Companion to Eternal Summer
Leo Hayes has come to June Lake to finish the last job on his list as his father’s executor: cleaning out the old cabin and putting it on the market. Then a stranger rolls into the yard, a schoolteacher named Orlando Ortiz who’s up the mountain researching a story about Old Hollywood getaways.
They bond over books, then over dinner. By the next morning, Leo realizes he doesn’t want to sell the cabin. All the memories here are good ones -- and a night with the charming younger man might be the beginning of something even better.
Orlando knew movie star Tommy Hayes had a son. Meeting the attractive older man turns his summer research trip into a summer fling. Except after their first night together, a fling isn’t all he wants. Can their brief affair turn into something more?
Leo Hayes walked in at five minutes to seven and knocked Orlando sideways all over again. Wavy silver hair, warm hazel eyes, long-legged and fit, with a close resemblance to Beatle George Harrison. He was in gray twill trousers, rather than the filthy jeans from earlier in the day, topped with a plaid cotton shirt that definitely did not say “lumberjack.” On his feet, black boots, giving him an extra inch or so, not that he needed it. Orlando stood, enjoying the height difference, offering a hand. They shook, exchanging greetings. Then Orlando said, “I got your shirt cleaned, would you like to take it to your car before we go in to dinner?”
“Excellent idea,” Leo said. “Thanks very much, you didn’t have to do that.”
“You didn’t have to let a complete stranger take a few dozen of your books, either.”
Leo, laundry bag in hand, shot him a laughing glance. “Not so strange.” Orlando stood there in a sort of delighted dither, doing nothing till the older man returned. Then all he did was gesture toward the restaurant. They walked through the lobby and toward the sounds of dinner service.
Neither of them was in a hurry and neither seemed to have an agenda. They took their time over dinner, talking about all kinds of things. Leo asked Orlando about his writing, which led to talking about the job that paid his bills, which led to why he’d chosen Los Angeles for college and career after leaving the Army. “I didn’t want to go back to Oklahoma,” he admitted. “I miss my family, but I wanted a chance at a full life. That meant being somewhere I could find more than one other gay man.”
Leo laughed. “I’ll confess, I was wondering. Anytime I meet an attractive guy, I wonder.”
Oh. Well, that answered a few questions. Orlando took a moment, covering by sipping wine from the other side of the Sierra Nevada, before letting himself make eye contact. “Same.” They considered each other for another moment, gazes speculative. Then Orlando said, “I’m afraid I don’t know anything about you. The reading I did before heading up here told me your father had one child named Leonard who lived in LA, but I didn’t go digging. When I get back home, I might have to do that.”
“No need,” Leo said. He laid his utensils across his empty plate and leaned forward. “Bi, single, twice divorced, and not at all sure how to make myself useful for the rest of my life. I was happy to turn over control of my mother’s family trust to a cousin, but I’ve kind of regretted it ever since. Selling the cabin is the last thing on my to-do list as Pop’s executor.”
Orlando sucked in a breath, realizing he’d forgotten something big. “Oh my God, I meant to say, I’m so sorry for your loss. Both your losses. You must have known Mr. Herman all your life.”
“All my life,” Leo agreed. “Even before I understood the relationship, Sam was always there. His son Noah clued me in the summer I left university. We did a bicycle tour of the Loire Valley and talked about everything. Have you been to France?”
Okay, a change of subject, to be respected. “Not on vacation. Here and there on the way to or from someplace else. Is it as great as it looks in magazines?”
“We sure had a great time. Noah spoke French like a native, which helped a lot.”
Orlando laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bet. The only real vacation I’ve ever taken, I mean if you don’t count visiting folks back home, was a long weekend in Cabo.”
“I’ve taken a lot of long weekends up here.” Leo was sitting back, relaxed, looking around the rustic room. “A whole summer when I was seventeen, weeks at a stretch for a lot of years since.” After a moment gazing absently at his half-empty wineglass, he glanced at Orlando. “Now I’m wondering if I should sell it after all.”
