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 they wanted to 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.
—
That brought the end to camp. It wasn’t the end that anyone had wanted, and Gabriel was sad for his parents.
They were talking more seriously with Stan Schumacher about selling, but Gabriel encouraged them to wait to sign anything.
He wanted them to think about it and really take their time.
There might be other options. They told him not to worry about them; they weren’t his responsibility anymore, and they knew they needed to stop relying on him so much.
They told him to go be with Drew and enjoy the last few weeks they had together.
Gabriel moved into Drew’s house on the Lake.
They spent their days together. Sometimes, they would go into town and get coffee at Dune Grass Coffee Roasters, talking and laughing with the baristas, and then they would go to one of the bookstores and browse, picking out books for each other, which they would read on the beach.
They swam in the Lake, which was warm enough now that Gabriel didn’t feel like his balls were going to fall off, and they cooked good dinners together.
They made love every night and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
They went on double dates with Evan and Aubrey, who thanked Gabriel and Drew sheepishly for setting them up on the night of the séance.
They talked sometimes about the séance, or about the incidents at camp, but the memories weren’t pleasant, and they didn’t want to dwell on them.
They also didn’t talk about the future, because the future meant the end of Gabriel and Drew’s relationship.
Neither of them wanted it to end, and they avoided the subject as much as possible.
They were living in a countdown, but it was beautiful, and it was full of love. They loved each other, and they just wished that they could be together.
Gabriel knew that if he stayed in Orion after Drew left, he would just be reminded of all the memories he and Drew had made, and it would be too painful.
He started contacting his friends who lived in Chicago, asking if they knew anyone who needed a roommate.
He reached back out to the consulting firm that had hired him when he graduated, a position he had turned down to move back to Orion.
He scheduled a phone call with the hiring manager there, and things were looking promising.
He knew he should be excited for these moves.
A life in Chicago, in a nice job, was what he had always wanted.
It was what he had been working towards when he was in college, and it had been his dream for years.
He had looked forward to Chicago as a place he could start over and start fresh, but now he didn’t want that. He wanted to be with Drew.
Though the summer days were long, and time felt a little less meaningful in Orion, the summer had to come to an end, and eventually, Drew’s last week in Michigan arrived.
When Gabriel woke up in Drew’s bed each morning that week, when they made love at all hours, he found himself thinking about how this was all coming to an end.
Each long dinner or nighttime walk on the beach brought them closer to the time Drew would leave, and he would be alone.
They savored their time together and cherished each moment.
They told each other they loved each other, and they meant it.
Gabriel meant it more than he had ever meant it before.
He loved Drew, but he knew he couldn’t uproot his life and move to Boston to be with him.
He had considered it, but Drew was the only person he knew there, and it would be irresponsible of him.
He had friends in Chicago and opportunities.
He would be able to move on there, even if he didn’t want to move on. Maybe someday he would want to.
On Drew’s last night in Orion, they hosted a dinner party for their friends.
Evan and Aubrey came (together), and so did Irma, and several baristas from Dune Grass Coffee Roasters, some staff members from Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp, and the owners of both bookstores where Drew had bought so many books.
Gabriel and Drew cooked a wonderful meal of fresh pasta with homemade pesto sauce, a tomato salad, and warm, crusty bread.
They all ate and talked for hours, and when the food was gone and everyone was full, and on their third or fourth glass of wine, Drew took Gabriel’s hand and told all of the guests the truth: that he was an NHL player, and that he had gotten the house in Orion for the summer because he wanted to get away for a bit, and that he was so thankful to everyone at the table for the kindness they had shown him.
After he made his announcement, there was silence around the table. Aside from Gabriel and Evan, Drew hadn’t told the truth to anyone else there before that night. Some of the guests looked rather sheepishly at each other, and Gabriel wondered what was going on.