by Harper Logan
“Did I ever tell you about the time my dad outran a cop in the Duster?” Adrian asked.
“No shit? For real?”
“For real. It was on one of those small country highways just outside of town. He was going twenty over, the cop tails him, and he just floors it. Cop didn’t even try to catch him. He told me about it that night, I doubt Mom even knows it happened.”
Chandler laughed. “Wish I could’ve met your old man.”
“Me too,” Adrian said. “He would’ve loved you.”
They flipped forward to a photo of a skinny Chandler in an army cadet uniform. “You really filled out after boot camp, huh?” Adrian said, and gave Chandler’s pectoral a squeeze. On the next page was a sharp studio portrait of Chandler in his dressy service uniform, taken shortly after his first deployment to Iraq. The scrawny, boyish-faced soldier had been replaced by a weathered and tough looking man. It was like looking at two different people; the only thing connecting them was that same set of piercing, steel grey eyes.
“Hoo.” Adrian fanned himself. “I ought to take this one to bed with me.”
Chandler’s mouth curled into a lopsided smile. “Alright, alright. Next page. I hate looking at photos of myself.”
He turned the page. Next were a few photos from Iraq. One was a shot of the two of them standing with their arms around each other’s shoulders, their shirts off and their rifles slung around their necks. Taken the day before the end of their final deployment together, it was a photo that carried a lot of memories for the both of them, both bitter and sweet. Another photo was of their entire squad.
“Man,” Adrian said. “We all look so young here.”
“Bunch of green motherfuckers is what we were,” Chandler agreed. “Can’t believe McGee’s gonna be rolling through soon. Haven’t seen him in, shit, what is it now? Six years?”
“Six years,” Adrian confirmed.
Luke McGee was one of their squad mates, and he’d recently gotten in contact with Chandler to arrange a meetup. Luke was from Arizona, but was in town for the holidays to visit his little brother, who was a student at Beasley University.
Below the photo of the squad was a shot of Chandler, his arm wrapped around a German shepherd dog named Koko, a wide grin on his face. Adrian smiled, recalling how rare it was to see Chandler smiling like that, even now. Koko was a member of their platoon, an army dog responsible for sniffing out explosives and tracking targets.
“Koko,” Chandler said. “Damn. I swear, that dog was the only one who understood me out there.” He smirked. “Maybe even better than you.”
“I believe it,” Adrian said. “Any idea what happened to her?”
“Nope. Still working, maybe. Or retired, off with her handler. Man. I hope she’s okay, wherever she is.”
“She was pretty important to you, I remember.”
He nodded. “There were a lot of dark times, and Koko was always there. You know, she was the only one I could talk to about my feelings for you. I knew I could always count on her to listen. Loved that dog, actually.”
“I didn't know she meant that much to you. I mean, I always saw you playing with her, but I didn’t realize what she meant to you.”
“Yeah, well. You know me. I don’t talk about my feelings, and especially not back then.”
They skipped forward a few pages to a photo of him, Chandler, and April standing in front of their auto repair garage. The photo was taken a few days after Chandler and April had come out to Rosebridge, and was one of the first photos of them as a family. Next were a few photos of two of them working in the shop. There was a photo of April’s first day in school, a photo of her with her Chinese teacher, Mrs. Tang, a photo of her and Mom. In fact, all of the rest of the photos in the album were of April.
“What a year,” Adrian said, closing the album and giving Chandler a kiss. “We ought to add some Christmas photos to the album.”
“Best year of my life,” Chandler agreed. “Sometimes it still don’t even feel real. Like I might wake up, and I’m back in Everetteville in that shit-ass apartment.”
Adrian hugged him tightly and left a few more kisses on his lips. “I know exactly what you mean, but this ain’t a dream. And I’ll do everything I can to remind you of that.” He let his hand wander down between Chandler’s thighs and gave his package a little squeeze.
“Hello,” said Chandler, grinning. “What, you weren’t satisfied with the present I gave you? You want more?”
“You know I’m always down for more.”
This time, they did move the party into the bedroom. After they finished, Chandler quickly fell asleep, snoring loudly in Adrian’s arms. Adrian lay awake for a short while. He was serious when he’d asked Chandler what he wanted for Christmas, but he knew that getting a straight answer from him would be impossible. And with the days ticking away and nothing under the tree for his man, Adrian was actually starting to get a little anxious. Sure, Chandler would be happy with any present. But it was their first Christmas together, and Adrian was not the kind of man who would settle with giving the love of his life just any old present. No, Adrian was not the kind of man who would settle for anything. This was becoming a mission to him, and he would not fail.
2
Chandler unscrewed the lug nuts from the Honda’s front driver’s side wheel, pulled the tire off, and leaned in to get a look at the strut. Adrian had taken April to her Chinese class, leaving him alone at the shop with Douglas and Lexie. Douglas was the new mechanic they’d hired to work part time. He was a retiree and a friend of Adrian’s mother, and had decided it would be better for his mental health to have some sort of work. Lexie was Chandler’s friend from Arkansas, who had moved over to Rosebridge when he’d offered her a receptionist job at the shop.
