Chapter 21 #2
Skylar chose Iowa over the Virgin Islands with Brandon and a group of guys from the Northern Lights. And as much as he’d love to be flying toward a beach vacation, Adam and Beck weren’t at the beach.
He drove the familiar path toward his apartment. It was still early, barely one p.m., and there was a prime parking spot on the street outside the bar.
Skylar threw his SUV in park and jumped out, hands shaking, sweat prickling on his forehead even though it was cold. He didn’t even know if Adam was working, but he was confident that he was in the building somewhere on a Sunday.
He pushed into the dark bar and was grateful to be back in the hell-decorated space.
It was so cheesy but so earnest in there.
Being back made him emotional for the day that was coming quickly when it wouldn’t be Adam’s bar anymore.
He knew it had drained Adam dry of energy, of time, of ten years of his life, but he also knew that Adam loved this bar.
Grace was behind the counter with Willa, chatting as they tidied and dried glasses.
“Holy shit, Skylar!” she shouted, running from behind the bar to wrap him up in a hug.
He was excited to see her too, picking her up to give her a swing around.
There was classic rock coming out of the speakers and ESPN on the TVs, the slightly burnt smell of frozen pizza cooking filling the air. It was so good to be back.
“Sky?” he heard Adam’s confused voice ask. Skylar set Grace down, head whipping toward the office door. “What are you doing here?” Adam came toward him cautiously, like he was looking at a mirage.
“It’s All-Star break,” Skylar said, taking a step forward hopefully. He didn’t think he could handle himself if Adam rejected him.
Instead, in a split second, he had an armful of cute bartender. Adam wrapped his arms around Skylar’s ribs, tucking his face into Skylar’s neck.
“Holy fuck, holy fuck,” Adam kept chanting.
Skylar couldn’t help the smile on his face as he held Adam close, one hand on the back of his head.
When they finally pulled apart from each other, Skylar took one look at Adam’s beautiful face before he kissed him full and deep and right in front of everyone.
A cheer erupted from a couple of corners of the room.
Everyone loved a love story, and Skylar knew there were plenty of people in the bar who had been watching theirs unfold.
Adam took Skylar’s face in his hands. “I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you were going to the Virgin Islands.” A couple of nights ago during their phone call, Adam had made a bad joke about virgins. Skylar smiled, thinking about it.
“I canceled. It didn’t make any sense to waste an entire week away from you.”
“I can’t say I didn’t dream of you coming down here instead. I just didn’t think it would happen,” Adam said, still looking at him like he was about to get caught by a large gust of wind. “Are you down here your whole break?”
“Of course,” Skylar said. “I’ll be down here until the last second before I have to leave.”
Something in Adam gave and he sagged against Skylar. Skylar held on to him tight. “I was thinking I’d go put my suitcase in my apartment and then come back. How late do you work on Sundays?” The bar wasn’t open too late, but Skylar couldn’t remember exactly when.
“Why are you putting your suitcase in your apartment?” Adam asked. “You can bring it upstairs.”
“Okay,” Skylar said, giddy from the invitation. He grabbed his bag from his SUV, and Adam led him upstairs to the apartment that Skylar had sorely been missing the last couple months. There was something different about it he couldn’t put his finger on, and he said as much.
“I went through some of Heath’s old things,” Adam said. “Took a bunch of loads to the thrift store.”
“It looks nice in here.” He scanned the room, grateful Adam’s guitar was still in the corner. Someday he’d get a song out of him.
Adam shrugged. “Less to move out when I leave.” There was a tinge of sadness in his voice, even though Skylar knew that the bar and this little apartment over it weren’t Adam’s dream. They’d been his home for quite a while, and it was hard to leave that behind. A big chapter was closing.
Adam took a seat on his couch. Skylar sprawled out next to him, throwing an arm around his shoulders. He tucked his nose against Adam’s temple and inhaled, happy to be close to him.
“Beck said the wake was nice,” Skylar said quietly into Adam’s ear. Adam reached for Skylar’s empty hand and twined their fingers together.
“It was a really nice day. I’m glad that we got to host. I know Ron was grateful for it. It’s so hard to see him so heartbroken right now. All you want to do when you see your friend so sad like that is fix it, and there’s no fixing death. It was nice of Beck to come.”
“That was his idea. He wanted to.”
