Chapter 13
Gabriel
Gabriel wore many hats working at Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp.
He worked in maintenance, in overseeing the counselors, in organizing events, and in the office.
Gabriel had a business mind and had studied business consulting at the University of Michigan, so his parents sometimes had him come in to look at the books and see how things were going.
He knew that they didn’t have the money they used to have.
Much of their personal savings had been depleted because of his dad’s treatment last year, and the camp wasn’t bringing in the income it once had.
There were fewer campers, and they had to lower the cost of tuition at the camp.
They couldn’t pay Richie what they used to pay him, which was why he had quit, and the salary they had offered Stu was lower than they wanted to pay him.
Gabriel guessed that if they had paid Stu more, he might’ve stayed after the prank.
But as it was, he saw the prank as a haunting, and he was a religious man, even more so than Gabriel’s parents, and he wasn’t going to stick around and mess with a ghost.
Drew agreeing to volunteer as the coach at the camp was good for the camp’s finances. It meant they didn’t need to budget a salary for him. They could use that money for other things the camp needed, like repairs and new equipment. It still wasn’t enough.
Gabriel didn’t like to see his parents’ business in the red. They cared about the camp. They had met there, and they loved it. Ownership of the camp had been a wedding gift to them, and for almost thirty years, it had been a gift. Now he worried that it had become a burden.
His parents weren’t old; they weren’t even sixty, but his father had been aged by the cancer, and his mother by the stress of caring for him.
If they were lucky, they might live for another twenty or thirty years, but Gabriel could tell that the thought of running the camp for that much longer didn’t appeal to them.
Three weeks after Drew started volunteering at the camp, halfway through the second session of campers, Gabriel met with his parents to go over the camp’s finances.
They sat in Don’s office, drinking coffee, and crowded around Don’s old Dell desktop computer. He had pulled up a large spreadsheet with all the expenses and income. The picture wasn’t pretty.
“I don’t like how this looks,” Gabriel admitted, after going through the whole spreadsheet.
He was trying his best to approach this as a business consultant, not as his parents’ son.
As their son, he wanted to offer them comfort.
As a business consultant, he needed them to be realistic about their situation.
“We’re not bringing in enough money to keep operating the way we have been,” he said. “People just aren’t signing up for camp the way they used to.” They had two cabins sitting empty this session. “It might be time to think about making some changes here.”
His parents exchanged a look, and he got the sense that there was something they hadn’t told him.
“What’s up?” he asked.
Don spoke first. “There’s been an offer. Do you know Stanley Schumacher?”
The name rang a bell in Gabriel’s mind. Stanley Schumacher was a local developer who wanted to turn Orion into a tourist town with a condo development, a new campground, and a resort hotel.
He had grown up locally and wanted to see Orion reach the tourist levels of a place like Traverse City or even Mackinac Island.
Orion didn’t have the size or appeal of those places, but Schumacher seemed to think he could get it there.
“He’s offered to buy the camp,” Laurel continued. “It’s a generous offer.”
Gabriel felt blindsided. “When did this happen?” he asked.
“We first talked about it a month ago,” Don said. He looked guilty for not telling Gabriel. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you. We needed to think about it first.”
“And what do you think?” Gabriel asked, struggling to keep his cool.
“It’s a good offer,” Don said. “It’s more money than the property is worth. We know because we talked to our lawyer. We don’t want to take it, because Stan doesn’t want the camp to stay a camp. He wants to level the cabins and use the land to build a luxury campground and conference center.”
Gabriel swore under his breath, earning disapproving looks from both of his parents. “Sorry,” he said. “Are you going to take the offer?”
“We don’t know,” Laurel said, more gently than Don.
“We don’t want to, but we might have to. Like you said, our finances don’t look good. The camp is becoming a burden. We don’t want to end on a bad note, and be forced to sell for less than it’s worth.”
“I don’t want that either,” Gabriel said, “and I don’t want the camp to be turned into a luxury campground.”
“Neither do we,” Don insisted, “but we’re running out of options.
