner hotplate, a small fridge, a large microwave, and a countertop convection oven just large enough to roast a chicken or cook a round pan of biscuits. Maybe a small roast.
The toilet and shower stall were tucked into a small closet-sized corner. At least it was well-insulated, and the large space heater they’d given him to use kept it toasty in the winter. The window-shaker AC unit kept it cool enough on the hottest summer days. He had free cable and Internet, and only paid four hundred dollars total a month.
Cheaper than anywhere else, and no other utilities, either. At least it’d allowed him to pay off his car loan. A car that had seen better days, but it wasn’t eating him alive in repair costs yet, so the money he saved not shelling out a monthly payment went into savings.
He was in the bathroom scrolling through his e-mail when he saw the note to himself about the job listing. After finishing, he grabbed his laptop and looked up the listing, hope swelling within him.
Maybe a long-shot, but he pulled up his resume, freshened it, and followed the instructions to submit an application.
Fingers crossed!
The potential salary at the lowest end would be over double what he made now. Even if he had to buy a shitty RV and live in a trailer park somewhere, it’d be worth it to be living in Florida.
Hope stubbornly tried to peek through, but he firmly tamped it down. It wasn’t smart to get his hopes up too soon.
Still, all he could think about that night as he tried to go to sleep was maybe walking along a beach, hand-in-hand, with a guy.
* * * *
Now
Late that Friday afternoon, Caleb was driving Boyd up to Tampa International so he could catch his flight to Portland. If Caleb thought the past few months of his life were nuts, between his move to Florida and his new job, it didn’t begin to compare to the past several weeks and the crazy-good whirlwind romance that had exploded between him and Boyd.
Who also happened to be hisboss.
A situation that almost caused their relationship tonotbe a thing before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.
Thank goodness for meddling friends.
Even better, Boyd had proposed to him last weekend.
“I’ve never been to Oregon before,” Caleb said.
“Neither have I.” Boyd sighed. “I’m going to miss you.” His hand came to rest on Caleb’s right thigh, and Caleb’s hand settled over it.
