by V. L. Locey
I smiled at the recollection. “I remember helping you and Rose. Me and Davy ate more than we bagged, I think. Oh! Remember that beagle you used to have? Rosco. He’d steal the cobs out of the bucket and eat them like candy. Then he’d throw up all over the floor! Rose got so mad at him that one time, she threw a cob at him, and it hit you instead! Bang! Right between the eyes.” I laughed aloud at the memory of that glob of corn smack dab in the middle of Dunny’s forehead.
He stood there, glassy-eyed, silent, tiny bits of corn melting off his fingers to the floor.
“Dunny?” He blinked at me then started crying. Like out of the blue, his eyes welled up and tears ran down the deep grooves in his face. “Ah, hey, Dun, what’s wrong?”
I put my cup of coffee/turpentine to the counter and rushed to him, slipping an arm around his bowed shoulders. Christ the man was fragile.
“I miss Rose and Rosco,” he snuffled. Well hell. My eyes got a little blurry. “Can we do corn for the winter?”
“You bet. Soon as Effie’s son’s corn is ready, we’ll go buy some and me, you, and Davy will sit down right here,” I pointed at the old table we’d worked on so many years ago, “and we’ll put up all kinds of corn. Then you and I will eat it all winter long.”
He looked up at me. “You going to be here in the winter?”
“Yeah, Dun, I’m going to be here in the winter.”
“Okay, good. Bring Rosco when you come. He run off. I can’t find him anywhere…”
Fuck. Just fuck me with a thorny cabbage. “Why don’t we get you dressed and see if we can find something to watch? That sound good?”
He didn’t reply, so I took over, getting him up the stairs, washed and shaved, dressed then back down to eat. Once he was in front of the TV, smiling at old reruns of Sanford & Son, I made calls. One to the phone company who handled the internet to upgrade my basic service. It got old fast watching movies buffer. I was damn tired of watching Rose’s old VHS tapes, although Terms of Endearment, Beaches, and When Harry Met Sally never really got old. Then I called the plumber to check he was coming out today. He was. Then I called the chair lift company and put in an order for a stair chair for Dunny. I rang up Dolores at the aging agency, talked to her about this run of “bad days” and felt some relief when she said that was normal with dementia patients. I enquired about a visiting nurse or someone to sit with him when I needed to go out. I was put on a list and someone would contact me she assured me.
“And Kye, make sure to allocate some time for yourself. Caregivers tend to forget to take care of themselves and that is incredibly important.”
I assured her that I would but thinking about leaving him alone here during a “bad” spell made me feel shitty and guilty. Bad enough I’d not paid the poor man any notice for the past twenty years but now I was planning dates with Davy.
“Kye, I mean it. This is a slow progression disease, so we’re talking years more than likely unless something else takes him first. Please make time for you. Take Dave out once a week.”
My mind screeched to a standstill. “How did you know about Dave and me?”
“Oh, that’s the talk of three counties ever since you gave that brave little speech at the lake on the Fourth. Most of us are tickled pink! We all love Dave. That husband of his was not our kind of fellow at all but you’re a native son and a famous one! We’re all behind you. Well, most of us. There are a few…”
“Yeah, I’ve seen those few on occasion when I was in town. Hey, thanks for everything. I’ll make sure to take Dave out weekly, I promise.”
“Good. In order to take good care of Dunny you have to take care of you too. Call me if anything changes. If it doesn’t, I’m going to make one final visit at the end of August and if the house looks good and Dunny is well cared for, I’ll remove his name from the watch list.”
“Thanks, Dolores. I do appreciate everything.” We ended the call. As soon as I hung up the receiver the landline rang. “I got it, Dun!” I yelled before lifting the phone off the cradle. “Hello, McLeod residence.”
It was the plumber saying he was leaving now. So, I diddled around until he showed up, spent an hour with him, got an estimate on the leaking pipe behind the goose picture, and signed him on to fix it within the week. The rest of the plumbing probably needed to be torn out and replaced but we’d worry about that later. Seemed silly to spend a fortune on a house this old. When Dunny passed Dad would probably just bulldoze the old gal and sell off the land so that I could remain here in the studio without strangers eyeballing me from seventy-five feet away. At least that was the plan I was going to pitch to Dad as soon as he was mobile again.
