Chapter Twenty-One
Maurice
In the morning, Finn slipped out of the tiny bed with a soft kiss to Maurice’s shoulder. “I’ll go shower and change,” he whispered, voice still thick with sleep.
Maurice watched him go, the cabin door clicking shut behind him.
The space immediately became too quiet, too empty.
He dragged himself into the bathroom, showered, dressed, and tried not to grin like an idiot at the thought of having breakfast in Utah with Finn.
The idea alone made his chest feel warm.
His phone buzzed on the desk.
David: Are you alone?
Maurice: Yes, come over and we’ll talk.
Maurice opened the door a minute later, letting David slip inside. David looked rumpled, hair sticking up as if he’d been running his hands through it all morning.
“You look like hell,” Maurice said.
David snorted. “You should see Theo. Kid’s a mess. Cute, but a mess.”
Maurice leaned against the desk, arms crossed. “You like him.”
David hesitated, just long enough to confirm it. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I do. More than I expected to.”
Maurice nodded. “I get it. Finn… he’s gotten under my skin.”
David sank onto the edge of the bed. “Theo’s the same. Sweet. Nervous. And he’s got this way of looking at me like I’m supposed to know what I’m doing.”
Maurice laughed. “Finn looks at me like that too.”
They shared a quiet moment, the train humming beneath them, sunlight slipping through the blinds in thin stripes.
David sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as if the thought physically weighed on him. “They live far away.”
Maurice’s stomach tightened in that slow, sinking way that came with reality creeping back in. “Yeah.”
“Finn’s in Boston,” David said. “That’s practically another world. Snow half the year, traffic that makes you want to walk everywhere.”
Maurice laughed. He could picture it too easily—Finn bundled up in some heavy coat, cheeks pink from the cold, nowhere near Virginia.
“And Theo’s in Philly,” David added. “That’s a four-hour drive on a good day. And you know I-95 never gives you a good day.”
Maurice nodded, the truth of it settling in. “And we’re in Virginia.”
He didn’t say the rest out loud: that Boston to Charlottesville was nearly six hundred miles. A full day’s drive. A flight that wasn’t long but still required planning, money, and time off. Real life. Not the bubble of a train car or the magic of a week-long trip.
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
The weight of geography didn’t just settle between them—it sprawled out, stretching from Boston to Philly to Virginia, a map Maurice could suddenly feel in his bones. Miles of highways. Missed weekends. Time zones that didn’t change but somehow acted like they did.
Maurice stared at the floor, jaw tight. He wasn’t na?ve. He knew distance had a way of wearing people down, even when the feelings were real. Especially when the feelings were genuine.
But he also knew the way Finn looked at him. The way Finn reached for his hand without thinking. The way Finn talked about wanting more.
“It’s a lot,” David said.
Maurice nodded. “Yeah. It is.”
But even with the miles stretching out in his mind, something stubborn settled in his chest, something sounding a lot like: I’m willing to try.
David rubbed his face. “I’m not giving up my career.”
“Me neither,” Maurice said. “I’ve worked too hard.”
“Same.”
Maurice rubbed his beard. “So, what do we do?”
David shrugged. “Spend the week with them in San Francisco. See if this is real. If it is… we ask them to move.”
A tight rush moved through him at the thought—Finn in Virginia. Finn in his house. Finn in his bed every night.
“It’s the only way it works,” David said.
Maurice nodded. “Yeah. It is.”
“And if it doesn’t work out,” David added, “we walk away before anyone gets hurt worse.”
Maurice swallowed. “I don’t want to walk away.”
“Me neither.”
They sat in silence for a moment, both men staring at the floor, both imagining futures they weren’t ready to say out loud.
David finally stood. “You really like him, huh?”
Maurice let out a breath. “Yeah. I do.”
David clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Then let’s see where this goes.”
Maurice nodded, feeling steadier. “Breakfast in Utah first.”
David grinned. “And then San Francisco.”
