Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Archer was in the winery cellar, packing cases for the weekend festivities, when his phone rang with a video call from Elton. He propped the phone against an upright bottle and hit Accept. “Which Oceans character would you want to hang out with?”
It had become their thing. Whenever one of them called, which happened as close to daily as they could make it, the one answering always asked a question. More getting to know each other.
“Linus,” Elton answered.
“Really?” Archer said as he sealed the top of another box. “I would’ve figured you for a Tess fan.” She was smart, sassy, drop-dead gorgeous, and had a thing for art, which Archer had come to learn Elton did too.
“Third movie, Linus puts on a fake nose and a shitty accent and gets away with it.”
“Like Clark Kent.”
“Exactly! I would love to have that superpower.”
Archer laughed out loud. Elton had made him do that a lot, and Archer had endeavored to return the favor.
It seemed easier lately, Elton lighter than he’d been in months.
Determined, and with a renewed energy that shone in his eyes and in his smile, in his whole demeanor.
Like he had a new purpose, like he’d taken Archer’s words the last time they’d been together to heart.
Elton also, notably, had been flying to more places than just San Francisco and DC.
In the month since he’d been at the winery, Elton had been to LA, Boston, New York, and North Carolina.
Today was none of those places, the sun setting behind him over a brush-covered canyon.
Not the Bay Area, but another part of California that Archer knew well. “Are you in San Diego?”
“Nice guess.” Elton panned the camera along the canyon, a ridge topped with houses on the other side. “Rancho Penasquitos, to be exact.”
“Not a guess,” Archer said. “I dated a guy stationed at Miramar the summer between my sophomore and junior year. Was working at a winery out in Poway.”
“The planes are wild,” Elton said with all the wonder of someone who didn’t have to hear them on the regular.
“Until they’ve interrupted your orgasm a dozen times.”
Elton laughed again. “That why you dumped the guy?”
“Half the reason,” Archer admitted.
“The other half?”
“His bunkmate was cuter.” Archer added a wink and it sent Elton rolling. “What are you doing in PQ?” he asked once Elton finally stopped laughing.
“Recruitment,” Elton said.
“For the Bureau?” That didn’t make sense given how unhappy Elton had been with his job until late.
“Not exactly,” he said with a sly smile. The same one he’d flashed whenever Archer had asked about his latest destination outside the norm.
“When are you going to stop being coy?”
His smile grew wide, leaning more toward genuine, more toward hope. “When I know this thing is solid. It’s a good thing, I promise.”
“But I can’t know about it?” Archer asked, the doubt gremlins nipping at his heels.
They’d talked more over the past month than they ever had before, and Archer believed he was the first and last thing on Elton’s mind each day, but it had been over a month since he’d last visited, and while Elton seemed to have a renewed sense of energy, every time Archer turned on the news, reality was a dumpster fire.
So why wasn’t Elton helping him make the pieces fit?
What had changed for him? And did Archer still fit in the new picture?
“Is it one of those confidential work things or do you not trust me?”
“I don’t trust myself,” Elton said. “I don’t want to start making plans for the future and then be disappointed if they don’t pan out.”
“Am I still part of those plans either way?”
“Yes,” Elton answered, zero hesitation, and it quieted the gremlins, for now.
“So, long-term plans are still in motion, got it,” he said. “What about this weekend? Will you be back in time for the parade?”
San Francisco Pride was this weekend, and when Archer had brought up the parade and after-party at Under the Table in a prior call, Elton had been eager to go with him.
Archer couldn’t wait to go with him either, happy to be a part of that safe haven for Elton to connect more with his bisexuality, to celebrate being queer.
He wasn’t loving the idea of that big a crowd and being social with that many people, but if he was going to be Elton’s partner, he had to stop being a hermit and put himself out there too.
No more hiding in his distillery or in the winery. Al would be proud.
“I should be,” Elton said. “And if I’m running late, I’ll head to Under the Table.”
“I’ll be there for a bit,” Archer said. “But then I have to get back up here for the party I’m hosting with Ezra and Noah.”
“Another one? Is it for the queer wine industry folks?”
“Not exactly,” Archer said. He inhaled deep, preparing for the truth he wasn’t sure how Elton would handle. “For the kink community here. You actually gave me the idea, when we talked about doing more.”
“A safe haven,” Elton said, then at Archer’s nod, added, “I’ll be there too.”
“Elton, you don’t have to,” he said. “I’m not planning to scene with anyone else. Just hosting.”
Elton made a frustrated noise, then leaned closer to his phone, his face filling Archer’s screen.
“If I could reach through this phone and hug you right now, I would. Because this thing I’m working on, it’s about being out in the open.
I’m tired of hiding parts of myself, including the one that wants to go to that party with you.
” He looked away for a moment, took a deep breath, and when his gaze landed back on Archer, it was equal parts heat and contrition.
“Not just watch you from across the room.”
That truth out in the open, spoken aloud finally, Archer wanted the answer to another question that had tormented him for months. “Did you remember me the night of the harvest party?”
Elton’s expression softened, and Archer wished he could put his hands on his cheeks and feel it. Especially the beautiful smile that split Elton’s handsome face in two. “You were the whole reason I was there.”