Page 64 of The Falcon and the Foe

“That was the best camping trip we’ve ever had!” Chase said.

I shouldn’t put so much stock in Chase’s opinions, but I did. I couldn’t help it. The kid had that aura of cool that few people seemed to be born with.

Russ chatted with parents, regaling them with a rundown of the weekend. That pit of dread expanded in my stomach. I rested my arms on Josh’s shoulders while he played a game on his phone. He was tired enough not to push me away.

One by one, parents drove off with their kids. The parking lot emptied out until there was one van and two cars left. Me and Russ.

“Hey, why don’t you and Quentin hang out in the van for a sec,” I said to Josh.

He and Quentin didn’t need to be asked twice. They pulled out extra breakfast bars from the cooler and shut the van door.

Russ adjusted gear in the back of the van, then joined me up front.

“So...” I hated having these conversations when I was banging my way through my twenties, and I hated them now.

“Well, I’d call that camping trip a smashing success.” He put his hands in his pockets and smiled that casual grin that put me at ease.

This was Russ. He wasn’t some idiotic random or loser. He had his shit together, and so did I. I was a mature adult who could have mature conversations.

Maybe.

“Great job, Scout Leader Russ.”

“Likewise.” He cleared his throat, which meant he still had more to say. “Listen, this weekend was fun. All of it.”

“But now we’re back in the real world.”

“Exactly. It was incredible, really incredible. Your mouth can do a lot more than argue.”

He stopped talking. So did I. We stood there in awkward silence, and the silence made me break out into a ridiculous giggle. I thought he was going to run for the hills, but Russ started laughing, too. All of a sudden, things didn’t feel awkward. Awkward was a million miles away.

“What are we doing, Russ? Breaking up with each other? Look, this weekend was great, and we’ll just leave it at that. I don’t want Josh or Quentin to find out and make scouting weird for anyone.”

“I don’t want that either. Josh is thriving, and I don’t want to ruin that.”

It touched my heart that he thought so much of my son.

“We had good times, but we also had a close call this morning.”

I bit down on my lip. “Sorry about that.”

“No, don’t be. It was...” He searched for a word before letting a beautifully satisfied grin envelop his face. “It was a great morning.”

“Until we got interrupted.”

He nodded. “I was obviously thinking with the wrong head.” He blushed at his own blue remark. Couldn’t he stop being adorable for like a minute, especially during this conversation? “If they’d caught us...it would’ve been a nightmare for us and for our boys. Just imagine what they’d tell their parents.”

I’d rather not think about the parents of Sourwood and their casual homophobia. Straight people loved the gays so long as we didn’t hint that we had a sex drive.

“We’ve finally found our groove leading the Falcons. We don’t want to mess that up.”

“You’re right. We can actually work together now without devolving into screaming and lobbing bitchy comments.” I shrugged, kinda nostalgic for Russ’s uptightness. “We had fun in the woods. It was like a gay version ofA Midsummer’s Nights Dream.”

“So, that’s why Puck is also called bottom, huh?”

“Snap. Where have you been hiding this sense of humor?”

“You must bring it out in me.”

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