It was with utter impatience that Bede waited for Galen to get out of the truck, and when he opened the truck’s driver’s door and just sat there, Bede couldn’t wait a second longer. Hewent around the truck in quick strides and yanked Galen into his arms.
On his lips were tumbles of regret and apology, his muscles primed to hold Galen to him if he pulled back, and more sweet kisses, if Galen would only let him.
But Galen stayed still and did not pull away, a stillness to Bede’s wired agitation.
“What did you do with them?” asked Bede, a quick glance in the truck’s bed telling him the bins were not there. “You can’t justdumpthem. Someone will find them and an investigation will start. Besides, your fingerprints are all over those bins and bags. The coffee cans take prints super well, you realize?—”
Galen placed a hand on Bede’s chest, a light touch amidst Bede’s frantic ramblings that did almost nothing to calm him.
“I wiped them down. I wore gloves the whole time,” Galen said in an unperturbed way, like Bede’s anxiety had nothing to do with him. Like he carted off plastic bins of drug money every day. His eyes were serene as he looked up at Bede. “I took care of it.”
“What?” asked Bede, his voice as loud as gunshot in the clearing. “What do youmean,you took care of it?”
“I distributed the money in a way I thought would do the most good,” said Galen, his eyes steely gray.
Bede’s eyebrows rose and his arms around Galen’s waist tightened.
“One bin went to the LGBTQ safe house in Cheyenne,” said Galen, as calmly as if he was describing ordinary everyday errands. “One bin went to the food bank, also in Cheyenne, and one to the safe house for women in Cheyenne.” Galen dipped his head, then looked up at Bede. “I cheated a little on that last one. As a man, I wouldn’t typically have access to the address for such a place, but I overheard Maddy talking on the phone about donations, and just remembered it.”
“All those places have cameras,” said Bede, his heart beating hard.
“I wore my cowboy hat,” said Galen, and now those eyes were gleaming with a small laugh. “And a red bandana kind of bundled up around my chin. Like a Wild West bandit, only in reverse.”
“You’re complicit in my crimes,” said Bede, stern and astonished all at once. “It’s acrimeto launder money.”
“Well, I wasn’t going tokeepit,” said Galen, again as if this was simply a conversation about donating to good causes and not a conversation about laundering drug money. “It’s in a better place and it’s clean now. Besides.” Galen took a breath, his gaze shifting as if he was looking for something to distract himself with as he delivered a painful blow. He looked up at Bede, an almost fearful light in his eyes. “I did it for you. I did it for us. I don’t know exactly what we are or where we’ll end up, but I did not want to be dragging a huge chain of guilt around with us everywhere we went.”
“Chain of guilt?” asked Bede, suddenly picturing chains wrapped around those plastic bins and attached to them with ankle cuffs.
“You know.” Galen made vague waving gestures, then put both his palms on Bede’s chest. “Link by link, and yard by yard, I wear the chains I forged in life.”
“Are you—” Bede took a hard breath, his fingers tightening around Galen’s biceps. “You committed a crime for me and now you’re quotingA Christmas Carolat me?”
“Yes.” Another dubious look from Galen. This one said,Of course, you idiot. “I don’t want that for us. Do you?”
For us. Galen had said the phrase more than once and the intention in those words indicated that Galen meant to keep Bede in his life. That he wanted Bede in it.
The tightness in Bede’s chest still banged against his breastbone, but began lifting, floating up as if on soft, gray wings. And the idea that they were discussing a classic tale set in the dead of winter, almost arguing about it in the middle of a clearing on a rather hot Wyoming afternoon, made the laughter bubble up inside of him. And he couldn’t help it.
“But you’re a criminal now,” said Bede, doing his best to keep a straight face even while the growing sense of joy made him feel breathless. “I just don’t know if I can consort with acriminal.” He ducked his chin, and let his hands fall to Galen’s waist, his fingers curling light as a feather. “Are you sure nobody saw you? Saw what you were doing?”
“Nobody saw,” said Galen, his eyes half closing when Bede gently brushed the dust from Galen’s cheek with the edge of his pinkie. “Besides, if they ask, I’ll say it wasn’t me and you can say that I was with you all day.”
“Lying to the cops already, my, my.” Bede tipped close and swept a kiss across Galen’s mouth, felt it curve into a smile, and smiled right back.
“I don’t have a record,” said Galen, stepping closer, wrapping his arms around Bede’s waist. “They’ll never think to ask.” At Bede’s astonished sound, he said, “I did a search on the internet about it. Very informative, the internet.”
“Yes, that it is,” said Bede, still astonished, still reeling, his heart fluttering just as hard as if he’d been on the verge of his first kiss.
He could hear sounds behind him, coming from the mess tent, and the smells of salt and grease as their dinner was being set out for them. “So, what’ll we do now, boss?” he asked.
“We do what we were always going to do,” said Galen as he lifted his hand from Bede’s waist to sweep his hair from his face, putting it back right away. “We finish the summer. You pick upyour certificate of completion, and I buy those new tires for my truck.”
“What about the farm?” asked Bede and watched as Galen’s expression turned serious.
“It is almost too late to rent to anyone else,” said Galen, and Bede got the impression that the idea didn’t bother Galen overly much. “Maybe Gabe’ll let me take you guys up there to chop down weeds and fix the fence and take stock of the place. Give me some time to figure out what I want to do.”
“I’d be up for that,” said Bede. “And if more expensive coffee was offered, I know Toby and Owen would be up for it too.”