“It says a lot about his character.” Skylar wasn’t sure what kind of conversation Beck and Adam had during the wake, if any, but Beck’s report back when he got home echoed something similar to what Adam was saying.
They now had some acceptance of each other and the roles that they each played in Skylar’s life.
It was a sad, heavy moment that melted into comfort-seeking kisses, like pressing their mouths together over and over again would heal them. Skylar spent that time convincing himself that Adam was real and there right in front of him, and it felt like Adam was doing the same.
Finally, when Adam had kissed him raw, both of their lips red and slightly swollen, Adam looked at his watch, which was an old Casio. There was something refreshing about the fact that it wasn’t a $10,000 watch and it wasn’t an Apple Watch. Neither were Adam’s style.
“Fuck,” he said. “I need to get back down to the bar. We’re open ’til ten tonight.”
Skylar nodded. “Good thing I know how to pass time in a bar.” Adam kissed him again, and Skylar caught his cheeks—soft from his beard—in his hands to keep him in the kiss for longer.
“Do you want to take a nap or something first? Or raid my fridge?”
Skylar’s stomach rumbled. “Might take you up on the fridge thing?”
Adam nodded. He went to the junk drawer in the kitchen and fished around in it before coming back to Skylar with a key on a vintage Northern Lights keychain.
“This is the key to the apartment if you come down to visit the bar. Lock up behind you.”
Skylar knew he wasn’t exactly getting invited to move in, and it wasn’t going to be his key, but it still felt special. And the universe was telling them something with this key ring that Heath probably bought.
Skylar snagged one more kiss before Adam went back down to work.
He found sandwich stuff in the fridge and made himself a turkey provolone sandwich, then he put his suitcase in the bedroom.
Adam’s side of the bed was rumpled, the empty side pristine, and Skylar took a quick moment to lie down on Adam’s side of the bed, microdosing how good it felt to lie next to Adam in the evenings as they talked quietly before they fell asleep.
At his first yawn, he knew he had to get up. He found a book on Adam’s shelf, one that had been recommended to him a handful of times throughout his life, The Hobbit, and went down to the bar.
Skylar sat in their booth and cracked the book open, watching Adam bartend over the book instead of reading it.
He could still feel the initial spark of the curiosity and attraction he’d felt the first time he saw this man, but there was something more there too.
Now that he knew Adam was his, it wasn’t a lightning bolt of attraction.
His love was the sweeping warm light from a lighthouse on a cold, dark evening.
Adam brought him a beer and put a pizza in for him, because Adam knew him, and that felt good.
Skylar hung out for an hour, demolishing his pizza and receiving a paper boat of pretzels in its wake.
In the late afternoon, the bell above the door rang, Skylar’s attention going straight to it.
Tentatively, Ron walked in. Skylar could have cried.
He’d hoped that he would have a moment with Ron at some point this week.
The bar on Sunday afternoon was mostly regulars, and they welcomed Ron in graciously and tenderly.
Skylar got up from his spot in the booth to go give him a hug and apologize for missing the wake.
“You helped give Gil a nice last few months, even though we couldn’t have known that’s what it was,” Ron said.
“I can’t tell you how special he felt getting to brag to the people around him in our section every time you got tickets for us.
You brought a lot of joy into his life, and not just the tickets, but the kindness you showed us. ”
Skylar didn’t think he was being nice. He was being genuine.
“Don’t tell anyone else, but you and Gil are my favorite regulars.
” He could see Ron get choked up, and a group of about six other people pushed tables and chairs together in order to sit with one another, talk about their friend they lost, and to support their friend who was still here.
Skylar asked questions about their love story, learning about how they met in the seventies, fell in love while listening to records and taking long drives, how much they gave up for each other, and the life they got to build together.
How grateful he was for ten years of legal marriage on top of it all.
“Finding a love like yours is so rare and special,” Skylar said.
“Well, then,” Ron said, “I would suggest you lock that down.” He nodded toward Adam behind the bar, who was oblivious.
“You have no idea how hard I’m trying,” Skylar said.
“Kid, we’ve had a front-row seat to how hard you’re trying,” Ron said to the laughter of their entire table. “I wasn’t sure that you’d convince him to take you out. He’s a tough one to crack. But Gil always knew the two of you would be together.”
Skylar had to grab a napkin to dab at his tears.