Gabriel yawned, and Drew kissed him quickly on the temple. He didn’t care who saw. No one was watching them, anyway.
“How does this sound?” he said. “I go into town and get us some lunch and some coffee. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”
“That would be great,” Gabriel said. “I’m exhausted and so hungry. I haven’t had time to eat.”
“Let me take care of that,” Drew said.
Gabriel smiled weakly at him. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too.” Drew kissed him again, this time on the lips, and promised he’d be back soon.
He navigated his rental car out of the crowded parking lot. There were many parents checking their kids out early. The counselors and other staff members looked exhausted. Drew was thinking about what he could do to help, if there was anything. The obvious thing would be to donate more money, but Gabriel had said that his parents wouldn’t accept money. But circumstances had changed, and he wondered if maybe now they would. It could be a final gift he could give them before he left, before he went back to Boston. As the summer had progressed, he wanted to go back to Boston less and less. Leaving Orion would mean leaving Gabriel, and he didn’t want to do that.
No, he didn’t want to do that at all.
Chapter 19
Gabriel
Gabriel’s father made the call by dinnertime:Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp would be closed for the rest of the summer. They would still hold their Labor Day weekend event, but there would be no more sessions for campers. The police wanted to investigate the possibility of vandalism, and the Ackermanns couldn’t in good conscience have campers around if there was someone on the property vandalizing it.
It was a brutal blow to the camp’s finances. They had already been operating on a tight budget, and refunding all of the campers for the last session and a half was barely possible. They did it, but that was the last of their money.
Gabriel sat in his father’s office with his parents, and they looked grimly at their budget.
“We’re going to have to sell,” Don said quietly. “There’s no other choice. It’s sell, or go bankrupt at this point.”
Gabriel had been worried that it would happen. He knew his parents had been thinking about selling, anyway, but he didn’t want it to be like this. He wanted them to make the decision because it was what theywantedto do, not because they’d been forced into doing it by supernatural or nefarious forces. He was sorry for them, and he could tell that both his parents felt defeated, though they were trying to hide it.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I wish there was something I could do.”
Laurel hugged him. “That’s not your responsibility, honey,” she said, “and I think we’ve put enough responsibility on you these past two years. I’m sorry about that. We’ve relied on you more than was fair, and you gave up so much to help us.” She offered him a weak smile. “But now you won’t have to worry about the camp anymore. You put your life on hold for us, and you don’t have to do that anymore. You can go to Chicago, if you still want to, and you can stop worrying that we’ll be okay. If we sell the camp, we’ll be okay with money, and we can retire, or we can get other jobs and work for a few years, and retire when we want to.”
“I didn’t want it to end like this,” Gabriel said.
Don spoke up. “We don’t get to control how things end, son. Most good things end, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t good. Life happens in seasons, and it’s foolish to try to hold on to a season after its time has passed.”
Gabriel looked down at his hands. Maybe his father didn’t know it, but he wasn’t just giving Gabriel advice about the camp. It was advice he could apply to his relationship with Drew. They’d had two beautiful months together, and they had the rest of August, and then Drew would have to leave. He would have to go back to Boston and back to the NHL, and eventually, he would forget about Gabriel, the small-town boy that he had fallen in love with. It made Gabriel sad to think about life without Drew. Their connection felt so powerful and so natural. He couldn’t imagine trying to move forward without it. Maybe his mother was right, though. Maybe it was time for him to move on from Orion, to go to Chicago. He’d delayed his life there to come back home to Orion, to take care of his dad and the camp. Don Ackermann was now healthy, and it looked like they’d be selling the camp. The two responsibilities that had brought him home were no longer his to worry about, and he was free to do what he wanted.
His mother took his hand and squeezed it gently. She smiled at him. “And,” she said softly, “if we close for the rest of the summer, you’ll have more time to spend with Drew.”
Gabriel was surprised. “What? What do you mean?”
Laurel and Don exchanged a look. “You don’t think we haven’t noticed?” Laurel said. “Whatever the two of you have, it seems special. We know you’ll be sad when he has to leave. He’s in the NHL, and he’ll have to go back there. Now that the camp is closing, you are free to do what you want for the rest of the summer. You can spend your time with him and enjoy what’s left.”
Gabriel hugged both his parents. “I didn’t know you knew,” he said.
“We’re more observant than you think,” Don said. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. He was a classic Midwestern dad and wasn’t good at talking about feelings. “Do you love him?” he asked.
“Yes,” Gabriel said simply, because it was simple. He loved Drew, and the thought of him leaving was painful.
“Then go be with him,” Don said, “and enjoy the time you have together. Enjoy this season. You deserve to be with someone you love and who loves you. I just wish that the time you spent together didn’t have an expiration date on it.”
“We don’t want you to get hurt,” his mother cautioned.
“It’ll hurt when he leaves,” Gabriel admitted, “but I know that, and it’ll be worth it. I love him that much.”
“Then go be with him,” Laurel said.
