Twenty-Seven
Miles Callahan
Truck is here!
wait, moving day is today? i thought it was tomorrow
why did i think it was tomorrow?
Because time zones are hard
bullshit!
it was past midnight your time when you said goodnight and you said TOMORROW
Oh my god and you think I’m a pedant
Miles Callahan
Did you have all these flowers delivered?!
who else? i am the plant gay after all
i’ll leave you to stock the baking goods
But how did you know my new address?
you sent me the rental page, idiot
Wait, a plant too? I love it, but what am I supposed to do with it when I’m not here? I don’t have a housekeeper like you
*plantsitter. but you can always leave it with your parents when you’re away
don’t worry, unlike you it thrives on neglect
Miles Callahan
how’d the shoulder scan go?
Really good surprisingly. Macca says I’m all good to go for next year
great! you’re going to kick ass through the aussie season
Doubt it
why?
Oh, just that it’ll probably take quite a while to get my game back. it did last time
last time?
I saw the news about Emily is out. How is she taking it?
about as well as she took it when i tried to break things off quietly
So still messaging and posting about how wonderful you are together?
it’s so exhausting
i know it’s my own stupid fault for ever having done it though
Was the right thing at the time and you didn’t know how it would end. Here if you want to talk about it
thanks, i would rather talk about other stuff though
and not because i’m avoiding it. tina’s on it so the emily thing is mostly not my problem
you free?
Yeah, just give me 5
Miles Callahan
i hope you’re going to extend the lease on this place of yours
Probably. Why?
because now you have the privacy to do video calls, i refuse to stop. but i don’t think your parents want to hear me . . .
last night was so hot. fuck. god, i miss you
Miles Callahan
You’re still playing the united cup, yeah?
yeah, i have to be in sydney five days out
Does that mean here for Christmas? Because if you are, we could spend it together
fucking finally! i thought i was going to have to invite myself
how long have you been working up the courage for that question?
Couple of weeks
you’re such an idiot
I didn’t know whether you were spending it with your family! Or someone else
someone else . . . wow. tina is going to seattle to see friends and i am absolutely not spending it with my parents
was thinking of spending it alone out of spite if you didn’t ask
I just didn’t know how special Christmas was to you!
and if it’s special, why would i want to be anywhere but with you?
Come earlier?
Whenever you’re ready to travel
let me look at flights and talk to the team
how’s the 17th? could get in at 8pm. team will meet me in sydney
That’s perfect. I’ll pick you up at the airport
THANKFULLY, IT WAS almost dark when I drove through the pick-up zone at Melbourne airport, making it unlikely anyone would recognise us.
Miles had taken extra care with a hat and dark sunglasses, and we made the pick-up as quick as possible.
Having to resist the urge to touch him, I threw his luggage into the back while he headed around the car for the driver’s-side door.
“Hey, I’m driving,” I said.
“Damn Australians,” he muttered, and walked back around to the passenger side. “Driving on the wrong side of the road.”
As I slid back into the driver’s seat, I tossed him a paper bag full of sushi and dumplings, with a ridiculously decadent slice of chocolate cake hiding in a box at the bottom. “Here, I thought you might be hungry and it’s not a short drive.”
“Why? Don’t you live in Melbourne?”
“Yeah.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously, the bright lights of the pick-up zone paling his face. “Then where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I said, crushing a grin as I pulled out into the traffic.
“Are you kidnapping me?”
“Maybe.”
With an appreciative hum, he settled a little lower in the seat. “Sounds good to me.” The bag rustled as he opened it. “Wow, you got a whole feast. You having some of this?”
“Only if you don’t want it all. I ate before I came. I just know plane food is horrible and it’s a long flight.”
“Sure was. I finished my book though.” He opened one of the sushi containers with a crackle of thin plastic. “I love that you figured out even my sushi preferences without me ever mentioning it.”
As I halted at the lights leading to the freeway, I glanced an amused smile at him. “You told me I had to figure you out the hard way, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did.” With an answering smile, he picked my left hand up off the gearstick. “You did great, Princess,” he said, and kissed a line along my knuckles, before setting it down again. “Now focus on driving.”
I pushed the car into gear, flicking him a grin. “Yes, sir.”
His little squeak of joy when he discovered the cake was truly priceless.
Since the Australian Open was held in Melbourne every year, it was far from Miles’s first visit, yet there was something surreal about having him stretched out in the front seat of the car as I drove through the city and out again, streetlights flashing a golden rhythm upon his face.
