The Color of Summer

by Anna Martin

  Buzz rolled his eyes. “Never a vacation in this job.”

  “That’s true. Buzz, this is my boyfriend, Tyler.”

  Tyler looked nervous as he offered Buzz his hand to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

  Buzz was a pretty intimidating guy. He stood over six feet tall, and there were very few patches of his skin that weren’t covered in ink. Plus he liked to wear fringed leather vests. Max got the impression Buzz’s look had nothing to do with why Tyler was nervous.

  “You too, dude. You’ve got a whole operation set up,” Buzz said. “Good on you, kid.”

  “We’re starting to pick up business,” Max told him. “It was slow for a few weeks, but the word is getting out there.”

  “I’ve heard,” Buzz said. “You’ve made a good impression down there in bumfuck nowhere.”

  “I try.” Max laughed. He noticed a girl hanging around, clearly not wanting to interrupt them. He guessed she was his next appointment. “Got work to do, but it was good seeing you.”

  “You too.”

  Buzz left him with a slap on the back and a warm, fuzzy feeling that was harder to quantify.

  “Hi,” Max said, turning to the girl and offering her his most professional smile. “I’m Max.”

  IF MAX had come to Nashville alone, he almost certainly would have ended up in a bar that night, drinking to dull some of the pain in his head and his wrist and his back from working all day. He wasn’t opposed to using a couple of good beers to unwind, but going back to the RV with Tyler and enjoying them from the fridge was almost as good.

  “What hurts?” Tyler asked as Max stripped out of the sweaty T-shirt he’d been wearing all day and rolled his shoulders.

  “Man,” he groaned. “Everything.”

  “Come here,” Tyler said. He sat down on the couch and spread his knees, making space for Max between them. Max had already set his laptop up to play some music, needing the distraction to help him unwind.

  Max sat on the floor between Tyler’s legs, cradling his beer in his hands and stretching his neck from side to side. After a moment, Tyler’s strong hands started working at the knots in his neck and shoulders.

  Max couldn’t help the filthy moan that escaped him. “Sorry,” he said, feeling his cheeks flush.

  “Don’t be,” Tyler chuckled. “I’m just sorry I don’t have any massage oil or anything.”

  “There’s lube in my bag.”

  “That’s presumptuous of you.”

  Max could tell he was teasing. “I bought it at the store last night. I didn’t pack anything because I wasn’t sure if we were in a place where sex was on the table.”

  “And now?”

  “It could be,” Max said with a shrug. “Oh God, yes, there.”

  “With the noises you’re making, if anyone walks past, they’ll think we’re already having sex.”

  “Let them think whatever they like,” Max said. He sipped at his beer. “I promise you, every tattoo artist who was working today is feeling like this right now.”

  “I like watching you work,” Tyler said, digging his thumbs into the sore spot in the middle of Max’s back. “You get hyper focused on what you’re working on.”

  “Mm. I’ve been told that before. Apparently I look scary.”

  “I wouldn’t call it scary. Just intense. I know I have to say this because I’m your boyfriend, but you really are incredibly talented.”

  Max smiled. “I worked hard to get here,” he admitted. “A lot of what you see today is because of what Buzz taught me. He’s such a good mentor.”

  “We should drive up to Pittsburgh one weekend,” Tyler suggested. “You could catch up with your old friends.”

  “That would be nice.”

  Max hadn’t given much thought to his old life in weeks. He missed his friends and stayed in touch with them on WhatsApp and Instagram, but there wasn’t anything making him feel like he wanted to go back. Not even seeing Buzz again.

  He turned around and got up onto his knees, bracing his hands on Tyler’s thighs. For a moment he took the opportunity to really look at Tyler. Just look at him.

  Not much had changed since Tyler had stopped him for speeding a few months back. Same dark hair, gray eyes, the little freckle by the corner of his mouth. Strong, straight nose, the stubble that had tiny flashes of gray in it. His soft, welcoming mouth that kissed Max so often and so easily.

  Max leaned in, knowing Tyler’s hands would catch his face, knowing that his kiss would be sweet and welcoming. And would feel like home.

