by Ryan Field
Len glanced at Culum in the back seat. He’d fallen to sleep and the pacifier was hanging from his lips. “Is there room for two of us?”
“As long as you don’t mind living with a big Labrador-poodle mix named Clinger, there’s plenty of room.”
Len’s expression grew serious. “This is big, you know. I have a child now. This is life-changing stuff we’re talking about. And we’re standing in the middle of a drugstore parking lot discussing it after not even seeing each other for a year. Some might consider that peculiar.”
“Okay,” Jim said. “You’re right. We’ll get together and discuss it more tonight. We’ll discuss it for the next year if you want to. I just want to know there’s hope for us.”
“I’d like that,” Len said. “I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.”
Then Jim gave him the address to his parent’s new loft. He told Len to come up and knock on the door, not to wait outside. He said he didn’t want to sneak around this time and he wanted his parents to know what he was doing. Len hesitated at first, but Jim insisted and Len finally agreed with him. Jim figured that if his parents wouldn’t accept Len in his life, that wouldn’t stop him from being with Len. He was tired of caring about what other people thought. The age difference meant nothing. All that mattered was for them to be together.
He kissed Len good-bye one last time and walked toward the Corvette. He glanced back twice and smiled. While Len waited for him to get into the car and start the engine, he thought about how he would break this news to his mother and father. He knew they wouldn’t be happy at first, but he was hoping they would see what a wonderful thing this was for him in time. Jim couldn’t help it if he’d fallen in love with an older man. And now the man was free to do and be whoever he wanted to be. As far as Jim knew, there were no rules when it came to falling in love. And there was no viable way to fall out of love once it happened.
He backed out and turned the wheel. He drove forward and stopped next to Len’s truck. Len was inside, ready to back out. Jim lowered the window and said, “I’ll see you at seven. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” Len said.
He glanced into Len’s eyes one more time and smiled, and then he pulled away, remembering he’d forgotten to remove his father’s laxative and the other items out of Len’s shopping bag. He’d have to call Len and remind him to bring the laxative with him that night so his father wouldn’t have problems the next morning.
When he pulled out of the parking lot, he saw Len in the rearview mirror. Len honked the horn and turned in the other direction. A feeling of fullness passed through Jim’s body as he shifted into a higher gear. He thought about the small room next to the master bedroom in his house in the Hollywood Hills. It would be perfect for a nursery. There was a huge back yard where Culum could play, with enough room to eventually put in a swimming pool. His mind raced with thoughts of what was ahead of them. A new life, a new beginning, and the freedom to live their lives as they pleased without having to hide anymore. Jim knew that without Len he would spend the rest of his life chasing the kind of happiness he wasn’t sure existed. But with Len, he knew he had found happiness. And the chase had been worth it.