I hung around Dunny’s all day just to keep an eye on him. By dinner, he seemed better, so I loaded him into the Tesla and took him to Kenny’s for dinner. My phone rang while we were eating, and I checked the incoming readout to see it was Davy.
“Hey,” I chirped, all kinds of happy to hear his voice.
“Rough night sleeping. My brain is still foggy. Did you call me earlier?”
“Uhm, nope, but I was thinking about it.”
“Huh, got this random call from an unknown number, thought maybe it was you calling from your cell.”
“Not me. I was at Dunny’s all day, no cell service out there, only landline. Also, you know my number. You sound off, you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m just worn out. We still doing tomorrow night?”
I watched Dunny while he ate. He hadn’t drifted back to the past again today, but he certainly wasn’t his old crabby self. I twisted around in the booth, trying to find a way to talk and not be overheard by Dunny. I switched the phone to my right ear. “Can I let you know? Dunny’s been kind of spacy the past day or so. If he’s still like this tomorrow night I don’t want to leave him alone.”
“Yes, of course. Maybe taking a few days off from each other would give us more clarity.”
“I don’t need clarity. I’m pretty clear in my decisions here.” One of my old school buddies entered the bar. I lifted a hand in greeting. Shit but he’d gotten old. “I’m staying in Spruce Lake, buying the studio, coaching kids, and hopefully winning you back. Folks around here say I’m a much better fit for you than your ex.”
“Don’t be spreading things about us that aren’t true,” he snapped. Ouch, there was some fire in his voice.
“I’m not spreading anything. People are telling me that they think we’re an item. And they like me for you better than whatever his name was that you married.”
“You know who gets to make the decisions about who I date? Not Effie or June or Barney or Penny or Dunny or you. Me. I get to choose who I date.”
“Look, I wasn’t saying that anyone got to pick who you sleep with. I was just pointing out that my gregarious nature and smoldering good looks is a winning combo that our neighbors are in favor of.” I waited for a reply. And waited. And waited. “Davy?” Nothing. Not a hiss or a fizzle of a bad connection, just empty space. “Did you hang up on me?”
“He hung up. Turn around and eat your macaroni and cheese before it gets colder.”
I spun around on the booth and gaped at Dunny. “He hung up on me. What a dick.”
“I prefer the old phones. When you hung up on someone with a rotary phone it was a statement! Slam! Now these cell phones are just a button push. Pfft. Pitiful. Nothing beats a good door or phone slam. You should pour the stewed tomatoes over your macaroni. Makes it better. You like pepper? Rose always liked to pepper her tomatoes.”
I let him ramble on about pepper and doors and Rose’s cheddar cheese omelets as my mind leaped to Davy. Was Davy still doubting my drive to change my life around and be here for the people who needed me? Obviously. God, what a hardheaded ass Davy was at times. I’d show him. They say deeds speak louder than words, right? Well here goes Kye searching for and finding the number for his realtor in Pittsburgh. And here goes Kye dialing that number and telling the man who’d handled his purchase of said house in the Burgh to put
it up for sale. And here goes Kye telling his realtor he’s going to want twenty-five thousand over what he paid for it because renovations had been made and I had a million dollar studio to purchase.
When I was done with that call I smiled in victory. Dunny shook some pepper on my macaroni and cheese, pulled the bowl over to his side of the table, and started eating my dinner.
“What am I supposed to eat now?”
“You snooze you lose.” He forked up a massive mouthful and shoved it into his piehole. “What place are you buying for a million dollars?”
“Rose’s studio.” He blinked at me. “You’ve been firm on that price.”
“Seems fair to me. Rose loved that place.”
“Yeah, I know she did.”
He chewed and swallowed. “You think a million is too much?”
“Nope, not if it was Rose’s place. It’s probably priceless to you. I promise I’ll take good care of it.”
“Well, maybe we can dicker a bit. Not today though. I’m tired today.”
