Then, he explained. “We have a house here, sure, but that’s not where we’re going. There’s a cabin we own, I own now. It was my grandfather’s.” His eyes got glossy as he spoke, and he didn’t look at Eli. No, he was staring off as if surrounded in his memories.
“He was one of them, of course. A politician, only more local. He was on the state senate for years, tried for governor but had a stroke before he could finish the race. Anyway, he was probably a terrible person out there, but to me? He was my grandpa.
“He taught me to hunt. I hated it, but for him, I did it. There wasn’t a thing I wouldn’t do for him. He’d take me on long walks in the mountains, tell me the names of the trees and plants, and showed me how to filter water coming from streams that I was unsure were good for drinking. All that stuff. He had the cabin, and we’d go for long weekends there, sometimes Dad would come along too. Mostly, it was my grandfather and me.”
“We’re going to that cabin. Lee, don’t…don’t get mad, but…won’t you and I being there, doing…things, won’t that tarnish your memories? They sound pretty wholesome.”
“They were,” he said, then laughed a little. “They…they’re going to be there, but I need some new ones. Besides, it’s barely recognizable now. My Mother redecorated it after Grandfather passed. She was a little tiffed that he left the place to me. She was going to demolish it and built a big new house for her and dad to retire.”
“Oh,” Eli said, mostly because he couldn’t think of anything else.
Lee held his hand and whispered, “It’s okay, Eli. Please, don’t worry.”
That’s all he could do though. He didn’t want to lose Lee, no matter how much he’d hated him in the past, or thought he hated him.
Lee simply held him on the flight. Once in a while, he’d kiss the side of Eli’s head, making a little hum of pleasure. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable. It was the opposite, and Eli felt himself floating in an ease that didn’t make sense.
He carried that off the plane, and into the jeep that was waiting for them, no driver, though. Lee, for the first time that Eli had known him, drove them. “Didn’t think you knew how to drive.”
“Ha! Yeah, I can’t blame you. Mars taught me if you can believe it.”
Thinking on it, Mars did seem more of a father figure to Lee than his real father did. “Mars is…great. He really loves you, Lee.”
“I know, and I treated him like a servant from the time I hit my teens to…well, to be honest, when you came along. I didn’t much appreciate anything until you, Eli.”
“I don’t believe that Lee. It was buried under narcissist you became, but it was there.”
“See, that’s what I mean,” he said as he waved at the man who’d placed their bags in the back of the jeep. They started off away from the small airport and he finished, “You see the good in me.”
“It was hard, but I knew it had to be there.”
“Well, you made me see it too, somewhat, but there’s a lot of bad there too, Eli. Let’s not talk about this! We’re on vacation.”
“Okay. Deal.”
He had a feeling that words wouldn’t dominate the time they shared. Not anything that wasn’t directly sexually involved. He found that he didn’t care. He was tired of serious things that meant the future and had his heart involved. He’d promised himself that feelings wouldn’t come into it, no matter what.
They had.
Leaving those thought behind him for the time being, he watched as the beautiful scenery passed. He’d never equated Lee’s home state with mountains or beauty but there it was, on low hills that climbed higher the farther went they got.
“How far is the cabin?”
“Another half an hour,” Lee said. “It’s on a road that is pretty shaky, so take care to hold on tight.”
“Okay, I will.”
“And hope this ride doesn’t bruise your ass. I plan on doing that myself.”
Feeling his face heat, Eli was suddenly breathless. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yes, Eli. In fact, you need to get ready. I’m not playing around. You said I look tired, I look stressed. Well, I need to destress, and your ass is how I’m going to go about it. At least the first couple days.”
“Only? Well, bring it on.”
Lee laughed, and it was good to hear. There weren’t the tons of other things weighing the like it had been, making it tight and short. Eli thought he should do the same, let it all go. For two weeks, let it all go.
So, he did, at least he tried.