In truth, the only thing related to Christmas presents on Chandler’s mind was Adrian’s. He’d gotten April’s present already: a Disney princess doll, exactly what she’d asked for—Moweena, or Mahona or something, he still was no good at remembering the names of these things. He’d been planning and researching Adrian’s gift for almost four months now, and had only just recently gotten a bite information that confirmed the thing would even be possible to get. For a while, he wasn’t even sure if it existed and had only moved forward on a hunch.
Adrian didn’t know this, but Chandler had actually been the one to reach out to Luke McGee, not vice versa. It was true that Luke happened to be in town for the holidays, but they weren’t going to have a reunion just because they were old army buddies. Chandler had contacted Luke because he knew the man had connections that would help him track down Adrian’s present. It was all very secret, of course. He’d made it very clear to Luke not to say a word about it.
Douglas was in the other bay, standing over the engine compartment of a Volvo station wagon, a cigarette dangling from his lip.
“Chinese class,” he mused, stroking back his grey hair. “How old is she again?”
“Six,” Chandler said, working at a rusted nut with his wrench.
“Jesus Christ. Six! And she’s learning Chinese?”
“Mandarin, is what it’s called, I guess. She’s always been a bit ahead of the curve. Must get it from her mom’s side, because it sure ain’t from me.”
“Hm,” Douglas grunted. “Chinese. Back in my day, I didn’t even take Spanish until high school and your six-year-old is learning Chinese.”
“It’s alright, Douglas. She’s probably smarter than both us idiots put together, anyway. I wouldn’t feel bad about it.”
Douglas grunted again.
“Chandler?” The door to the office opened and Lexie stuck her head out.
“What’s up, Lexie?”
“Got a call for you. Someone named Luke.”
“Thanks, got it.”
He went to the garage phone and picked it up. “Chandler speaking.”
A voice crackled through the line. “Longman, you son of a bitch, how’s it going?”
“Not bad, McGee.
You know you could just call my cell, right? That’s why I gave it to you.”
“Yeah, but what’s the fun in having a work number if you can’t use it when you’re working, right? So, we still on for tonight?”
“Damn right. Dinner and drinks at our place.”
“You and Stokes, huh? Fuck, man. I still can’t believe it. I mean, we always joked about doing gay shit, but you weren’t actually supposed to go through with it!” He laughed. “Kidding, kidding. I always knew you two were a couple of queers.”
“Yeah? You jealous?” said Chandler. Surprisingly, he didn’t feel heated or weird about the ribbing at all. He’d been worried about that. Luke was one of the first guys from the squad to find out that he and Adrian had gotten married, and was going to be the first to actually spend time face to face with them as a couple. Being open about the relationship had been a challenging transition as it was, and Chandler had expected throwing their old army buddies into the mix would’ve triggered old habits and insecurities.
“Dude,” Luke said. “I’ve been with some crazy-ass bitches before, and not gonna lie, being with a homie seems like it’d be chill as fuck. Minus, you know, getting fucked in the ass and shit.”
“If you feel that way, you should try it sometime. Maybe you’d like it.”
“Nahh, man, nahh. No way. Not for me. Anyway, so, tonight. I got some news for you. My boy came through on your query.”
Chandler perked up. “That was fast.”
“I know. Not gonna lie, I’m fucking shocked, man. The odds of finding something like that have gotta be insane, but he did it.”
“And? Is it still around somewhere? Does it still exist?”
“Well, that’s the thing. He thinks it probably does, but he’s not one hundred percent on it. With what you gave him he was able to get the VIN, but now he’s gotta look into the records and see who the thing is registered to. But he’s on track.”
“Goddamn,” Chandler said, grinning. “Jesus, man. This is better news than I was expecting. Thank you.”
“No problem, Longman. But don’t get too excited. Even if it does still exist, there’s no guarantee whoever owns it will want to sell it. Something like that has gotta be worth a lot to whoever’s got it.”
Chandler had gotten the idea for the gift after Adrian’s car accident. Losing that old Ford had been extremely hard on him, and Chandler understood why. He knew how close Adrian was with his dad, and how badly his passing had hurt him. It’d happened while he was on deployment, and so he’d never had a chance to say goodbye. That truck was like a last memory of him.
When Chandler had seen the photo of his dad’s old Plymouth Duster, he wondered if somehow the car might still be around. It was a long shot, but not unheard of. He’d read stories of guys who’d managed to locate and restore their old first car. The Duster was a classic sports car and not just some random daily driver, so he figured that’d also increase his chances. As the weeks and months went by he slowly gathered information, going off just a partial license plate number visible in the photograph. Now with Luke’s friend at the DMV, Chandler felt like this crazy little idea might actually come through.
“More spaghetti?” Adrian asked Luke.