Yeah, I was tired too come to think of it. We went home, and Dunny was in bed by nine-thirty. I locked up and slogged my weary ass down to the studio. Once inside I flipped on the lights and headed to the sliding door to open it and let some cool night air in. There on the porch was Davy, seated in one of the chairs I’d dragged out last night. He stood when he saw me. The man was fucking lush in that uniform of tan and green. He removed his cap, holding it in front of him, like a bad kid coming to the principal.
Gazes holding, I unlocked and opened the door. He stepped inside, pulling in the sweet sounds of frogs and crickets. I reached up to turn on the ceiling fan I’d recently installed. One here and one in the bedroom. Worked wonders, kind of like seeing him here playing Mr. Contrite.
“Didn’t expect to see you here. Beer?”
“Yes, thanks. Wait, no, I want to say what I need to say without anything swaying me. Lower your shirt.”
“Do I sway you?” I slowly lowered the hem of my shirt back down.
“Oh hell yes,” he earnestly replied. “You always did. Back when we were kids all you had to do was ask if I was in and man was I in. Didn’t matter if what you had planned got me into trouble or not, if you wanted me at your side, I was there. No questions asked. I loved you so much, Kye. For years, you were the brother I had always wanted. We shared everything. As I was beginning to question my sexuality, you were there to hold me close when it got to be too much or hug me when I needed a hug. My love for you only grew when we discovered that we were both battling the same battle of figuring out we were queer, and then the friendship changed. It grew and feelings blossomed, and I fell for you even deeper. I loved you so damn much, and you said you loved me.”
“I did. I do. I always will,” I was quick to say. He kept twisting his hat, working the edges of the brim nervously. “Look, I know I messed up. When I got the chance to play college hockey, I had to take it. And me being gay? That shit had to be locked down tight.”
“No need to rehash that. I understand now. It makes me incredibly sad that so many young athletes have to hide who they are just to be accepted, but I know that’s life for gay men and women even today.”
“So, you’re here why? To tell me that you get what I did and why, which is great, but now what?” I leaned against the counter and reached over to turn on Rose’s radio. Dunny’s WWII tunes poured out, taking some of the tension out of the room with the smooth, soft music. “Are you ready to start something new tonight? That’s the only way. We need to stop letting the past dictate our future. Can we maybe say that tomorrow will be a new beginning? One where we simply start from scratch? I’m not asking you to forget what I did, I’m asking you to leave it behind us so we can build a new us. There’s something damn powerful here, Davy. It’s always been there. I’ve never stopped loving you, and I’ve spent far too long looking for someone like you to love. Of course, I couldn’t openly love a man even if I’d have found him, but I never did because there will never be anyone for me but you.”
“Yeah, okay.” He licked his lips and bobbed his head. “I’d like to try. I’m terrified of trying, of giving myself to you yet again and possibly having you leave, but this roller coaster of angst and drama is killing me. I’m not a fan of the upheaval some people thrive on. I just want peace in my life. And God help me, I’m starting to think you’re the one who can bring me harmony.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I’m wiped out. I need to go home and go back to bed.”
“Stay here. We won’t fuck. We’ll just go to bed and hold each other. I’m feeling pretty raw here myself so strong arms around me through the night sounds fucking incredible.”
His eyes closed. When they opened I saw the future there in his beautiful brown eyes. I took his hand to lead him to bed. We undressed each other, soft caresses here and there, a tender kiss, and then crawled into bed.
“So much lace,” Davy mumbled, spreading out as he did, his belly flat to the mattress and one leg kinked off to the side. I moved closer, snaking my arm around his lower back then tossing my leg over his. He sighed when I rained kisses along his tense shoulders and neck. Slowly he unwound. Les Brown was playing out in the main room, the smooth notes of a sexy saxophone weaving itself into the drowsy moment.
“If only you knew how often I dreamed of this happening,” I whispered into the nape of his neck, my lips skimming the fine dark hairs. “I’ll never leave you again…scouts honor.”
The soft snuffle of a snore amused me. I pressed my lips to his shoulder, rested my head on his back, and dropped off to someone singing about how nice someone would be to come home to. Coming home to this man would be incredibly nice.