  Max knew that if his mom was standing next to him now, he’d have a different answer.

  Do you love him?

  Yeah. With all my heart.

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  TYLER WALKED into Sweetwater Ink to a scene that immediately filled him with horror. June was sitting on one of Max’s leather tattooing chairs, her arm stuck out for Max to work on.

  “What the hell?”

  They both looked over, June grinning a little manically.

  “Max is tattooing me,” she said.

  “Sharpies,” Max called over. “I’m tattooing her with Sharpies. Don’t have a coronary.”

  That was easy for Max to say. June was turning eight, not eighteen. Max had a while to go before he got any real ink onto his daughter.

  June had picked a bright pink-and-yellow-floral dress for her birthday party, and Max was accessorizing with pink, yellow, and orange flowers that seemed to float across her shoulder and upper arm. Considering Max was doing it all with markers, it looked beautiful. All the colors of summer for his summer baby.

  “Have you finished work?” June asked.

  Tyler nodded. “Yep. I’ve just called John too. Everything’s set up and ready for us.”

  June was practically vibrating with excitement.

  Her love of horse riding had only grown, and she’d asked for a birthday party at the ranch. Tyler and Max had spent hours the night before decorating one of the barns with streamers, balloons, and bunting in Juniper’s favorite colors, and there was a very large cake on its way from the bakery down the street to the ranch. Tyler had stopped in to check before he came to the studio.

  “Almost done,” Max said, grinning at Tyler. “Are you going to change?”

  “I have a bag in the car. I’ll change when we get there.”

  He took a seat on the ugly desk, which Max still hadn’t gotten around to renovating, content to watch Max and June interact for a while. He often did this for hours, hovering just beyond whatever they were doing to watch them.

  Max had moved in with Tyler and June for good just before Christmas, and since then had become a slightly alternative parent-figure in June’s life. They had a totally unique relationship, one which was based on mutual adoration and doing things that raised Tyler’s blood pressure.

  “We have something to show you,” June said when she hopped down from the chair. He’d put her hair in a ponytail that morning—being June’s personal hairdresser was still allowed, for now, and he wasn’t willing to give it up just yet. She skipped over to show off her “tattoo.”

  “Why do I always feel nervous when you say that?” Tyler said, admiring her artwork. “Very pretty.”

  “Thanks.”

  Max came over and kissed Tyler on the cheek. “I didn’t want to feel left out,” he said.

  “Oh God.”

  June laughed. “Just look, Dad.”

  Max turned his arm over, revealing a new, fresh tattoo on the outside of his arm, near his elbow.

  “We used the same stencil that I used for yours,” he said, showing off the sprig of juniper. “Just resized and reworked it to make it fit.”

  “You got a juniper tattoo,” Tyler said softly.

  “Yeah.”

  Max’s version was all in gray, matching the rest of the tattoos on his arms. It fit in the space perfectly.

  “Who did it?” Tyler asked.

  “Me,” Max said. “It was awkward. T
hat’s why I needed June to hold the mirror for me.”

  “Jeez,” Tyler muttered, shaking his head. “I really can’t leave the two of you alone for five minutes, can I?”

  “Do you like it, Dad?”

  “It’s gorgeous,” he admitted. Despite Max’s offer, Tyler didn’t have any other tattoos apart from his juniper. He had a few ideas but nothing he was ready to commit to just yet.

  “Your approval was the most important,” Max said. He leaned in and kissed Tyler again.

  “Gross,” June muttered.

  Max grabbed Tyler’s face in both his hands and laid a louder, smacking kiss on his lips. Just to wind June up.

  The two of them were a nightmare.

  “Come on, you don’t want to be late to your own party,” Tyler said. He shoved Max away playfully.

  “We have ages yet,” Max said but did as he was told and started packing up. It gave Tyler a moment to think. Because Max had just gotten a juniper tattoo, and holy crap, that was a big commitment.

