Page 20 of Lakeside Little
Jack looked at me. “A petting zoo, can we?”
“Open daily every afternoon, and usually all day on the weekends, but not today since I’m here, and—my mom is over there,” he said, nodding to a woman with the largest rimmed sunhat—much larger than the one Jack had worn.
“We’d love to visit, and we’ll try before I have to leave,” I said, seeming to wipe the big smile from Jack’s face. It was the sad reality for both of us that we weren’t going to be living in this moment for the rest of our lives, like Groundhog Day, I’m sure we wished we could live this day over and over again, and if not this day, then yesterday when we stayed at the cabin enjoying each other’s company.
We explored the other stalls, seeing Elijah there with a similar book to Mason. Jack continued to nudge at me and whisper ideas about how I could do something similar. I had to bottle this inspiration up so that it would never leave. The closest I could possibly thing to doing that would be to having Jack right by my side.
Oliver caught up with us as we gorged on popsicles under the canopy of a tree.“So, what do you think?” he asked.
“I love these events, you need to tell me which ones are happening before I come next time,” Jack said. “I remember the food one last time, and oh my god. It was heaven.”
“Oh, you just missed that one.”
“What food?”
“The pineberry peach tea and tartlet fair,” Oliver said, and even though I was stuffing my face with a popsicle, my belly grumbled. “It’s actually my favorite of all the summer events we have going on. Mostly because of all the iced tea being served under this blistering heat.”
“You can say that again,” Jack said, pulling himself away from the popsicle. “I think Nory might start melting.”
Oliver looked around. “Where is she?”
She was under Jack’s t-shirt, which I told him I was jealous about. He pushed her up over the collar, letting her arms rest over the side, pinning herself in place. “She’s not made for the heat; she’s made for air-conditioned rooms.”
He laughed.
“We see Mason’s stand,” I said. “How long did it take him to create all that stuff in his catalogue?” I knew I should’ve asked him, but I was in awe of the man, and in ways, we were peers. I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t on the same level.
Oliver shrugged. “He’s been doing it since he was in high school. The hardware store was passed down to him from his folks, and now they’re on some live-in cruise that just goes on a voyage around the world for like, eternity, or something.”
“Oh god,” Jack let out. “I couldnotdo a cruise.”
“Yeah, I don’t think a cruise is ever for you,” I said. “But that’s ok, because I’m also not into cruising.”
Oliver and Jack giggled.
“Cruising,” Oliver snorted. “I hope not.”
“Well, you can be into whatever you want,” Jack added. “But I’m monogamous, just putting that out there.” He fanned himself with his hand before going back to deepthroating the popsicle.
It took me a moment to realize, putting the word together and my gay education not being what it should be. “Oh. No, I’m not into that,” I said. “That’s like glory holes and stuff right.”
They both laughed harder. “Come on, Diego, you should know better than to talk about such things in public, especially around the ears of the innocent,” Oliver said.
Quickly looking around, I didn’t see anyone but the two of them. My jaw gnashed together, fearing the worst. “Who?” I asked.
“Us,” Jack laughed, rolling around under the tree, covering himself in leaves and dirt.
“We’re innocent,” Oliver chimed in.
“I can’t speak to you, but I know you’re not so innocent,” I said to Jack, now in on the joke and smiling. “But I’ll pretend for you, my sweet angel.”
“And what about me?” Oliver asked.
Nodding over to Mason. “I’ll have to check with him, but I’ll leave it with a no comment.”
We stayed at the event for a little while longer, walking around in the safety of this small-town holding hands and snuggling up together, even if the weather was determined to keep us apart from how humid and sweaty the sun was making skin-on-skin contact. We had lunch at a soup spot and embraced the air conditioning before we left in the exhaustion of being around so many people—I didn’t know if Jack felt the same as me but seeing him fall asleep in the car on the drive back told me he was tuckered, which was pretty much just how I felt.
9. JACK
