Page 83 of The Falcon and the Foe

“Looks like the newbie isn’t going to roll over for you,” Mitch said from the crowd. He wasn’t a man of many words, so I appreciated that he used some of them to have my back.

“I got it, Leo.” Buzz nodded with confidence.

He walked around the tower multiple times, backward and forward, searching for a loose block. A part of me wanted him to succeed. I couldn’t bear to watch this thing topple.

Buzz blinked hard, the weight of the game and his exhaustion appearing to catch up with him. He tapped blocks, hoping one could give him a sign.

“You’ve tapped enough blocks,” Cal said. “Time to choose.”

“Let the man do his thing, Hogan,” Leo said, watching intently like a coach on the sidelines.

Buzz pressed his finger on a block a few rows up from the bottom. It was over before he yanked his digit back. The crowd let out a scream as the tower collapsed, blocks splaying across the floor. Watching it fall knocked the wind out of me. I was too young to remember the Berlin Wall falling, but I’d never forget the fall of the Jenga Tower.

It wasn’t until I saw the explosion of joy on Cal’s face that it clicked that we won. I pulled him close for a celebratory kiss before realizing we were in the center of a crowd. Boyfriends kissed. But we were friends. Co-scout leaders. He seemed to have the same hesitation.

“Good game.” Leo held out his hand, and I shook it tight.

“Epic game,” I said back.

“C’mere, Buzzy.” Leo hooked an arm around Buzz and kissed him on the head like a brother, no trace of sore loserdom.

“I ruined Christmas,” Buzz said.

“You’re all right. And so are you, Russ. Hope this isn’t the last we see of you.” Leo swung his blazer over his shoulder.

“Me, too.”

* * *

We drove backto Cal’s house, the place where it all started. Time had stopped this afternoon, but now it was back to clicking along.

“So…” I started. But rather than be awkward, I decided to go the genuine route. “I had a really great day with you. All of it.”

“It was one for the books, that’s for sure.”

“Back to work tomorrow.”

“Back to normal life.” Cal looked out the window. The slight shift I’d noticed in the bar was still here, still lingering.

“Baby, what is it?” I took his chin and made him face me. I allowed myself one more Baby before the day officially ended. “You’ve been a little weird ever since ziplining.”

“I have?”

I lovingly side-eyed him. We were too damn old for that bullshit. “Is this about that prick with the kayak? Dan?” I spat the name out with loads of disgust.

Cal looked away, red climbing his neck. I wanted to kiss the freckles on that stretch of skin. I wanted to keep discovering unique spots on his body, like an explorer traversing a new world.

“I wish you hadn’t heard all that.” Cal practically whispered the words. They were coated in shame and embarrassment.

I hated hearing him sound so small.

“That guy was an asshole.”

“He was an asshole I used to date. I have a past, okay? I’m not proud of it. I looked for love in all the wrong places. I believed all the bullshit lines guys fed me to get me into bed. I made a lot of mistakes.”

A bolt of anger ripped through me, anger at all the guys who’d had the honor of knowing Cal Hogan and treating him like crap. Anger at people who had the power to make this wonderful man feel like nothing.

“Hey.” I smoothed a relaxing hand through his hair. “We all have a past. Forget that guy. Forget all of them. They all brought you one step closer to Josh, to being a dad, to these great friends of yours in Sourwood.”

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