I slept straight through the night, coming slowly awake to the sensation of Davy’s hand massaging my right buttock.
“Morning,” I mumbled groggily. He nibbled a path along my shoulders, his fingers dipping into the crack of my ass. “Lose something?”
“Nope, I found it,” he playfully replied as his middle finger pressed against my hole. A wave of lust roared through me, sending more blood to my already hard dick. Now this was fucking paradise. I loved starting the day off with sex. I lifted my leg to give him more room to fiddle. Eyes drifting shut, I let him rub and tease my ass, my passion ramping when he spit on his finger then eased it into me. A slow moan rolled out of me. It had been quite some time since anyone had toyed with my ass. Everyone saw big d-man and bent over, assuming I was a top. And I was, but I also switched when the mood was right. Like this morning with this man. “You up for something more?”
“If I were any upper, I’d be a human top,” I replied, getting a snort of amusement from Davy. He shifted away for a moment, the bed creaking. The bedside drawer opened. I began humping the bedding, seeking friction. He rolled back to me, his fingers slipping along the seam of my ass, slippery lube coating my hole and crack. “I want to fuck you. That still something you like?”
“Yeah, I like it fine. Two fingers, Davy, yeah…oh fuck.” He was so much better at this than he had been back in our tent days. He rubbed and stretched, hooking his fingers just so, finding my sweet spot. I pushed back on his fingers, seeking more. “Give me your dick. Hurry, I’m a whisker shy of coming…”
With a sigh followed by a sharp intake of breath, Davy was inside me, pushing deep, stretching me open. The burn was incredible. Flat on the bed, I lifted my hips, pushing up to my knees, my face buried in the mattress, my fingers wrapping around the finials of the headboard. He thrust deep, pulled out, paused, and rubbed the tip of his finger around my rim where his cock joined me.
“Give me that too,” I coughed, my voice thick with lust.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, yeah, do it.” He did. A fireworks show began behind my eyes. “Oh shit…yeah, fucking A that’s…shit…”
Davy yanked his finger and dick out, reaching down under me to grab my nuts in an attempt to slow my orgasm. A guttural sort of groan slipped out of my ope
n mouth. I wavered on the edge then slowly drifted back just a bit, my legs trembling with the effort.
“Good man,” Davy cooed, slipping his dick back into me, going deep, robbing me of breath. He pumped in and out, his hand resting on the nape of my neck, his hips picking up speed.
“Faster…so close…” I squeezed the finials in my hand, rocked back onto him when he was going deep, and clamped my inner muscles around his cock. He bucked madly, and I came with such force I may have blacked out momentarily. When I was aware again, I was flat on my belly right in a warm puddle of jizz, Davy’s heavy body draped over my back, his cock slipping out of my ass.
“My God,” he croaked, sliding off me to flop to the bed.
“Mugh,” I replied succinctly. “I came so hard I passed out. What year is it?”
He purred with pleasure, his hand roaming up and down my back as I tried to formulate more words. “Same year, different day. Glad I rocked your world so soundly.”
I worked myself around until I was laying there and facing him. His eyes were glowing and tender. I ran the back of my finger along his cheek, getting high off the brush of his whiskers. “I want to kiss you so bad, but my breath is probably that of an adult red dragon who’s been feasting on a dead beholder level of rank.”
He pressed a kiss to my lips anyway then rolled to his back. “I haven’t heard D&D talk for over thirty years. Man, we played the hell out of that game, didn’t we?”
My hand settled on his stomach. It was warm and lightly furred. “Epic adventures.”
“So many of the old gang are gone. Moved for one reason or another. Tommy Redders is dead, killed himself out in the rocky gorge over in the western part of the county after getting a cancer diagnosis. We were part of the search and rescue effort. There was no rescuing Tommy, not from a self-inflicted shotgun blast.”
“Fuck, no. Aw, man, that sucks.”
He blew out a long breath. “Life isn’t kind, is it?” He rolled his head to look at me, and I fell right into those soulful brown eyes of his.
