Page 24 of Covington Acres

Which was different for Vince but also not. He was the kind of guy who could adapt to almost anything. He was a people person, confident in who he was, and he liked being who he was. So it wasn’t like he struggled with people or anything, but being around Colby felt extra natural for whatever reason.

“We should go shower,” Colby said, before his eyes widened. “Not together, perv.”

Vince held up his hands. “Hey, I didn’t say a word. You’re the one who went there. I was thinking nothing but innocent thoughts.” Nah, really, he would love to shower with Colby, to look at him and touch him and make him feel good, but that wasn’t in the cards for them. “I’m a good boy,” he added, then swept past Colby, down the hall and to the bathroom.

He hoped like hell he had time to jerk off before they had to leave.

The next twoweeks went by like most of the time in Briar County did—at a slow pace, filled with hard work and good people. Vince and Colby had fallen asleep together two more times—once in Vince’s bed and once in Colby’s—both times after watching a movie together. The second one, they’d woken up with Vince’s arm around Colby. He must have gravitated toward Colby in the middle of the night. There was enough space, and they’d each fallen asleep on their own side, but by morning, Colby had beenon his back, Vince on his stomach with a leg and an arm thrown over him.

They’d joked about it, not making a big deal of the situation. Again, that was something Vince was thankful about. For him it was nothing, but that didn’t mean it would feel that way for Colby.

They’d checked the beer often while it was fermenting, tasting it at different steps to see how it changed. It wasn’t the best yet, but that was all part of the process.

Today was beer day, and then this weekend was their Asheville trip, both of which Vince was excited about. Technically, they should bottle the beer and let it sit a bit before they drank it, but they were too impatient for that. They figured they could taste it now, bottle it, then compare when they returned home. Vince had purchased special beer mugs for the occasion, ordering them online and having them engraved with Colby’s name. He’d worried they wouldn’t arrive on time, but they’d come that morning. He couldn’t wait to see Colby’s face when he opened them.

They went to work as usual, then had come home and showered—separately.

Vince was just leaving the bathroom, wearing nothing but boxers, when he ran into Colby in the hallway—who wasn’t watching where he was going. Colby gripped Vince’s waist to steady himself.

“Shit. Sorry,” Colby said, letting go of him. “I’m excited. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, hold on a minute. Come here.” He led Colby to his room, then plucked the box off his mattress.

“What’s this?”

“Open it and see.”

Colby’s forehead wrinkled as he took the box from Vince. He was careful as he opened it, his big hands gentle on the containeras if he was afraid to mess something up. When he flipped the lid open and saw the two beer mugs tucked inside, he just stood there staring at them for a moment. He didn’t say anything, the air in the room thick around them. Was it too much? Vince didn’t think so. He wasn’t one to second-guess himself, but now he did.

“You did this for me?” Colby asked softly, without looking at him.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I? I would have put the name of your new beer venture on them, but since you don’t have one yet, I went with Colby. You can’t drink your first batch of beer in a regular old mug. I’m queer, babe. I don’t work that way.”

Colby snorted a laugh, pulled one of the mugs out, and set the box on the bed. “They’re beautiful, Vince. Thank you. I…don’t know what to say.”

Colby was such an enigma sometimes. He’d grown up in a family that loved big and showed it every chance they got. They were close, and Colby must’ve gotten a million gifts from people he cared about over his lifetime, but every time Vince did something nice for him, Colby acted like it was the first time it happened. Like maybe he thought he didn’t deserve it or wondered why Vince would do it. Vince didn’t understand that, but then, sometimes people just were who they were. It didn’t mean something bad happened to them or that they were mistreated. Everyone was different.

“You don’t have to say anything. You just need to hurry your ass up so we can taste our beer.” Vince grabbed a pair of shorts from his bed and went to tug them on. Colby’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“Thank you for this. It means a lot to me. I wouldn’t be doing any of it without you.”

Vince gave him a smile. “You don’t know that. You might have, but you’re welcome all the same.”

Colby let him go, and Vince finished pulling his shorts on. He stepped into a pair of slides, and then they went outside, each holding a mug.

He let Colby do the work from there as this was his project—what Vince had a feeling would become his passion. Colby got everything ready, filling their mugs, then holding his up for Vince. “To new beginnings,” he returned Vince’s words from the last time they did this.

“To new beginnings,” Vince replied, and they both took a sip.

Vince wasn’t a beer expert by any means, but the bitter drink tasted like beer to him. “I like it.”

“It’s okay.” Colby took another sip. “Not great, but I think part of it is that we haven’t let it sit after fermenting. The wheats and flavors still mix during that step. It’ll be better then, and when it’s cold. Still…” He grinned. “We fucking did this.”

Colby’s wide smile was contagious, and Vince was happy to catch it. “Yeah, we fucking did.”

They drank their beer—that wasn’t really great yet, but neither cared. While they worked on bottling the rest, they talked, and Vince nearly buzzed from Colby’s happiness.

That night, when they climbed into Colby’s bed to watch a movie, Vince realized he felt more settled than he ever had.

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