“None for me,” he said, patting his stomach. “That was friggin’ delicious, man. Thank you.”
April slurped down a noodle and grinned at Luke, who gave her a wink. “Wǒ zuì xǐhuan de cài shì spaghetti cài,” she said.
“Wowzy wha?” Luke said.
“That means my favorite food is spaghetti,” she said, matter of factly.
“It is?” Luke replied. “Well aren’t you lucky your daddy can cook such good spaghetti?”
She nodded and twirled her fork in the noodles, and took another bite.
“She’s taking Chinese lessons,” Chandler explained.
“Crazy, man,” Luke said, shaking his head. “Only Arabic I remember is ‘ma’a salama’. Everything else has gone…” He pointed down with his thumb and made a farting noise with his tongue.
After finishing dinner, they sat in the living room and watched April perform one of her little “shows,” which basically just consisted of her bouncing around on the furniture singing Disney songs. Luke cheered and applauded, and April seemed pleased to have made a new fan. She continued to play quietly in front of the Christmas tree while the three of them drank beers and caught up.
“Actually,” Luke said, “I keep in touch with a lot of the platoon. I’ve been able to make visits to a few other guys. Saw Watanabe, Reynoso, and Adler over the past year or so. They’re all doing pretty well. Adler just had a kid.”
“That right?” Chandler said.
“Yeah, can you believe it? Never woulda thought that guy’d ever even get laid without paying for it.” Luke covered his mouth. “My bad.”
Adrian and Chandler shrugged—April was off in her own world, mumbling to herself as she played with two princess dolls.
“You know what else I can’t believe? You guys! Married. Damn. For a while, it didn’t even seem like you guys got along. Barely even talked to one another, as I remember it.”
“We didn’t, really. Not until our final deployment.”
“I don’t blame you guys. There’s nothing else to do out there. I guess having someone else is better than doing this by yourself all the time.” He made a jerking motion with his fist.
Adrian laughed. “You were in the rack next to me, weren’t you, McGee? See, what you didn’t realize is that Chandler and I were getting it on right next to you while you were asleep. All those wet dreams you had were probably induced from the noises we made.”
“Aw, gross, man,” Luke said, and both Adrian and Chandler laughed.
They went through a couple more beers, and April curled up onto Adrian’s lap, her face nuzzled into his chest, and fell asleep.
“I’d better put the princess to bed,” Adrian said.
“Need a hand?” Chandler asked.
“Nah. But what you can do is get another round of beers ready.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Luke said, clapping his hands together. “Get to it, private.”
Chandler went to the fridge and pulled the whole twenty-four-pack of Buds out and brought it back to the living room. He cracked three bottles open and passed one to Luke.
“I spoke with David again before I left,” Luke said, lowering his voice. “I gave him your number, told him to give you a call once he’s got more info about your car. So what’s the deal with this vehicle, again? What’s so special about it?”
“It belonged to Adrian’s dad,” Chandler said quietly, taking a long draw from his bottle. “God, I can’t believe your guy was actually able to get the VIN. Fuckin’ miracle.”
“That’s the easy part. The hard part is tracking it down. But I got faith in my boy. If there’s anyone who can find your car, it’s him.”
“You’re sure he won’t take payment for this? I mean, doing it for free… I’m willing to compensate him for his time.”
“Nahh, man, nahh. It’s all good. He’s happy to help out a fellow veteran.”
“Hooah.”
They heard the door to April’s room close, and quickly changed the subject. When Adrian came back, Chandler had a beer ready for him.
“You got the whole box out?” Adrian asked, laughing.
“It’s been a long time, we got a lot of catching up to do,” Chandler said.
“Hell,” Luke shrugged, “I’ve got nowhere I gotta be tonight.”
“You’re welcome to crash on the couch,” Adrian said.
“Appreciated,” said Luke. “Yo. Check this out.” He went and grabbed his backpack, and from it pulled a packet of photographs. “Remember how Reynoso was always fuckin’ around with that camera? He gave me these photos.”
They pulled out the stack of pictures and started to flip through them, laughing and groaning and hollering at the contents, and the memories each one brought back. There were photos of the
squad joyriding in the old Mercedes that Adrian and Chandler had fixed up on base, one of them doing range practice, a shot of Adrian flicking off the camera. There was a whole series of the squad doing training sessions with Koko, and Chandler smiled in recollection. He silently wondered if that old girl was doing well, if she was even still alive. It’d been a confusing time for him. He’d joined the army thinking it’d be an answer to the problems in his life, but after his first deployment it was obvious that wouldn’t be the case. And when he fell for Adrian, it only made things worse. Especially back then, Chandler wasn’t the type of man to openly share his thoughts and feelings. Dealing with the confusion and conflict of falling in love with another man, he’d bottled it all inside. When he couldn't say the words to Adrian, he whispered them to Koko. She seemed to understand what he was feeling, and would comfort him, resting her head on his leg or licking his hand.
