Author’s Note: Now you see why this piece had to be placed in the “Adult Youth” section. I’d bet a silver dollar that a lot of you probably figured out it might go that way and probably would. I suspect that here and there some of you might be a bit disappointed.

All I can say is whatever “it” is, these guys got it. They will never reject each other. They were past that before Adrian’s revelation. They don’t even talk about it. It is understood. You will never hear Nathan say, “This is a secret.” His beloved is no fool.

So don’t be disappointed.

Adrian is one hell of a man for a “mere” boy. We all should be so lucky.

One last thing, even though this is a longish chapter, after reading through it, I discovered there was no graphic sex scene. I confees I enjoy edging. Sorry, not sorry.

The Idyll

The gods in whom Nathan did not believe gave him only that one day of peace before swooping down upon him mercilessly.

The morning began pleasantly enough. His Adrian had been a wondrous companion the night before. They had gorged themselves on fresh trout and fried potatoes by a comforting fire.

They had gotten immediately intimate and enjoyed a fantastic night of athletic and laughing sex both loving and lustful. They kissed madly, sucked gladly, and flip-flop fucked until both their asses hurt… badly.

It was the rhythm that made it all so perfect.

Adrian, ever the wild child, always sucked and fucked him ferociously while Nathan took his time with his lover boy. So Nathan got enthusiastically pummeled or madly sucked for minutes while Adrian got blown lingeringly or fucked in slowly.

For Nathan, a position in which he could not kiss his boy simply did not do it for him. They kissed much.

And Adrian could be so receptive!

There was to his Adrian an exquisitely feminine side only revealed during lovemaking. It drove Nathan wild; more, he was learning how to induce this effect in his man boy, girl.

Best of all, Adrian made Nathan delirious with the way he matched his desires. Adrian loved what Nathan wanted to do. Nathan loved what Adrian wanted to do. With over a thousand notches on his gun, Nathan knew that Adrian was one of the few who could possess him. Coco. Brian. That lovely pair with the pretty yacht in Marina del Rey…

They had made a stinky, salty, sloppy mess of each other’s fronts as they finished face to face, penis fencing with their tongues in each other’s mouths.

They slept wonderfully together and woke up early, refreshed, and ready to go at it “like bonobos” again.

However, Nathan, being the “mature one,” suggested, “Let’s hold off. Let’s edge.”

“‘Edge?’”

Adrian looked so beautiful in the pre-dawn light. His lips were so dark! Nathan kissed him. “Yes. We tease each other. We try to get the other guy hard, sometimes without even touching. We make it last, and then, finally, we bust each other’s nuts. It’s fun, Adrian.”

Adrian agreed with the last part at least, “I like fun.”

“OK, so let’s mix some eggs into the leftover potatoes and finish the milk and orange juice. We’ll have our morning shits. I’ll take a coffee with me, and we’ll hit the road for fun day of driving in the mountains, walking, swimming, fishing, and shooting. We’ll go food shopping and exploring in town, and we can be a hot gay couple, flirting all day.”

Adrian smiled, “Sublimation! It’s sublimation. We use our sex energy to make a game of life.”

“Exactly! Yes? Yes?”

“Yes. I love it when I see you get all excited and act like a kid, Nathan. You really are just a kid inside, aren’t you?”

“That’s what Brian always said too, Adrian. I will take that as a nice compliment. Thank you.”

“You are welcome. But I have to piss, man!”

“Let’s piss together! We can cross streams!”

Nude, they emerged from their warm covers, trotted across to their latrine area in the trees, and did exactly that. Straight guys, however, were unlikely to hold each other’s dicks and giggle while they pissed.

Morning rituals complete and camp chores finished, they hopped in the truck and roared out of camp, happy for a new day, fantastically into each other, laughing at nothing, laughing at everything.

Their idyll was interrupted shortly into the drive up the narrow road along the river, the same road where Nathan and Brian had first met.

It happened when they crested a rise, and Nathan’s car phone came into range of a cell phone tower. The phone began to ding and tinkle from a stream of missed calls and text messages.

Nathan’s eyes watered in desperation as he looked at the notifications popping up on the screen.

“Fuck Jesus,” he whispered.

He looked at Adrian sadly. “They can’t even let me have one goddamned day!”

Adrian studied him. His voice was quiet when he asked, “You need to take those calls?”

Nathan sighed. “It will only get worse if I do not. Yes. I need to take these calls.”

He told Adrian he needed to pull over. They would be, he guessed, in and out of a signal if he continued. Best to use the strong signal and take care of business.

He pulled into a spot. “There’s a nice little campground over there by the river and another pretty hole. You could get out and check it out if you’d like.”

Adrian shrugged. “I’d rather stay here with you.”

Nathan nodded. “OK, but I have to get my head together. Give me a moment while I put on my ‘patience hat,’ OK?”

“Sure.”

Nathan sipped his coffee. Adrian pulled out his phone and checked his own messages. He immediately began to type in his rapid way.

Nathan took deep breaths and calmed himself. One of the texts had been disturbing. It was a sign of of a deep problem in one of his operations. He was furious. It would not do to get on the phone and scream, “Handle it! Just fucking handle it! Leave me the fuck alone!”

He knew he was ready when he felt himself chuckling just imagining himself being an asshole.

He listened to his messages and prioritized the emergency levels.

He made his first call.

