“I don’t have my phone.”
“Oh.” Theo frowned a little.
“It’s at the hotel, I can show you later if you really want to see.”
“I do.” Theo smiled. “Where are you off to, then? Am I keeping you?”
“I’m meant to meet Ronan about a cabin.”
“Oh, you’re not staying at the lodge?”
“I’d rather not. I like…” he frowned, searching for the words. “I don’t know. Space.”
“It’s nice out by the lake at night. There’re so many stars if the sky is clear. Did you know the way?”
“I have a general idea,” Leonidas answered. “I travel a lot. I’m pretty good at finding my way.”
“Well, I was going that way anyway because I have to drop something off with Ronan. We can either go together or go alone awkwardly and show up at the same time.” Theo laughed.
“It’s walkable from here?” Leonidas asked.
“You were going to walk, weren’t you?”
“I like walking,” Leonidas said. “I just did a five hundred kilometer pilgrimage through Spain.”
“You what?” Theo’s eyes turned wide, and he looped his arm through the crook of Leonidas’s elbow. “You have to tell me.”
Theo gave a tug and pulled Leonidas down the street. He quickly realized that people in Cherry Creek weren’t like people he’d met anywhere else in the world. They were warm and friendly, trusting maybe to a fault, but everyone so far seemed like they were genuinely good people. He saw the appeal of the place, understood why Andy would want to be in a town like this.
Theo asked question after question as they navigated the streets, and Leonidas answered him, sometimes giving more explanation than others. He shared the ideas that came into his mind, but he didn’t ask anything of Theo in return. It worked well. Theo seemed eager to learn about the things he’d seen on his travels.
“I’ve never been out of Cherry Creek,” Theo said as their shoes crunched the gravel leading up to the ranger station.
“I can’t imagine living my whole life in the town I grew up in.”
“It’s all I’ve known. But it worked out fine. I found Brad.”
“You love him?” Leonidas asked. They stepped onto the wooden stairs.
“More than anything.”
Theo pushed the door to the ranger station open and held up a crumpled bag that Leonidas hadn’t even realized he was carrying.
“Is your husband around?” Theo asked a man sitting behind the counter.
“He’s at work.” The man held out his hand. “Give them over.”
Theo passed off the bag and offered Leonidas a friendly smile. “This is who you’re looking for. Ronan is our trusty park ranger.”
Leonidas stepped toward the desk. “Nice to meet you. I’m Leonidas.”
“An out of towner,” Ronan observed, his voice low and gruff. He unrolled the top of the bag and reached in, pulling out a giant poppy seed bagel. He raised the bagel to his nose and inhaled, his eyes falling closed as he did.
“Brad’s brother’s boyfriend makes the best bagels in town,” Theo explained.
“The only bagels.” Ronan tore an edge off and popped it into his mouth.
“True. But he hoards them, and if you get on his bad side, he withholds them.”