He ate, feeding a few pieces to me as he worked his way through the bag, then as we left the traffic behind for the open highway, he fell asleep.
It was almost eleven o’clock when we pulled up outside the house I’d rented for a couple of days – a cute weatherboard set well back from the road, nestled in amongst shadowy trees on a quiet street.
Outside lights illuminated a short path from carport to deck, and when Miles pushed open the car door, the scent of the ocean hit immediately.
Waves crashed nearby. In the distance, a dog barked.
“No pool, I’m afraid,” I said as I pulled his suitcase out of the car. “But this is the sleepy end of the peninsula and school holidays haven’t started, so there’ll be practically no one at the beach to see us.”
“Where’s your bag?” he asked.
“I came yesterday to get things ready. Here.” I unlocked the door and shouldered it open. “Make yourself at home.”
It wasn’t a large house, but it had a cosy lounge, warm wooden floorboards, the kind of bathroom that’s all pebbles and glass, a well-appointed kitchen, and a king-sized bed.
“Mm I like it,” Miles said and flopped onto the soft, tan couch. “It’s so quiet.”
Having sat his suitcase against the wall in the bedroom beside mine, I returned to find he hadn’t moved. “Are you tired?”
“No,” he said, the word a suggestive purr as he propped himself up on an elbow. “I slept on the plane and for most of that drive. And my body clock is always messed up for days after coming this far. Don’t know how you manage it so often.”
“Practice, I guess. Come on, we’re going to the beach.”
Miles glanced toward the dark windows. “Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“Are we swimming? Should I change?”
I shrugged, trying to hide a smile. “No need, but it’s up to you.”
“You’re being very easy going for a kidnapper.”
“Fine, just bring a beach towel. I put a couple in the bathroom if you don’t have one. Oh, and thongs if you brought any.”
Miles had pulled himself up and started for the bathroom, but spun back at that. “Thongs plural? Like wear one forwards and one backwards? What kind of beach is this?”
“A normal beach of the sandy variety? Which is why thongs.”
He stared at me and I stared back, our overtired brains both taking far too long to realise where we’d gone wrong.
“Flip-flops!” he said as I groaned. “I forgot that’s what you call them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to put on a thong for you, but two? At the same time? On a public beach? No.”
A few minutes later, each wearing thongs on our feet and armed only with towels, we made our way across the empty road toward the beach. A half moon hung in the clear sky, turning the sand pale silver and leaving the surface of the ocean gleaming like scattered stars.
“Small waves,” Miles said as we brushed through the shrubby growth onto the sand, the air filled with the scent of salt and seaweed.
“We’re on the bay this side of the peninsula. The other side is open ocean so has proper surf. We can go tomorrow if you like.”
“Oh, I don’t mind either way, I was just surprised.”
Stopping where the sand was dry, I dropped my towel and pulled off my shirt despite the cool night air. With a glance my way, Miles did the same, determined not to be outdone. Which was the moment I gave him a triumphant look and stripped off both my shorts and boxers.
Miles gave an appreciative groan, yet he flicked a glance away along the empty beach. “Is that what we’re doing?”
“It’s what I’m doing,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve always wanted to. Up to you whether you join me.”
And leaving him to decide, I strode toward the water, thrilled at being both entirely naked and outside.
My toes sank into the damp sand as I went, and the small waves crashed and hurried up the beach to meet me like churning glitter.
The water was barely shin-height when hurried steps followed and I turned in time to see an equally naked Miles run by and dive in, emerging farther out with a shake of his sodden hair.
“Fuck it’s cold,” he laughed. “It’s always so hot in Melbourne that I thought the water would be warmer. ”
“We’re closer to Antarctica here than we are to the top of Australia,” I said, pointing south.
“Oh, yet this is where you chose?”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I might, but my balls will never recover from the shock.”
I made my way out to where he was standing chest deep, the waves rising and falling gently around him.
And there in the cold water of Port Philip Bay, I finally slid my arms around his neck and kissed him.
He tasted of salt water and forever, and I pressed against him in the moonlight, the moment everything I had hoped as he slid his hands down my back with one of his satisfied groans.
“I missed you,” I said. “Six weeks is too long.”
“Six and a half,” he murmured back. “Not that I was counting or anything. To think I used to want a longer off-season.”