” He sighed. “Your mother and I are both thinking of retiring in the next year. We’re not old, but this is hard work, and we would rather enjoy this last stage of our lives than be tied to work we no longer love.
Last year was difficult, and it made us think long and hard about what we want out of life.
We want to enjoy however long we have left. ”
Gabriel felt a lump in his throat. He didn’t like talking about his dad’s cancer. He was glad his dad had recovered, but he worried daily that the cancer would come back. The odds of that happening were low, but they weren’t zero. There was always a chance of the cancer reappearing.
“I don’t want you to stay here if you don’t like it,” he said.
He couldn’t imagine how hard this decision had to be for them. He wasn’t a parent, and he wasn’t middle-aged. He just saw things from his perspective, and he tried to see it from theirs. They had given their lives to this camp, rarely asking anything in return.
“Is there another solution, instead of just selling to Stan?”
“If there is, we haven’t seen it yet,” Laurel said.
“We need money, we don’t have to do what we want with the camp,” Don added, “and we would need someone to take over. You’ve done more than enough for the camp already, and we wouldn’t ask you to take over. Your siblings don’t want it, either, so we wouldn’t ask that of them.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Gabriel said. “Maybe we can think of a solution that doesn’t involve selling to Stan.”
That night, he went to Drew’s house. They saw each other every night at one of their houses, but hadn’t spent the night yet. Gabriel wanted to, and he was getting tired of pretending that they weren’t seeing each other.
He was also ready to have sex. They hadn’t made love yet, because most nights they were too tired to do more than kiss and talk and touch, but tonight he wanted to go all the way. He felt that he needed to go all the way.
Drew greeted him at the door. He was able to leave the camp earlier in the evening than Gabriel; Gabriel couldn’t leave until after 10:00 p.m. on most nights, after meeting with the rest of the senior staff.
“You look exhausted,” Drew said after kissing Gabriel. “Long day?”
“Very long day,” Gabriel said. They went to the kitchen, and Drew poured Gabriel a cup of coffee, which he gratefully took and drank. He was exhausted, and drank coffee like he needed it to survive.
“Want to talk about it?”
Gabriel needed to share what was on his mind. They went to the living room’s large couch and sat. Gabriel put his feet in Drew’s lap, apologized if they smelled, and drank his coffee.
He told Drew about the issues with the finances at the camp, and the offer his parents had received for Stan Schumacher to buy the land.
“He would tear down the camp and replace it with a luxury campground and conference center. The hockey camp would be gone.” He shook his head. “Orion’s Belt is an institution of this town. I can’t imagine what it would be like here without it. It’s my parents’ legacy.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Drew asked.
Gabriel shook his head. “Just listening is helpful.”
Drew took Gabriel’s mug from him now that he had finished his coffee. “I’m not sure if this would be wanted, but I could make another donation. If the camp needs money, I could give it.”
“That’s very kind,” Gabriel said, “but I doubt my parents would accept that. They’re very proud, and they don’t want to accept charity.”
“It’s not charity. It’s a gift.”
Gabriel smiled and squeezed Drew’s hand. “Again, that’s very kind. I can ask them, but I doubt they’ll take it. Let’s stop talking about it now. There are other things I want to do.”
Drew grinned. “Yeah? Like what?”
“Things that require me to use your shower.”
—
Twenty minutes later, Gabriel had showered and brushed his teeth and prepared himself.
He left the large ensuite bathroom attached to Drew’s bedroom and found Drew sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him.
Drew wore only a pair of black underwear and a white T-shirt.
His muscles strained the T-shirt, and Gabriel wanted to rip it off of him.
“Are you sure about this?” Drew said.
“I’ve been sure,” Gabriel said. He wore only a towel, and now he took it off. Drew sucked in a breath.
“Fuck,” he said. Gabriel was already half hard. “Have I told you you’re beautiful?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said, “but I’d like it if you said it again.” He approached Drew and straddled him.
Drew kissed him, long and slow. “You’re beautiful.”
Gabriel wrapped his arms around Drew. “So are you.”