Page 28 of Adrift

Even as I speak, he’s taking his first bite, so I hold my tongue and watch him nervously, chewing my lower lip. Obviously I tasted individual ingredients to make sure they were edible, but not the whole thing together.

I don’t know if it’s enough to impress him. And I really want to impress him.

Gage swallows and looks up at me, and then—at last—I catch the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Don’t put yourself down. This is much better than a cold can of soup. Or even a reheated can of soup on my camp stove. I appreciate all the effort you put into it.”

Instantly, he puts me at ease. I smile right back at him and pick up my fork to dig in, my own stomach grumbling. “And there’s pie after this,” I promise him. “From Berty and Doug. They remembered you, and they wanted to welcome you properly.”

Gage stares at me, fork hovering over his bowl. “They do?” He blinks and shakes his head. “I mean, uh. That’s cool. Seeing an older gay couple… it made a real difference when I was a kid, you know?”

Oh, I do.

“Right! I almost forgot…” I trail off, shaking my head—and shaking off the heartache at the same time. I glance at the plastic bag of food I brought to Gage’s place. “There’s something for you.”

“Yeah?”

My growling stomach makes me reluctant to stop eating right when I’m finally digging in. I shove several forkfuls of pasta in my mouth to tide me over, and then I set down my fork to rummage.

Gage snorts with amusement. “There’s no rush,” he tells me, a little too late.

Fucking hell. My cheeks are stuffedandroasting hot now. It’s obviously been a while since I had a real first date. I’m just glad Gage doesn’t seem to mind me being my usual chaotic mess.

I grope around for the little card with Berty’s handwriting. Turns out it’s hiding away under the pie container, so I’ve swallowed by the time I dig it out and hand it over. “Aha. There you go.”

Gage takes the card from me, and our fingertips brush together for just a moment.

All of a sudden, my fingers are tingling. Warmth shoots from my wrist straight up my arm. As it races across my skin, the familiar electric chill seems to spread and settle in, until every atom of my body is suddenly magnetically drawn toward Gage.

Jesus.

Gage tears his gaze away first and clears his throat loudly, ripping open the envelope.

I fumble for my glass of water and gulp half of it down at once. I’m glad I’ve got a moment to get a hold of myself. I feel like I’m a fresh-faced kid again, off to uni and finally discovering the big, wide world of gay men.

“Oh, I know that photo,” I say before I can help myself, glancing at the picture on the card. It’s Sunrise Island from the mainland harbour in Nanaimo, and the golden sunrise sky behind the island fills up most of the frame. “Berty took it. He featured it in the newsletter for three straight months.”

A little grin flits across Gage’s face as he flips open the card. It says, in Berty’s big looping cursive handwriting,Welcome back.

Then, in smaller print underneath:

You know where we are. Please drop by if you need anything!

-Berty & Doug

PS: The apples in this pie are from your orchard last autumn! We’re looking forward to being the first to try the famous cider…

“Aha!” I sit up again and grin at him. “This is a bribe pie,” I tell him, and then I shove more pasta in my mouth.

Gage raises his eyebrow, looks at the card, and then nods to admit that I’m right. “It’s all right. I’ll let you have your own slice this time.”

My cheeks flush, and suddenly I can’t stop thinking about our afternoon. I’d almost convinced myself I was daydreaming the whole thing, but I obviously wasn’t. We really did share a slice of apple pie.

Me and a customer. I’m pretty sure it’s against health regulations or something. But… I wasn’t going to say no.

Gage really isn’t being subtle about how he feels, is he?

Wait. He’s actually grinning at me.

Is heenjoyingthis? I think he is! It only makes me get more flustered, stabbing my fork into the bowl to shovel food into my mouth.

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