  Max had tattooed a few clients that morning but had decided to close early so he could go to the party. They were currently in talks with the landlord to convert Max’s old apartment into more studio space. With the success of Sweetwater Ink so far, expansion was definitely in the cards, and Max was already talking to a few artists who might want to join his team.

  “I’m ready, Dad,” Max murmured in Tyler’s ear, too low for June to hear.

  “Still not okay,” Tyler said as he hauled himself to his feet. “Will never be okay.”

  Max laughed brightly.

  “What’s not okay?” June asked as they headed out and Max locked the studio behind them. “Dad, what’s not okay?”

  “My boyfriend,” he said darkly.

  “You two are so weird.”

  Tyler had no argument for that.

  JUNE HADN’T wanted to invite her whole class to her party, thank God, because Tyler really wasn’t good with being responsible for that many people’s kids. All of his nieces and nephews were there, plus a bunch of kids from June’s riding group, and about a dozen of her closest friends from school. That still made nearly twenty-five kids, plus all of Tyler’s family and Max’s parents, and it was a lot. A lot.

  Tyler hadn’t really needed to make much effort for previous birthday parties. He’d just set up a couple of paddling pools in the backyard and invited everyone to come over with their swimsuits. He’d borrowed his parents’ grill and boom, happy birthday, sweetheart, have a hot dog.

  Now that June was turning eight, that just didn’t fly anymore.

  Tyler was lucky, though. John had enthusiastically adopted June as his only granddaughter and spoiled her rotten. He’d sectioned off a huge area of the ranch for her party, even though it was a Sunday and he’d usually have a lot of business coming through. They had one of the activity barns, plus pony rides and games that were being set up by some of John’s staff.

  And someone else had catered. All Tyler needed to do was supervise. He ended up hanging out with Ginger because she’d brought beers.

  “Don’t tell John,” she murmured, opening a bottle with a bottle opener on her keychain and splitting the beer between two pink party cups. “We’re not supposed to have alcohol on-site.”

  It was weird seeing Ginger at the ranch wearing something other than her uniform of jeans and the dark green polo shirt. She’d dressed up for the party in a sunny summer orange dress.

  “You are the boss.” Tyler laughed and clicked their plastic cups together. “Cheers.”

  “To Juniper.”

  “To Juniper,” he agreed.

  Ginger had commandeered a picnic table with a huge umbrella near the pony rides. Tyler wasn’t sure if she was supervising or just chilling out. Either way, he didn’t mind hanging out with her. Ginger was fun.

  “Did you know Max got a new tattoo?”

  “He just showed me,” Ginger said and rolled her eyes. “I’d apologize, but I decided a long time ago that any of Max’s unfavorable traits were inherited from his father.”

  “They’re certainly not from you.”

  “Don’t be a creep, Tyler,” she admonished. Then she laughed. “One of the things I love most about my son is how he keeps surprising me, even after all these years.”

  Tyler felt the same but wouldn’t tell Ginger that. She’d just tell him off again.

  “It feels like a big deal,” he said instead. Ginger gave him a curious look.

  “I think you’re going to have to accept, Tyler, that regardless of your relationship, Max and Juniper are going to be friends for a long time.”

  “I know. I like that, actually. I think it’s good for June.”

  “I think it’s good for Max,” Ginger countered. “I was wary of this at first, you know. I know when to admit when I’m wrong. I’m not too proud for that.”

  Tyler nodded. “I think a lot of people saw the risks. But it was worth it.”

  The party wrapped up after about an hour and a half, when the parents of all of Juniper’s friends came to collect them. None of Tyler’s family seemed in a rush to move, though, and they all found spaces around the picnic tables outside to enjoy the last of the afternoon sun. After a while, Max tore himself away from chasing Eli and Lucie around and came to sit with Tyler. He brought another piece of cake with him, and Tyler poked him in the belly.

  “Carbs and sugar.”

  “Fuck you,” Max muttered around a mouthful of cake. “I never get cake.”

  “Baby, you eat cake from that damn bakery every day. Don’t even pretend that you don’t. Kendall snitches.”

  Max narrowed his eyes. “Vengeance.”

