“What would you show me, if I did come visit?”
“The waterfall wall at the NGV,” Rusty said.
“The what now?” Blake asked, not sure what either a waterfall wall or an NGV was.
“At the national gallery, they’ve got this big glass wall, and it’s got water running down it. It looks like magic. When I was a kid I loved going there, just to reach out and touch the glass and let the water run over my hand. That’s what I’d show you first.”
“Huh,” Blake said, surprised that Rusty had such a detailed answer. Maybe he’d been giving it some thought.
“Then I guess we could go inside and see the art,” Rusty said. “Head somewhere nice for lunch. Maybe a pub or one of the little hidden away restaurants no one knows about. Coffee in a laneway somewhere. And then when it got dark I’d take you to one of the city parks to feed the possums.”
Blake raised an eyebrow. “Should you feed the possums?”
“Probably not, but they’ll eat out of the bins if you don’t. We have cute possums. You’d love them. But they will bully you into sharing your sandwich if you go near one.”
Blake chuckled. He liked the sound of all that. Rusty was clearly just as much fun to go on a date with at home as he was here.
“I think I’d like that,” Blake said.
“Spoken like someone who’s never had a slice of pizza stolen out of their hand by a possum,” Rusty responded.
“Well, now I’m convinced. I have to meet these possums.”
“Anytime,” Rusty said. “I’ll pay your airfare. Pick you up at the airport.”
Blake’s heart hurt at the earnestness of that offer. Rusty really did want to be his friend. Maybe even his boyfriend.
It was a shame they hadn’t reconnected differently. They’d met twice now, at different times of their lives, but it had never been therighttime.
They could have been so perfect for each other if it had been.
Blake yawned widely, his earlier nap apparently not enough to satisfy him. He felt as though he could sleep for a week right now, especially with the thought of the way he was about to change his entire life.
It was a good thing. He was glad he didn’t have to go back to his crappy office job.
It was just alot, and he felt like he was losing something huge. Something he should have been fighting to hold onto.
But right now, he was leaving Rusty as a friend. He liked that option better than being mad at him for not being willing to changehisentire life for Blake.
He wasn’t mad about that. He understood that Rusty had a life of his own, and that it was bad timing for both of them.
He just wished things were different.
“Go to bed,” Rusty said. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
“We’re like a real married couple,” Blake joked.
Rusty smiled wryly. “For the record, I’m gonna miss this, too,” he said.
Blake nodded, understanding that Rusty was trying to tell him this was hard forbothof them. Not just him.
That helped.
“Night,” Blake said, padding away toward the stairs.
He turned back as he reached the bottom of them, seeing Rusty playing with his phone.
Probably texting his father or his lawyer to say he had the signed divorce papers.
Blake’s stomach turned at the thought. He headed up the stairs, his heart sinking with every step he took away from Rusty, knowing that all the time they had left was borrowed, and they wouldn’t have any more of it.
He wished it could have gone another way. He didn’t want to watch the man he loved leave all over again.
