Page 60 of The Boy from Half Moon

“But he also decides important things like courting and marrying?” Tate asked.

As hard as I tried to keep my responses vague, and like talking about Franklin was no big deal, my body language probably gave me away. “Franklin decides everything.”

Tate slowly nodded his head. I figured he had a million more questions, but he dropped the topic instead. This was another one of those good things I admired about Tate. When he sensed the subject was in an even remotely sensitive part of my life, he wouldn’t push..

I took a left turn at the sign for Mirror Pond and headed south, out of town. Once out of city limits, the landscape becomes barren and desolate. What I wanted to show Tate gave the area its lifeblood, The Deschutes River. The river runs through Bend, and Mirror Pond is located within a reservoir created by damming the Deschutes River. I’d delivered furniture out here recently and ran across a place I fell in love with.

“It’s hard to believe it’s so rural out here, yet still close to town,” Tate stated, admiring the beauty outside the truck.

“I like how green things are near the river,” I said. “Madras is so dry, but the Deschutes changes everything here,” I noted.

We bounced along the gravel road for another five minutes until I spotted a familiar For Sale sign. I tapped the blinker and pulled into a vacant lot, surrounded by Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine trees. I pulled into the middle of the oversized lot and put the truck in park.

“This is beautiful out here, Luke.”

“Up for a walk?” I asked.

Tate glanced down at his clothing. He was dressed in a suit and what I assumed were expensive dress shoes. After realizing he probably felt unprepared, I figured he’d pass. I was wrong.

“Heck yeah,” he replied. “I’ll leave my suit jacket here. I’ve never hiked in a suit before, but there’s always a first time for everything,” he added.

“You sure?”

“I’m positive,” he exclaimed. “I want to see what you want to share with me. You grab the Cokes from your ice chest while I take my jacket and tie off.”

He may not have looked like the type, but I was discovering Tate was an adventurous, enthusiastic, and generally up-for-anything type of man. Another trait to add to my long list of qualities he possessed.

The piece of land I wanted, and that we were standing in the middle of, was a half-acre building site. The approximately square lot was flat and wide open. Tall trees lined the boundaries on all sides and afforded terrific privacy. I pointed the way, and we headed for a tree line about fifty yards west from where we were parked. Once at the tree line, there wasn’t an official trail, but the last time I’d been here, I found a lightly traveled path through the ten-or-so-foot width of the tree line.

I walked in front of Tate to make sure the path was clear and to warn him of anything to be careful of. There was a fallen log across the path that hadn’t been there the last time, so I reached back with my hand, not looking back at him.

“Take my hand,” I said, snapping off small branches and moving cautiously over the log.

The moment I had his hand in mine, I felt a possessiveness overcome me. I wanted to protect Tate. I needed him to know that he would be safe with me and that I was capable of caring for him. The desire was different from how I felt about David or my mother. Tate seemed important to me, but in a very unusual sense.

We made it over the log, but Tate did not let my hand go. He followed closely, so I kept my hand behind me so we could remain attached. Our connection felt natural to me and sent messages to my heart that whatever this was between us, I needed it.

The trees and shrubs opened up to a narrow strip of land that dropped off steeply in front of us, the Deschutes River below us in the distance.

“Luke!” he exclaimed, squeezing my hand. “Wow!”

I instinctively tugged on his hand to move him to my side. We stood side by side, still hand in hand, and admired the beauty below us. I wanted him to like it in a big way. I’d fantasized about owning the lot ever since I’d noticed it was for sale two weeks ago.

“What do you think?” I asked.

When I spotted the For Sale sign while on a delivery a couple of weeks prior, I couldn’t help but stop and drive up the narrow road that led into the lot. Like today, I walked through the tree line, knowing the river had to be close by. Ever since finding the land, I’d wanted to bring Tate here to witness the view.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he answered. “I’m amazed, is what I think, Luke.”

“I want to live somewhere like this, Tate,” I declared. “A small amount of land for a small house. A little slice of heaven with the person I love.”

“You’d be a fortunate man,” he said. “And the person you loved would be fortunate as well.”

“I really want to make this happen, Tate. Maybe not this place, but a place like this. A bit of my own land to belong on, with someone I belong to that shares it with me.”

Tate turned to face me, lifting our hands between us while his fingers stroked the back of my hand. “You’re truly a wonderful man, Luke. This is perfect here, and I can definitely see you living somewhere like this.”

“Thank you for that,” I said, staring at our connected hands.

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