  Tyler snorted with laughter. Max shifted around and leaned back against Tyler’s chest so they could watch John help June climb off of Storm. She wasn’t allowed to ride the big horses yet, but Tyler had conceded to a lap around the paddock under John’s careful attention. It was her birthday, after all.

  “What was it like, the day she was born?” Max asked.

  “Like this during the day,” Tyler said. He ran his fingers up and down Max’s arms, avoiding his new tattoo. “Steaming hot and the humidity was off the charts. She was born at eight thirty at night, in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. The weather had been building for days, just getting hotter and hotter. We were expecting it to break, and it did, just at the same time Victoria’s water broke.”

  “How dramatic.”

  “Right,” Tyler laughed. “I think that should have been a warning.”

  Max tipped his head back onto Tyler’s shoulder and kissed the underside of his jaw. “Do you want more kids?”

  “Nah. I don’t think so. June’s too old now. It would be difficult bringing another baby into the family. Plus, babies are hard work.”

  Max grinned. “That’s true.”

  “Do you want kids of your own?”

  “Not really. I think this is a pretty good deal, actually. I get a kid without having to go through any of the difficult early years.”

  “You should adopt her,” Tyler said lightly. It was only when the words left his mouth that he realized the weight of them.

  Max turned around so he could look at Tyler. “Really?”

  “Do you want to?”

  “Yeah. I really do.”

  Tyler leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. “Then you should.”

  “I’ll ask her,” Max said. “If she wants it… then yeah. But you know….”

  “Uh-oh.”

  Max getting that kind of mischievous look in his eyes never ended well.

  “We could always combine it with another kind of big family commitment.” He wriggled his eyebrows at Tyler, and Tyler felt his stomach swoop in response. Surely Max wouldn’t joke about something like that.

  “Are you messing around?”

  Max shook his head. “What do you say, Ty? Wanna get hitched?”

  Tyler burst out laughing. “
That’s how you’re going to ask me?”

  “Marry me,” Max clarified. He leaned in and kissed Tyler again softly. “Let’s make this family even more awesome than it already is.”

  “How could I say no to that?”

  “It would be hard.”

  “Then, yes. Of course I will.”

  Max threw his arms around Tyler and hauled him in close. Any joking in his tone was swept away by the strength in his arms. Tyler hugged him back, feeling very secure in the knowledge that Max wasn’t ever going to let him go.

  “Dad! Max!” June rushed over and poked Tyler in the shoulder. “Did you see? John let me ride Storm and even let me take the reins!”

  “I saw,” Tyler said. Max was still leaning against his chest, making no effort to move away. “You looked good up there, June Bug.”

  She beamed at him. “Thanks.”

  “Hey,” Max said, reaching out to take her hand before she could rush off to the next, more exciting thing. “I have something I need to ask you.”

  June stopped and smiled at him. Max reached up and carefully smoothed her shoulder, setting a smudge of the inked flower back into place with his thumb.

  “How would you feel if I adopted you?” he asked in a rush. Tyler held back a smile. Max was nervous.

  “Me and Max are going to get married,” Tyler said gently.

  June’s jaw dropped. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Max said.

  “Then you’ll be my stepdad.”

  “Not if I adopt you. If we do that, I’ll just be your dad. If you want that, of course.”

  June looked to Tyler, then back to Max, then nodded almost shyly. “You’ll be my proper dad?”

  “Yeah, June.”

  She threw herself into his arms.

  Tyler fought back a lump in his throat and wrapped them both up in a hug, feeling content that this was his whole world. And, in Max’s words, it was pretty awesome.

  More from Anna Martin

  When you realize you want to marry your best friend at age six, life should follow a pretty predictable path, right? Maybe not.

  As a kid, Evan King thought Scott Sparrow was the most amazing person he’d ever met. At seventeen, his crush runs a little deeper, and nothing seems simple anymore. Scott is more interested in football and girls than playing superheroes, and Evan’s attention is focused on getting into art school. A late-night drunken kiss is something to be forgotten, not obsessed over for the next ten years.