“No. But—”
“Oh.” The same thing they’d been talking about for the whole six weeks they’d been back together. Theirfuture, and how exactly they were going to make it work when they were living hours away from each other. If it were short-term, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But Ben didn’t want to live in the city; his occasional weekends there were fun, but he didn’t really feel at home. And Liam? Well. Liam seemed happy as a clam in North Falls. But his work wasn’t there.
“Liam could be an architect anywhere,”Ben told the others. He wasn’t sure if this was a conversation fit for public consumption, but he really couldn’t consider the other men around the campfire as “public,” could he? “But he can’t be agreatarchitect unless he’s in the city. That’s where the clients with all the money are, and for the really big, exciting projects, you need money. So—you know. He needs to be in the city. To be great,to do what he wants to do with his life. The city. He needs to be there.”
“No, I don’t,” Liam said quietly.
Ben frowned at him. “What do you mean? You just—you just said maybe you should domore. What does that mean? Is New York not enough? You need to go to Paris or Dubai or something?”
“Whoa, slow down.” Liam’s smile was gentle. “That’s not what I meant at all. I didn’t mean more professionally.I meant…more. You and me. Like living together? I know it’s fast, but it’s not like we don’t know each other pretty well already. And I feel like—I don’t want to waste time. I want tobe with you, you know?”
“Yeah.” Ben did know. He wanted the same thing. The details? Well. He’d just have to make the details work, he supposed. “Is there somewhere other than right downtown? I know you like thehustle and bustle, but could we—I don’t know, somewhere quieter? A bit less central?”
“I was thinking of North Falls,” Liam said, sounding genuinely confused. “You don’t want to live in the city—you’ve told me that already.”
“But you need to—”
“No. I don’t. My career… it’s not the most important thing, not by a long shot. And it’s not like I’d be moving to Antarctica. It’s s a bit much fora daily commute, but if I have to go down to the city for a couple days a week, I can do that no problem.”
“And Tristan’s going to agree to that?”
“I doubt it. But I think that’s okay. I’ve walked away from that firm once. I can do it again.”
“But your projects….”
“I’m getting really interested in residential design. It’s not as glamorous, not as high profile, but there’s a lot of room forcreativity. And I was thinking about doing some writing too. Like, helping people understand architecture with coffee table books or whatever. I like photography. And you can travel over the summer—I could work on getting my photography up to standard this winter, and next summer we could travel together. Take pictures of buildings. That’d be fun, right?”
“Like Terry,” Uncle Calvin said, andRichard nodded in agreement.
Liam frowned. “Terry?”
“Terry Franks,” Ben said. Was it possible? Could this work? “He died earlier this year? Oh, yeah. You were kind of at his funeral. But before he died, he was based in North Falls but he traveled pretty regularly. He wrote antique books.”
“Booksaboutantiques,” Uncle Calvin clarified. “Not old books.”
“How could hewriteold books?” Sethasked. “I know he traveled, but unless someone thought hetimetraveled, I’m not sure how his books could be old.”
“Terry Franks?” Liam said. He seemed to be talking just to Ben, now, which was really just as well. “I thought he was—damn. I actually thought of how small his life must have been, how—I don’t think I actually used the word pathetic, in my mind, but I might as well have. But nowI’m hearing…. Wait. Am I hearing that hewasn’tall that pathetic, or am I hearing that I’d be just like him if I moved back to North Falls, and that’d mean Iwouldbe pathetic?”
Of course Uncle Calvin couldn’t stay out of the conversation for long. “You’ve got a pretty high opinion of your opinion, son.”
“What?” Liam asked.
“You think Terry Franks gave a shit whether you thought he was patheticor not? Sixty years from now when you’ve lived a full and interesting life, you think you’re really going to care what some snot-nosed kid thinks about you? I certainly hope you won’t.”
“Wait,” Liam said.
But his father was involved now, and waiting didn’t seem to be an option. “You need to live your own life, Liam. You need to do what’s right for you, not whatother peoplewill think is impressive.”
“Screwother people!” Uncle Calvin crowed.
Seth leaned in. “Not literally. Don’t go screwing other people just because Calvin said so. He was speaking figuratively.”
“Thanks for the tip,” Liam replied. Then he turned to his father. “But—isn’t it—don’t you want—”
“Liam. Do you remember when your mother and I told you we were getting a divorce?”
“It was only a couple months ago. Yeah, I remember.”
