MAX

I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead with my T-shirt. Damn, was the sun brutal today. Squinting against the scorching glare, I resumed my work on the porch of my small, weathered house. If I could ignore the sun for half an hour, I could get the job done.

The familiar rumble of an engine sounding like it was on its last leg interrupted the rhythmic sound of my hammer connecting with the wood. My elderly neighbor, Gladys, pulled into her yard. I’d told her not to drive the death trap anymore, but Gladys being Gladys didn’t listen. The truck had sentimental value, so she refused to part with it. I had an engine on back order to fix it for her, but it wouldn’t get here until next week.

The tall, willowy woman in her seventies with the skin of dark brown leather got out of the truck, opened the passenger door, and took out a bag full of groceries.

Shit.

I dropped the hammer in my toolbox, ran toward the fence separating our properties, and vaulted over it.

“Gladys, let me help you with that.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got it. You can go back to what you were doing.”

But how could I watch her struggle with bags of groceries when her arms were like twigs? Just like his.

“Not on my watch, Glad. Let me do all the heavy lifting.”

I picked up two of the bags. They were as heavy as they looked.

“Well, if you insist,” she said. “Don’t mind me. I’ll just stand here and watch. But you know what would have been even better? If you’d left your shirt over the fence.”

Laughing, I followed her up the steps to her cozy bungalow-style home. “Are you flirting with me, Glad?”

“Darlin’, I may be all old bones right now, but I got glasses for a reason. I need to see all God’s precious handiwork. And you’re a mighty fine piece if I say so.”

As usual, she cracked me up. I stepped into the hallway and tried but failed not to stare at the framed photographs of him.

Her affection for her grandnephew was evident in the shrine she’d built of him. The picture of him when he was eleven always made me pause. The photograph had been snapped the day he’d moved in with his grandaunt. I’d watched from my bedroom window as the sad kid wearing glasses with stooped shoulders who dragged his feet up the driveway. Later, my father had told me he’d lost his parents in an accident and his grandaunt had taken him in.

The other photographs were of him when he was older. Many were of him holding a prize or certificate from winning academic contests: debate, math league, robotics, programming. He’d been good at it all while average students like me struggled.

I would never forget the day it had happened. Our first kiss. We hadn’t been friends, but my dad had asked him to tutor me because I was failing precalculus. I’d been embarrassed my dad had gone to him behind my back.

We’d been sitting on the couch in the living room, him getting more and more upset that I had a video game on when I was supposed to be paying attention. I’d wanted to piss him off and drive him away. If any of my friends knew I was hanging out with him, I’d become the butt of their jokes. My old man chipping away at my self-confidence was enough.

Instead of leaving like I’d thought he would, Cole had told me in a calm but commanding voice to turn the game off. Or else. It was the “or else” that had gotten me and the way he hadn’t shouted. Such quiet confidence without a hint of cockiness had been rare in guys our age. I’d collared him, intending to punch him in the face for giving me orders like that.

I’d ended up kissing him.

“You got stuck in the hallway, son?”

Gladys’s voice yanked me out of the memories of a lifetime ago. I hurried to the kitchen and put the bags on the counter, next to the sink. I turned the faucet, but the steady drip of water didn’t stop.

“Still haven’t gotten that sink fixed?”

She waved her hand, and the gold bangles adorning her wrist jingled. “The plumber will be here later.”

“I can look at it for you.”

She pulled out a chair and sat down with a grunt. “No need. You’ve done enough on this house already. I need to sit down for a minute to rest my knees. They’re acting up today.”

“You should probably lie down. I can unpack the groceries for you.”

“You’re such a sweet boy, but that’s fine. I’ll get up in a minute. Have to pick up my nephew from the airport.”

The air flew out of my lungs, and an imaginary vise, more than likely guilt, tightened around my chest. “Your nephew is coming home?”

How had she pulled that off? Cole hadn’t set foot in town since he left for college on a full scholarship. His aunt had always flown out to him whenever they’d wanted to spend time together.

Why was he coming home now?

“It’s about damn time,” she said. “I finally put my foot down. I am not getting on another plane. He’s as healthy as a horse. Shouldn’t he be the one visiting me?”

I licked my dry lips, but my tongue was just as parched. “That makes sense.”

“I told him I would pick him up. Hopefully, these old knees don’t give out on me, but what to do? I can’t leave him stranded at the airport. Although I suppose he can get a cab, but that’s rather expensive all this way. Don’t you think?”

My heart thumped in my chest. Don’t do it. Remember, he didn’t accept your Facebook friend request. He doesn’t want anything to do with you.

“I can pick him up for you.”

This is a bad idea.

“Oh, I couldn’t put you through all that trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all. The garage is closed today. I had nothing planned but to putter around the house fixing things that ain’t even broken.”

“Well…if it’s not a problem, I don’t see the harm. I’m sure you two will have a lot of catching up to do.”

We did, but I wasn’t sure Cole would ever be ready for what I had to say.

It’d been ten years.