I shook my head under his gaze. “I wouldn’t change that part, either, Jack. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” I said, running my lips over his just enough for the taste of Jack and scotch blended together.
After our trip to Lyle, it was full into summer. A new CRNA joined the hospital, so my work schedule never reached the insane levels of overtime it had before. But, there was running with Jack and yoga with Quinn and Matt to replace the skiing. Jack and I worked in tandem, building on his idea from our trip to Lyle about the vineyard, and a few other things. I found myself embraced by Bannon and the hospital in a way I wasn’t prepared for, but enjoyed just the same. The same was true with Jack and his family. Ellen and Rita meant something to me that I couldn’t even explain, and I tried to quell the slight panic I had about having something worth losing.
About having a place I belonged. Of being right where I was supposed to be.
Sometime that summer Jack and I took Piper andJack’sbrothers on a hike to a hidden spring we had visited a few times. I could imagine what it looked like when it was winter, and realized how much the locals had to embrace the short weeks of summer. Jack had told me that Bear Valley had recorded snowfall in every month of the year, so these bright days were glorious for a six-mile hike to work up a sweat, and then to bask in the cold, snowmelt-fed swimming hole we found.
I loved the hike so much, Jack took me on another one the next weekend at the Continental Divide - just the two of us, hiking and loving in the fleeting days of Colorado summer. Honestly, I couldn’t remember a time I was happier. Jack knew just about everything there was to know about me, and still decided I was still worth it. I told him about the loneliness in Europe, about the hook-ups and the disappointment. He told me about Bear Valley, about his made-family, and his college days.
We probably had gone into a relationship all wrong in terms of a timeline or how it was supposed to be done. But, those days and nights added in all the missing pieces of ourselves, all the answers to the questions we hadn’t asked yet.
So we hiked and talked for three days, going far out where there was no one but us for miles, and loved each other in his tent before packing it up and doing it again the next night. Jack screaming his release in the forest air was definitely my new favorite sound of summer.
Weeks after that, Jack had to travel for work and was gone for two nights, and it shocked me that I missed him as much as I did. It should have terrified me to feel thatconnection with someone, but it didn’t. I slept like shit without him there and was thrilled when he came back, grumbling about the same thing.
I had also started frequenting the city council meetings with Jack and his brothers or some combination. Jack had asked me to start coming with him because I knew all the people and we talked about some of the dynamics long after the meetings. If Jack wanted me as a sounding board, then that’s what I would be. After the first few, I came to almost all of them because it helped me understand some of the issues we worked through on Mann business. While I did still run some of the holdings and businesses my grandfather left me in Texas, it wasn’t anything close to being hands-on, and seeing the different things theMannshad going on in Bear Valley intrigued me. I had assumed that it would be too much to try to take on more than my work at the hospital and what I already had on my plate in Texas. But, seeing how the Mann businesses operated, it now seemed like a possibility for me to do more.
Clive Jensen, the school superintendent, happened to sit next to me at the council meeting. Jack was helping Baylor pull Brock Kennedy over for a quick word regarding something about the production crew that was due out at the farm by the end of the year. Hollywood was still interested, but were moving at their own pace about even scouting the location. The latest issue was something about security.
“I’m glad I caught you, Perrin,” the older gentleman said when he slid into the seat next to me. I shook Clive’s hand, a little surprised. I knew the guy, mostly because of helping out with the birthday celebrations at the school or other things Piper had asked me to do, but I wouldn’t say that I knew him well.
“What can I do for you, Dr. Jensen?”
“I have a big ask for you, but I hope you will at least consider it,” he said.
“Okay.” I was instantly intrigued. “You know I would do anything for the kids, what is it?”
“We have a vacancy to fill on the school board, as I am sure you are aware. Mary Highsmith and I both see you as our first choice. It would be an appointed position for two years, and then you could run for another term. ”
“I’m sorry?” I said, blinking. I don’t know what I expected him to say, but being asked to serve on the Bear Valley School Board wasn’t exactly in my top ten.
“Perrin, you are great with kids, you definitely have their best interests in mind. Hell, we see you there more than most parents.”
I leaned back, catching Jack’s eye briefly from across the room. I could tell he had no clue what Jensen was talking to me about. I was pretty sure he would tell me to do it, when we talked about it later.
“Look, Dr. Jensen, while that certainly is flattering, I’m not sure that I . . .”
He cut me off. “Perrin, you are a leader in the community if not for your volunteer work alone. You are well-educated, well-spoken, and new here, so we want to give you some incentive to stay, become even closer to Bear Valley.”
I laughed. “I am a childless gay man; I’m pretty sure that some folks definitely don’t think that’s a good fit for any school board.”
Jensen waved his hand flippantly. “I didn’t create one of the most successful districts in the state, thenation, by worrying about what ‘some folks’ care about,” he said.That part was true. Bear Valley had no private schools close because the public school was such a high-performer, despite its small size. “How I see it, Perrin, is that you have several plusses and no negatives. I won’t try and tell you that your connection to the hospital, or hell even your connection to theMannsisn’t in your favor as well. But, honestly, you are as perfect a candidate as we could imagine. So think about it.”
“I will.”
“Good. Mary and some of the other board members might try to bend your ear about it, as well. I just wanted you to hear it from me first.”
The next Sunday at Mann family dinner, Ellen wrapped her arms around me as we stood outside.
“We are so proud of you, Perrin. I do hope you are considering the school board,” Rita said, as she directed Jack where to place something he had just brought out from the kitchen to the outside table.
Ellen nodded as she stepped out of our embrace. “I think it’s wonderful for them to ask you to the school board. You would be a great fit.” She said, lightly squeezing my shoulder as she moved over to Rita.
“I told Jack I would think about it, but, does the whole world know? I thought it was sort of like they quietly asked around until they had a commitment or something,” I said.
Rita laughed. “Mary and Clive both know we will tell you exactly what Jack is telling you. Peer pressure.”
Ellen waved her hand. “Plus, now that you have all the spots filled at the hospital, you will have time for other things,” she said.
