CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Chip #2
“To start. I’m already in love with him.
And I doubt I can do justice explaining how meeting him has affected me,” I acknowledged, feeling my face heating up.
“Counter to what Evan may have told you, Van is mature while also being otherworldly. Sure, he’s childlike at times, but in a great way.
Explaining Van’s personality to you would be too difficult, but I think his joy is related to being in awe over something bigger than all of us. ”
“Wow,” he sighed. “He must truly be something because you light up like a Christmas tree when you speak about him.”
The desire to hate John evaporated the more we spoke. I remembered the many reasons he was so important to me. John was calm when I was high-strung. He was gracious when I wanted to be rude. He set better examples than I was capable of living by. John was, in reality, a lot like Van.
“He saved me, John. Honestly, he showed up in Missile and brought me back to life.”
“You can thank me for telling him to skip St. Regis and get gas in Missile.”
I considered his words for a second. “Weird, huh?”
“Yeah, sorta. But then again, according to Evan, right up Van’s alley,” he chuckled. “And trust me, I mean that in a complimentary way. I wish I looked at life the way he does.”
“I’m not gonna lie. Van’s outlook is refreshing,” I admitted. “It may be rubbing off on me.”
“I can tell how he’s impacted you just from listening to you,” he claimed. John stood from the table and joined me near the island. “So now, I’m going to give you another reason I’m here, Chip,” he said, laughing at how he brought our talk back to the beginning. “I know how you love a good reason.”
“Yeah, whatever!” I exclaimed. “But go ahead, you asshole,” I joked, sliding back into the warm revelry we’d shared as partners and friends.
“Van is here to give you another chance at what you deserve.”
“And what’s that?”
“Love mostly, but also to see yourself as more than the mercantile. More than this town’s savior. Do yourself a favor and ask Van what he wants from a future with you,” he advised. “Because if you want to stay, but he doesn’t see a life in this town, you’re going to lose him, Chip.”
“Like I lost you?”
We locked eyes, both pairs filled with the memory of who we’d been to each other in the past. “Yes,” he said gently. “And like I lost you.”
His admission touched me. He had missed me after all. He had thought about me after he dumped me. All the things I’d wished were true had, in fact, been true.
“I’m afraid of life out there,” I confided. “Missile and the store are all I know.”
“Trust me, life away from here isn’t any easier,” he said. “This town, and what you’ve managed to keep running by yourself, is terrific, but if you get that shot to spend your life with the person you love, I’d advise considering it. Don’t let Missile be the reason you lose love again.”
“So you stopped by to tell me all that, did ya?” I teased. “Ya just had to deliver those reasons I needed so fuckin’ much? Is that it?”
He smiled. “That, and I’m sorry, Chip.”
“I appreciate that, John. You’re a bigger man than me.”
“Not anymore, friend. Not anymore.”
We turned in unison when the bedroom door opened. Van, looking adorable with his mussed hair and one of my old sweatshirts on, smiled sweetly. “Morning,” he said. “Sorry I overslept.”
I held my hand toward him, and he came to my side, leaning in to kiss me. “It’s all good, baby. Sit. I’ll get you some coffee.”
John observed us, smiling and studying our movements. “You’re both ridiculous,” he concluded, chuckling and sticking a finger in his mouth to fake puking.
Van wasn’t privy to our talk, so he reacted with alarm at hearing John’s ribbing, glancing toward me for guidance. “He’s teasing us for being so sweet to one another,” I told him.
“And Chip no longer wants to kill me,” John added, motioning in my direction. “Of course, it’s still early, so we’ll see.”
“You two are okay?” Van asked, shifting his eyes between us.
“Like he said,” I began. “It’s too early to tell.”
Van’s expression gave the impression that he was proud of me. I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him John was primarily responsible for the truce.
“Okay, lovebirds,” John said. “I’ve got something to talk to you about.” Van gave me a worried look. He was probably confused by the improved mood in the room and then John’s I’ve got something to talk to you about statement. “Do me a favor and don’t go to Mrs. Hatfield’s dinner tonight.”
Van and I exchanged glances, but he beat me to the obvious question. “Why?” he asked, probably concerned he might disappoint someone.
“As usual, she’s trying to stir shit up,” John explained.
Van started to speak, but I suddenly remembered something stuck in my head.
“Hang on a sec,” I said to John, making sure Van was paying attention.
“You mentioned you haven’t spoken with your folks yet.
Or even told them you were coming home, right?
” He nodded. “Then why’d she tell us you and your parents were coming to Christmas Eve dinner? ”
John didn’t hesitate for a millisecond. “Simple. She’s been texting me ever since Van arrived here,” John revealed. “Advising me to get back quickly so I could win you back and rescue you from the jaws of a city boy.”
“That woman knows how to text?” I asked.
“She does,” John began. “And I made the mistake of telling her I was coming home for Christmas. Alone.”
Now things started making sense. I was convinced that after Mrs. Hatfield heard Van and I were dating, she gave up on the idea of me and her grandson getting together. Instead, she decided to focus on me and John getting back together.
“Well, fuck her,” I spat. “We’re not going to her place for dinner now.”
“Hang on,” Van spoke up. “I say we go.”
John and I turned to Van, speaking in unison. “Why?”
“I think we go and show her a united front,” Van suggested. “Because I’m hoping the three of us will be friends.”
“I don’t care what she thinks,” I retorted. “The woman tried starting shit when she reached out to John.”
Van gave me one of his patented ‘be nice’ looks. “What better time to show her she’s barking up the wrong tree?” he said. “Truthfully, I think she’s bummed Chip isn’t available for her grandson, James.”
John busted out laughing, pointing at me in hysterics. “She wanted to set you up with James?” he asked, stifling his giggles. “She told me James wanted to get to know me better.”
“Are we even sure James is gay?” Van interjected.
John and I exchanged glances and began laughing. “Absolutely,” John stated.
“Without a frickin’ doubt,” I agreed, high-fiving John.
Van studied the two of us. “Did I miss something overnight?” he asked. “Because I’m liking this,” he added, motioning his finger between the two of us.
John and I shared a smile. “He’s coming around,” John quipped.
“After he begged for my forgiveness,” I corrected.
Van seemed pleased with the end result. He grabbed my mug, refilled it with coffee, and plopped down beside John. “I think you and I are going to be great friends,” he said, leaning into John.
“I think you’re right, Van,” John replied.
I watched as the two of them instantly fell into a discussion about the Seattle chill the city’s residents are famous for. Van agreed that people weren’t always warm and easy to get to know in a city known as wonderful.
Observing them carrying on like long-lost friends warmed my insides. They were similar people in so many ways. Van perhaps was a bit more starry-eyed, while John was quieter, but there was no denying that both of them had personalities people were drawn to.
I swore right then and there I would heed the advice offered to me by John. His reasons for leaving Missile were understandable, and I had to do my best not to repeat them.
“So, I guess the three of us are going to Mrs. Hatfield’s this evening?” I asked.
Van grabbed John’s hand, appearing happier than a pig in stink. “I’m in,” he enthused.
“Me too, then,” John stated.
If you’d asked me twenty-four hours earlier about the odds of a reunion of this sort happening in my lifetime, I would’ve smacked someone. Van’s infectious ability to forgive and forget was intoxicating.
He was the only person, in my humble opinion, who could influence two people to move past their differences and rediscover the original reasons they’d loved one another in the first place.