Fourteen

Jack

As we passed through Woodland, I struggled to remember the last time I'd been this far away from Foggy Basin. I'd always wanted to travel but so far that hadn't happened, and I didn't see it changing anytime soon. A passenger plane in the distance reminded me how close we were to the airport, and I leaned forward to get a better look.

"Wonder where they're going?" I asked.

"Hard to say," Hudson said as he watched it rise higher into the sky. "Hopefully someplace fun."

"Have you traveled much?" I asked and stared at his perfect fucking profile. Even if there were a few grey hairs blended in with his blond hair it only made him look even hotter than he already was.

"Yeah, some. I've been to Mexico a few times, Europe, Canada. Oh, and the Caribbean on a cruise."

"You've traveled a lot. I've barely been past the county line," I said, and I wasn't lying. "Tell me about the places you've been." Travel was my kryptonite. I loved nothing more than watching television shows and hearing about trips that the locals had taken. Some of them traveled frequently while most of them were like me and rarely left town.

"I didn't travel at all until I was on my own. My parents used to go on road trips to the coast when I lived at home, but they haven't for years. I think the store got in the way of that," Hudson said. "When I got up this morning, they'd left a note that they were going to Washington. They just took off and drove." He grinned to himself at the thought. "What about your parents, do they travel?"

"No, never. Dad doesn't like to take time off when he has work, and when he doesn't, they're looking for the next job. Mom stays busy with my two younger brothers still in school. Not a lot of time for travel I guess," I said, and thought about how hectic our house was on any given day. "It's been so nice not living there. It's constant chaos."

Hudson chuckled at that. "I always hated that I was an only child, but it sounds like we both had our challenges."

"There were many times I wished I was an only child. Don't get me wrong my brothers and I all get along, but it's a true testament to my parents that we all survived childhood." I laughed as memories of all the times one or more of us had been injured doing something stupid. Now they were great memories, but I was glad to be out of the house and not having to relive them through my younger brothers who were still a handful.

"That's one of the warehouses in my territory." Hudson pointed out the large building just past the airport.

"That's where you work?" I asked. He'd said it was a big warehouse store, but I hadn't pictured anything like this.

"Yep, I oversee ten of them. They distribute to the stores, and I oversee that distribution system," Hudson said. His voice had an edge of pride. "When I was younger, I never dreamed I'd end up doing this kind of work. Now I've worked for the same company around fifteen years."

I listened as we drove past the massive building. There was nothing in Foggy Basin that was even close to that size—well except the silos on the edge of town. But that wasn't the same at all. "Can you show me what it's like inside sometime?" I asked and couldn't believe how stupid it sounded. "I mean—"

"Of course. Probably not today but we can plan it and go check it out." Hudson was a nice guy. At first, I just saw him as the son of the boss, who'd left town to do his own thing rather than run the family business. But Jonas never spoke badly of him, and it was easy to see why. He cared about people and truly seemed to want everyone to be as happy as they could be. He was different from anyone I'd ever met, and he was nearly old enough to be my father. "Oh, and I ordered three rocking chairs. They should be delivered this week."

"I feel so bad about how impatient I've been with Mr. Atkins," I said.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure he didn't even notice. People like him just want to be around other people and that's not easy in a town the size of Foggy Basin. I talked to Dad about the chairs, and he thought it was a great idea, and he also said that once Mr. Atkins was inside the store it was hard to get him to leave. This way he can talk to whoever walks by or just watch what's going on around him."

"How long ago did his friend die?" I asked and kicked myself once again for being such an asshole.

"I'm not sure. Mom said the whole town knew about them though and they'd been together for years."

"That's nice that they didn't have to hide," I said. "I've never been good at hiding who I am."

He laughed at that and glanced at me. "I can't imagine you ever hiding who you are."

I wondered if he had a girlfriend, or someone special in Sacramento but he'd told me he was single. It was hard to imagine someone like him not having someone. He had his life together, a great job, and now he possibly owned his own business if he wanted it. I had a used car, a rental above a friend's garage, and a job that I hoped I still had a few weeks from now. "What part of Sacramento do you live in?" I asked, forcing my thoughts out of the dark spiral they had started on.

"The west side, near old Sacramento. It's close to the freeway and central to where most of my warehouses are located."

The closer we got to Sacramento the heavier the traffic got and soon we were driving near the exits for downtown. It was so different to Foggy Basin, and while I loved looking at everything there was to see nearby, the thought of living here didn't appeal to me. "How did you go from our little town to this?" I asked.

"At first it wasn't easy. After graduating high school I lived in the dorms at Sacramento State and didn't come home very often. It was a huge change for me and I'm not going to lie, I hated it at first. But then once I started working on the weekends and meeting people, it wasn't so bad. Plus, it's not like there were very many gay men living in Foggy Basin."

"You're gay?" I asked, and I guess that answered the question about a girlfriend.

"Yep, my whole life." He grinned at me before turning his attention back to the road.

"There's no shortage of gay men there now," I said. "Including me."

"Good to know," he said, but a part of me didn't want him to know that, or the other men around town. A part of me wanted to keep him just for myself. What the—