Maurice walked him to the door. As David stepped into the hallway, calmness settled inside him and followed him.
And for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t afraid to admit what he wanted with Finn. Now he hoped Finn wanted the same.
Maurice spotted Finn the moment he stepped into the Diner Car—bright-eyed, hair a little messy from the wind between cars, looking like the kind of trouble Maurice didn’t mind walking straight into. Finn waved him over, and Maurice’s breath snagged for a second. He still wasn’t used to it.
They slid into the booth across from each other. Maurice ordered a pot of coffee for the table, mostly because he needed something to do with his hands before he reached and touched Finn again.
“I’m so excited to get off this train with you,” Finn said. His foot brushed Maurice’s under the table, probably by accident, but Maurice didn’t move his away.
“Me too,” Maurice said. “I need to walk outside.” He reached across the table and placed his hand over Finn’s. Just that small contact settled something in him. Finn always did that—quiet him down without even trying.
Finn looked at their hands, then up at him. “I’m a little worried.”
Maurice’s thumb brushed Finn’s knuckles. “About what?”
“What happens when we’re supposed to go to activities?”
Maurice took a breath. He wanted to say, I don’t care about the activities; I care about you, but he didn’t want to push. “I’d like us to go as a couple,” he said instead. “But if you want to go alone and meet others, then we’ll do that. I don’t want to cause you any unhappiness.”
Finn blinked at him as if Maurice had said something ridiculous. “I don’t want to be with others. Don’t you get that? Or is it you—”
Maurice cut him off. “It’s not me.” He squeezed Finn’s hand. “I’m here with you.”
The server dropped off the pot of coffee, and Maurice poured for both of them. Finn wrapped his hands around the mug as if he needed the warmth.
After a moment, Finn asked, “So… what do you like to do? When you’re not being all mysterious and perfect.”
Maurice laughed. “Perfect? That’s new.”
Finn shrugged. “I call it like I see it.”
Maurice leaned back, thinking. “I enjoy being outside. Riding horses. Camping. Anything that gets me away from a desk.”
Finn’s head snapped up. “You ride horses?”
“On some of the Marine bases, they had horses nearby.”
Finn grinned, wide and boyish. “I ride too. Not professionally or anything, but I love it. And camping? I haven’t gone in forever.”
“You camp?”
“Yeah. My parents used to send me to camp. I miss it.”
Maurice couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. “We should go.”
Finn blinked. “Go… camping?”
“Yeah. After San Francisco.” Maurice tried to sound casual, but his heart was beating harder than it should’ve. “I have land back home. Trails. A lake. Horses. It’s quiet. Peaceful.”
Finn stared at him like he was trying to decide if Maurice was real. “You’re inviting me to your home?”
Maurice nodded. “I am.”
Finn’s cheeks flushed, and he looked down at his coffee, smiling into it. “I’d like that. A lot.”
A familiar tug tightened in his chest again, quiet and steady. He hadn’t expected this trip to turn into anything real. He hadn’t expected Finn to look at him like that. He hadn’t expected to want more.
But here he was, wanting that.
Finn looked up again, eyes bright. “So… horses, camping, and walking off this train together. Sounds like a good start.”
Maurice reached for his hand again. “It does.”
And for the first time in a long time, Maurice was exactly where he was supposed to be.
Maurice and Finn lingered over the last of the coffee, the pot between them nearly empty.
Finn kept smiling at him over the rim of his mug, and every time he did, something deep inside him finally settled into place.
He wasn’t used to wanting someone this much, this fast, but there it was. Undeniable.
The intercom crackled overhead.
“Attention passengers,” Mr. Santos announced. “We will stop in Salt Lake City for four hours instead of two. The train needs additional service. Feel free to explore the city.”
Finn’s eyebrows shot up. “Four hours?”
Maurice grinned. “More time with you off the train.”
Finn’s cheeks warmed, and Maurice pretended not to notice how much he liked that reaction.