6
Art tookhis time as he picked the ripe vegetables in Frances’sgarden.
Rows of raised rectangular wooden-framed plots decorated the community garden space, surrounding a koi fountain with water pushing up through a naked baby and descending in an arc into the pool at thebase.
There were various gardening areas throughout the community, some on the ground, some raised, depending on where you reserved your space. As much as Frances enjoyed fresh veggies for cooking, she despised the work involved, so she was added to Art’s list of residents on whose garden plots—in addition to his own—he spent his time. He placed some peppers in the basket and noticed Carol waving from a few rowsaway.
“I might take you up on that offer for lemonade,” she calledout.
Art always brought a thermos filled with lemonade wherever he went, in case he or a friend gotthirsty.
“One moment,” he hollered back as he leaned down and grabbed a red-and-white cooler from beside his feet, lifting it and setting it on the wooden frame of the garden. He reached into his bag and retrieved a plastic cup, which he filled before traveling to her aisle. Carol expressed her gratitude as she took a sip. “You are too generous, Art,” she insisted. “So you must tell me about this new resident, WesBrenner.”
“And here I thought you wanted to partake in lemonade, but really it was idle gossip you were interested in allalong.”
“Art Cromley!” Carol appeared offended by his accusation, despite the fact that he was certain there was plenty of truth toit.
But being a diplomat, he said, “I’m only teasing you, Carol. I assume you’re asking me because he’s from my hometown, but there isn’t much more than that. He’s a friendly man who I didn’t see around Winebourne much, and he’s been nothing but kind since hearrived.”
“The way your lips are curled at the edges like that, I imagine there’s more to it.” Carol was obviously poking at Art to get a rise out of him, though he couldn’t deny he was likely always a little giddy whenever Wes came up inconversation.
“I heard he was quite a catch back in the day. Still appears to be, as far as I can make out. Come on. You can tell me that much.” Again, judging by the eager expression on her face, she wanted more than that. She wanted to hear that they’d had a long-lasting love affair in their past and he was wildly in love with the new resident, so that she could hurry off and tell all the friends she played bridge and rummy with about her latest discovery. Facts of that kind were a sort of currency—one must have something to share to be shared with. And Carol must have had a great amount to trade for, since she always had the greatest and latest stories. Few could rival her when it came to gossip, though Gabe certainly gave her a run for hermoney.
“More than a catch,” Art admitted, but it was as much as he was willing to admit. “I’d say there wasn’t a girl in our town who wasn’t smitten with him back in theday.”
“And a few boys,” shepressed.
“At the very least one, but I’m certain there were others as well. I’ll have to find a picture of him for you. He played sports at this private school, and one summer, he came home built like a brick house. I saw him in town once with his shirt off, and, Carol, if there was anyone who could have helped a young man trying to understand his sexuality, it was WesBrenner.”
The wicked grin across her face assured Art she’d gotten enough to satisfy her for the day. He could have gone on to say that things were different now, since they were not those kids anymore…that while there were certain lingering feelings from back then, there certainly wasn’t anything that would be of much use to her when she went to share her latest secrets with her closest friends and somewhat distantconnections.
Art returned to his work on Frances’s garden, then shifted over to his own, saying hi to the occasional passersby, and sure enough, as though Carol herself had orchestrated it, Wes walked through the gardens and, spotting Art,waved.
Carol glanced up from her work, not making even a slight attempt at hiding her interest in theirexchange.
What perfect timing Wes had for them to become the topic of dinner conversation for their fellowresidents.
She kept her gaze fixed on them, as though her eyes were linked to a camcorder that would take down every detail so she could play it again and again and speculate away with everyone she could relay the experienceto.
It was a shame two gay men couldn’t so much as have a couple of chats without some of the residents turning it into so much more, but Art had been at Heathrow Estates long enough to know that if it wasn’t their chat that roused everyone’s interest, it would have just as well been some other rumor cycling through the mill, so it might as well have been that. At least it was innocent enough and unlikely to cause him much more than slightembarrassment.
“You have spectacular timing, Wes,” Art said as the topic of conversation approachedhim.
Wes had been at Heathrow for nearly two weeks, and while he and Art had attended some activities together, like in their youth, Wes had activities of his own and Art had those that interested him. Wes had met up with him and his friends for another bingo night, but outside of that, they didn’t see each other toomuch.
“It’s a nice day, isn’t it?” Wes said, flashing that all too charming smile, which Art had to admit was beginning to disarm him the way it oncehad.
“A beautiful day. I wanted to take advantage of it since the humidity isn’t too bad right now. Two more months and coming out here will be like taking aswim.”
“I just hope it’s not as bad as last summer. This is the third time I’ve run into you out here. You seem to keep fairly busy with thegardens.”
“Back in Winebourne, the people who lived in the house I bought had a fairly big garden, and I found it gave me something to do. It kept my mind occupied, and I seemed to have a knack forit.”
“That you most certainly do. Those tomatoes there could give any of these others a run for theirmoney.”
“Thankyou.”
“You’ll have to help me set up my little plot. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I have time to figure it out,right?”
