He glanced over at him and was relieved to see that at least Rob wasn’t shivering.
“What do you think?” Jasper asked. The rain had slowed to a steady downpour. The air was infused with its scent, which Jasper thought was beautiful, especially when combined with the freshwater, slightly fishy smell of the lake. There was also a stillness to the air, almost as if the world were holding its breath.
Rob surprised him. He tugged at Jasper’s hand. “Let’s go down to the beach.”
Jasper let him lead the way down the broad steps. There was something about this moment, Jasper thought, that possessed a kind of magic. Their intertwined and interlocked fingers. The wet of their skin. The gray skies and heavy, close-to-the-horizon clouds. The chill in the air. The distant flash of lightning across the broad plain of churning water. Feeling safe with this man….
A sudden thought came to him.Why didn’t you tell him Louise had passed?He wondered if it was because it was too much, or maybe he was still processing the loss. The grief waited for him, like a wraith in the corner.
They were the only ones on the beach. Jasper wasn’t surprised because it was, after all, a weekday, and a rainy one at that. But still…. Chicago was a huge metropolis, with millions of people living west of the roiling blue-gray waters of Lake Michigan. You’d think, even in the rain, someone would be out here, with a dog maybe.
Jasper told himself not to look a gift horse in the mouth and to take advantage of this moment of solitude and togetherness while it lasted. He knew it wouldn’t—someone was sure to come along.
They headed to the water’s edge, where Rob surprised him again. He stooped down to take off his shoes and roll up his pant legs. Perhaps the man wasn’t as unadventurous as Jasper thought. Perhaps the desert dweller had no idea of the icy chill of Lake Michigan’s waters.
Jasper pointed to the pant legs and shook his head. “With these waves, do you really think you’re going to keep your pants dry if you wade in?”
Without waiting for a response, Jasper made a move he knew he’d regret later. He walked into the water, thinking he was doing the right thing, the kind thing.
He squeezed his eyes shut and gasped. The water was so cold it was painful, as though a creature made of ice, with a thousand tiny teeth, was biting into him. It was, oddly, almost like the lick of flame. Jasper turned back to Rob, who still stood sensibly at the water’s edge. Teeth chattering, Jasper managed to say, “Do. Not. Come. In.”
He hurried back to Rob, pushing him away from the crashing surf. Freezing, he bear-hugged him, huddling against his body for the relative warmth it gave off.
And Rob hugged him back, holding him close in a way that Jasper knew wasn’t only for protection from the elements.
Jasper felt encircled and hot in spite of the rain and his thoughtless and clueless wade into the arctic waters. He leaned back a little to look up at Rob, whose face was pale, slick with rainwater.
And that’s when Rob leaned down and kissed him. Jasper shut his eyes, reveling in the heat from Rob’s mouth, the slightly sweet taste of his tongue. He bit gently on Rob’s lower lip. The kiss, with the slowly dying rain pouring down on them, was like no other Jasper had ever experienced. He wanted it to last forever.
And it might have had not a woman arrived with her dog.
They broke apart clumsily, reluctantly, as a panting presence began sniffing at their ankles. Jasper looked down to see a little mutt, fawn colored, undeterred by the rain, standing on his calf and looking up at him with warm brown eyes almost as though wondering wherehiskiss was. His curled tail wagged so hard it was a blur.
He must have been some kind of terrier-Chihuahua mix, because he was small but with legs long enough and ears huge enough to be comically endearing.
“Vito!” the woman shouted. “Get back here! Leave those boys alone.”
Rob leaned into Jasper’s ear to whisper, “She called us boys. Bless her heart.”
The woman came up to them, a little breathless. She was probably fiftysomething, around Rob’s age, with buzz-cut salt-and-pepper hair and a smile that lit up the gray day. “I am so sorry.” She shooed Vito away from them, and he ran along the edge of the water, playing tag with the ebb and flow of the waves.
Her eyes, the color of dark chocolate, took them in from behind her silver cat-eye framed glasses. “Please don’t tell me that was your first kiss.” She let out a short bark of laughter.
Before either of them could respond, she waved a hand at them. “None of my business. But you might want to take it indoors—for a whole host of good reasons.” The smile returned as she turned to walk away. She gave them a little wave over her shoulder as she started moving south, Vito running behind her.
Thunder rumbled as though to give one last dying breath, and then the rain suddenly went from a drizzle to nothing at all. Clouds shifted a bit to reveal a patch of blue sky.
“She’s right, you know.” Rob eyed Jasper. “Indoors sounds really good right about now. And you—with those wet shoes—must be freezing.”
“Do you want to get inside?”
“I do. Very much.” Rob grinned, enough to let Jasper know he’d picked up on the little double entendre.
“My place or yours?” Jasper asked. He knew his apartment a few blocks from them would be empty. Stan would be at work.
Rob pressed close. “You live nearby, right?”
Jasper nodded. “Come on.”
