“I thought the flowers did, but now I’m not sure. This,” he gestured broadly at their cozy picnic, “doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“What was wrong with the flowers?”
“Roses were my mother’s favorite. Red, especially. She had a garden at the house overflowing with them. It was still blooming, last I checked.”
His acute melancholy lured Heath closer, his hands rubbing over the spot on Evan’s chest where his heart beat strongest. “That sounds lovely. As a rose fan myself, they’re prickly towork with, and not just the thorns. But when you find a spot they like, they reward you so beautifully.”
“You garden?”
“I dabble.” He wouldn’t mention the jungle inside his condo. Or the seasonal garden he’d been tending at his mother’s since he was a child. Evan didn’t need to know all his obsessions. Just the ones relevant for here and now. “So, what do you think she meant by them?”
He shrugged and stretched out his arms, providing the perfect spot for Heath to rest his head. “At first I thought it was a ‘fuck you,’ because her lovely breakup note suggested I reassess my priorities.”
Heath sat back up. Outrage was a marvelous core workout. “She broke up with you via note?”
Evan laughed and tugged Heath’s head down to his shoulder. Impossible to argue with such perfect access for tracing patterns across his chest. Also, a spectacular view of his favorite spot to bite.
“I figured she was reminding me Mom was gone and I should focus on the future.”
“You don’t think that now?”
He shook his head, the motion gently rocking Heath from side to side. God, it was lovely being so close to him. His warmth and strength. His delicious scent. The man was a pit trap of comfort.
“I don’t know what to think. If she hadn’t intended to be here, why set all this shit up? I was supposed to be alone. Is this some sort of introspective penance?”
Heath’s lips curled into a small smile. Evan was starting to sound like him, and he didn’t hate it.
“Maybe she just wanted to remind you of where you came from and give you time to reflect.”
He grunted. “I’d never have pictured her doing that sort of hippie bullshit before, but she changed over the last year or two,so maybe she found God or some shit.”
“Or just inner peace,” Heath offered, and was jostled by Evan’s derisive snort.
“I wouldn’t go that far. Deep down, she’s still a neurotic overachiever. That’s in her wiring. She’s just traded Givenchy for patchouli.”
There were cheese, crackers, and even more fruit for snacking, plus some chocolates, which were a lovely complement to the fruit-forward seltzer Evan had requested in place of Prosecco.
Sated for more than one reason, a half-asleep Heath watched Evan wade through the crystal blue water lapping against the beach. He admired the flex of the muscles in his feet and calves as he navigated the resistance of water and sand, and how the sun twinkled off the droplets clinging to his body. Oh, what he’d give to cling like that and never let go.
Failure at casual. Incapable of separating his emotions from the physical, but highly accomplished at reading into even the smallest gestures and using them for proof of concept. His superhero name would be The Romantic Dumbass. Or maybe that was his villain origin story?
“Do you have any relationship at all with your father’s family?”
Ah, yes. What better way to ruin a wonderful afternoon than by bringing up sensitive subjects? Maybe he should change that name to Hapless.
Evan looked down at the water swirling around his ankles, a tightness lifting his shoulders. “I guess I never finished my story, huh?”
Heath’s guilt and regret were right on time. “You don’t have to. I shouldn’t have asked. I was just being nosy.”
Evan sat heavily on the blanket next to him, scooping the sand and funneling it through his palm into a volcano. “It’s a fair question. I don’t mind.”
“No, truly, you don’t have to.”
“I know, but I’m gonna anyway. You’ll just keep wondering, and I’d rather you hear it from me.”
Heath laughed stiffly. This was a terrible idea, but he couldn’t bring himself to push further. Evan kept the details of his life hidden behind a dense mist, and he got cagey whenever anyone ventured too close. He’d wondered why that was. Other than there being no love lost between them, what was his family life like, and had it always been that way?
One thing was certain, he wouldn’t be asking what Evan had done to deserve it, or he’d be hiking barefoot through the jungle for days.
