Gil and Ford shared a pivotal moment when they were kids living in tiny Leeward, California, on the northern coastal highway. Immediately afterward, Gil moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family so his mother could get better cancer care.
Years later, Gil is back in Leeward, working as CFO at Mainsail Construction where Ford supervises the work teams. Gil has come home to take care of his father after the older man’s stroke. While Gil says he’s a small town boy at heart and is glad to be back, Ford wonders if that’s true or if he’ll bail as soon as his dad is settled.
Is Gil being honest with himself? If so, how does Ford fit into his new life?
Walking to the sliding glass door onto the deck, I could see the backs of two familiar heads. Haynes and Mercer. What in the world were they doing here of all places?
I pulled open the door. I could feel Ford behind me. He must have decided to start his inspection with Dad’s favorite spot, the deck.
“Well, there he is! Finally!” Haynes jumped up and walked over to give me his signature bear hug. “So this is where you ran off to? Not bad. Not bad. Mercer was just telling me how he loves the ocean and the sound of the waves coming in.”
Mercer, as usual, stood silently next to his husband Haynes, no emotion showing on his stoic face.
“We’ve all been wondering if you were running away from us and our little group or if your father was really as bad off as you kept telling us.” Haynes head moved as if he was about to tell me a secret. “Nick said he told you to get out of his life because you’re such a loser. He said with a tiny dick and no personality, you were nobody. We defended you, Mercer and I. But you know how Nick is. So self-righteously forceful. Always has to be right. He even said your dad was just fine. He said he’d had a minor stroke, and you were just running away.
“But your dad? He really is in a bad way, isn’t he? I mean, he couldn’t hardly greet us at the door. His body guard said we’d have to wait for you to come home, so we walked in without an invite. Your father didn’t even hardly look at us. It was really sad, you know. He must have been quite a guy when ...”
Ford had moved to stand next to me as Haynes words stabbed into my head. I hadn’t remembered how tactless Haynes could be when he was flustered.
I glanced at Mercer, good old stoic Mercer. Right. Mercer, who reminded me a lot of the young Ford I knew, was the reason I gave Haynes a pass so many times. Mercer assessed the situation, thought about it for a while, then gave his opinion, his considered opinion. Many of those in our group listened, me being one of them. Unlike Haynes who liked to say he always told the truth, Mercer never lied.
But Mercer loved Haynes. They came as a couple, so my friends and I accepted them as such.
Haynes gave Ford the once over and moved into a model stance, one foot slightly forward and hip thrust out.
“Well, hello there. I’m Haynes. And you are?” He extended a limp hand to Ford.
I wasn’t sure whether Ford was supposed to shake his hand or kiss it. As the thought struck me, my anger fell away into a stifled laugh. Had Ford ever had a guy vamp him? I glanced at Ford, who had a lazy, good-old-boy grin on his lips and his signature twinkle in his eyes.
“Hi, there, Haynes. I’m Brian’s boyfriend, Bubba. Good to know you.”
“Brian?” Haynes yelped as Mercer elbowed him. “Who the hell is Brian?”
“Gil is Brian,” Mercer said softly. “Keep up. And by the way, I win.”
“Win?” I asked him.
“I said you left Nick for someone better. Someone much better.” Mercer shrugged. “Not everyone agreed. Did they, babe?”
“How did you know? How could you tell?” Haynes asked. “I know you made it up. You guessed. You didn’t really know.”
Mercer shrugged again, put his arm around Haynes’ shoulders, and hugged him.
“Does it matter?” he asked.
