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Aaron recovered quickly even though the brief touch from Caleb had sent a wave of excitement through him. “Yeah, but if you don’t talk to the class, they’re not going to pay attention since there’d be a celebrity in the back of the room.”

Caleb cocked his head and looked at Aaron as if weighing carefully what he’d heard. “Okay. I don’t want to be a disruption.” Caleb’s dazzling smile nearly destroyed Aaron’s composure because it was breathtaking. “Name the day and I’ll give some sort of career-day-type spiel, and then I’ll watch you do your thing.”

“I’ll look over the plans for next week and let you know what day’s good.”

Caleb gave a sharp nod. “Perfect. Say, what do you think about getting the pie to go and taking that stroll?”

“Good idea.”

“We can get to the part of the evening where you show me all the new sights of our bustling little metropolis.”

There was plenty he could show Caleb in this neighborhood. “Of course. I’d love to get a place in this part of town one day, so I know the area pretty well.”

“Great.”

They flagged down Javi, who quickly had their dessert ready to take with them. “Here’s the pie,” he said, handing them a bag with the restaurant’s tasteful logo stamped on the side. “The chef said that tonight was his treat and that, if you’re not too busy, he’d love to get together while you’re in town.”

“Please tell Nate thank you and that it was superb. And I’ll give him a call.” Caleb pulled out his wallet and removed some bills. “Thank you, Javi, for taking such good care of us.”

Javi took the cash and looked at it with wide eyes. “Thank you, that’s very generous. I’ll make sure this gets into the tip pool for tonight.”

Caleb smiled, looking extremely pleased. “Have a good night.” He clapped Javi on the shoulder before turning to Aaron. “Let’s walk.”

Chapter Seven

CALEB worried that Aaron wasn’t having a good time. The evening was supposed to just be two people catching up. Yes, Caleb found Aaron more attractive than ever, and he’d love the chance to take things further. But he wouldn’t risk the renewed friendship, or Pam’s wrath, just to get what he’d wanted since he was sixteen. So far Aaron hadn’t seemed interested in going down that path.

“You sure this walk’s a good idea?” Even as he asked, Aaron led them away from where the SUV was parked and down a sidewalk filled with storefronts.

“If my foot acts up, I’ll let you know,” Caleb said as he looked at the buildings around them. “This area has really transformed. Pam said there’d been changes, but this is quite impressive.”

“Most of it’s happened in the last year. Nate moving in and updating the look of the building before he opened has a lot to do with it, from what I’ve heard. New places are still popping up in this area too.”

“I remember when hardly anything was open after seven, even on the weekends.” Caleb traded nods with the people who acknowledged him. “It’s weird seeing all this activity and it’s almost nine.”

“Pam and I spent many weekend nights sitting in the same booth at Denny’s because it was the only place open late.”

Caleb enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Denny’s was the place he and his teammates would go after hockey games because it could easily accommodate a couple dozen hungry teenagers. “It still around?”

“Oh yeah. Most of the new places are too expensive for the high school crowd, so they still end up there.”

“It’d be fun to get Pam and hang out in your old booth.” Caleb laughed at his idea. “If you’d let me, that is. You two never wanted me to hang around there.”

“You were a junior and her brother. It just wasn’t right.” Aaron became more animated and Caleb liked it. It was the freest Aaron had been all evening. “As the local sports star, I think you’d decide who could sit with you. And I’m sorry to say, our booth is gone. They remodeled, and that side of the restaurant is all freestanding tables and chairs.”

“I can’t believe Pam let them do that.”

“Right. Although she blames me since I wasn’t here to help stop it.” Aaron’s mood faltered. Caleb knew Pam would’ve only meant that as a joke, so the reaction was strange. “Sometimes she acts like I didn’t miss her because I didn’t visit, but it just never worked out.”

“What’s important is that you’re back now. One day she won’t hold that over your head. Either that, or you could try to get Denny’s to put her booth back.”

Aaron laughed so hard that he snorted, and Caleb’s heart soared. Whatever funk had threatened had been pushed aside.

“Oh, this is nice,” Aaron said, stopping to look in a storefront window. “We were just talking about this.”

The large oil painting captivated Caleb. Broad, vibrant brush strokes depicted the woods and pond he and his friends had played on every winter before they’d gone their separate ways. The perspective was looking through trees, with the ice and players in the distance. Tree branches were bare except for a few evergreens, and snow covered the ground while the slate-gray sky hinted that more snow was on the way. He was transported back some twenty years, as if the painter had been a voyeur during one of Caleb’s many afternoons there.

“It’s beautiful,” Aaron said, standing close to Caleb.