The phone rang and rang. He left a message. “Hi Miguel. Nathan here. I got your message about the truck. Been out of cell coverage. Got a lot of calls to make. Text me when you can answer. Don’t call. I’ll be on the phone. Text me.”

He made the next call to his site superintendent. Jim was an early riser and good about calls.

“Hey Jim. Got your messages.”

“Cool. OK. So you know I decided to give Mel another chance, but I’m looking to replace him. He stresses me out too much.”

“Yes. I agree. We can’t count on him even to sub. Once he has a wad of cash in his pocket, it’s the same story over and over. But the plans? The easement?”

“The fire marshall was right. We have to re-design the arbor to make it fit. I wouldn’t have called, but that’s your thing. Also, you were the one who closed her, so…”

“I get it. But I don’t have my plans on my laptop, so get with Maddy and have her send me the design and all the files for this job we got stored on the server. I’ll whip something up, but I want you to do something.”

“Yeah?”

“Please handle Mrs. Strauss. I want you to grab the ball on that. Just tell her the truth. Tell her my partner died and I went north to handle his ashes. I am out of the loop, so it’s on you. Also, listen to this: I’m looking to promote you. I want you to run the construction business. I’m looking to back off on sales and mainly do design work. I’ll help you transition, but you need to get over your back-off on sales. You do that? And I will help you become a rich man, Jim. You are my guy.”

The phone was silent for many seconds while Jim, apparently, digested that. Finally, he said, “I kinda saw this coming, Nathan. We’ll talk about it. But in the mean time? Sure. You got it. And Nathan?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome…” His sentence was interrupted by another call. “Aww fuck, that’s Miguel! I told him to text!”

Jim chuckled. “He hates to text. He’s embarrassed by his spelling and grammar, and he knows you write well. You know that. Take the call. Talk to you later.”

Nathan hung up and caught the call just in time before it went to a message. Nathan decided forebear castigating Miguel for calling instead of texting.

“Hey Miguel, so I heard about Bertha.”

“Yeah man, the pump! It just blew up yesterday, man! Right on the job! We couldn’t finish! The client is pissed!”

“You didn’t send another truck out?”

“It was too late! It was almost dark! The nearest truck was in the valley!”

Nathan had to resist the urge to scream at him. He took a deep breath. He said, “Do you realize that by saving a little overtime we had a client swim in shit overnight?”

“I know! They called another company!”

“They had to call? You didn’t help them? You let them sort it out?”

“I didn’t get the call until too late, Nathan, I’m sorry! It had already happened by the time I heard!”

Nathan was silent then. Finally he said, his voice level. “Do you know what I am thinking right now? Miguel?”

“You are thinking it was a mistake to buy a used truck instead of the one I wanted you to buy?”

Nathan almost did scream then, but he did not.

Instead, calmly, yet with a dangerous edge, he said, “No, Miguel. I am not thinking that. Here is what I am thinking. I am thinking of calling the office and telling Madeline that the septic company may not accept any new contracts. We will finish any we have, but we will take no new jobs, for we are reorganizing and repairing equipment. You guys need a little time off. That is what I am thinking. And during this time you have, I want you to think about how WE MAKE THINGS RIGHT!”

Miguel’s voice was quiet when he said, “Oh, shit.”

“‘Oh, shit,’ is right. Now I am calling the office. Is there anything else?”

“No, Boss.”

“Good.”

Nathan hung up. His heart was beating fast. He ground his teeth. But he managed to smile at Adrian, who asked, “You own a septic company too?”

“Yep. It’s actually two units, plumbing and septic. I also have a janitorial service, a graphics design company that’s expanding into advertising and marketing, a shop that repairs and recycles various kinds of hydraulics and motors, a tree-trimming company, a landscaping and gardening company, a payroll service, and an answering service. Not to mention the property management company I inherited from Brian, along with many rental properties. The construction company also has several independent units that do custom masonry, hand plastering, and specialized painting work, like faux finishes. I’ve always avoided what we call ‘production’ work, you know, big construction projects? Too much competition, high liabilities, and low profits.”

“Fuuuuck, dude!”

Nathan shrugged. “Vertical integration. Look it up.”

“I don’t need to look it up.”

“Good. so you will understand that I looked at what I was paying for and built or bought companies that did those things. My crews wear uniforms. They always look sharp, and they are super clean on the job site. They share resources but are independently operated. In my companies, workers are managers and managers are workers. I can afford to pay them well because I don’t have a parasitic white collar class; I have self-managing workers, but that’s another diatribe that I will spare you. I actually learned this way of doing business from the old guy I bought the janitorial service from. He wanted a buyer who would continue to care for his workers, and he taught me that the humble trades were practically depression proof. The ’08 crash wiped out a lot of money, but not mine. I prospered. I charge top dollar; I pay cash and only buy when it’s a great deal; and I pick and keep good people.”

Nathan snorted. “But the system breaks when I get a guy like Miguel who does not self manage! I don’t know what happened to him. He used to be great, but lately… Fuck, Adrian! Sometimes these guys just break my heart!”

Adrian remained quiet.

Nathan told him he needed to make another call.

He hit a speed dial code. “Madeline, Darling?”

“Yes, Nathan? How is your vacation?”

“As good as can be expected. I did have a day of rest, and our Brian has been returned to the river. It was good. It was good. I feel my vim return. I feel he is at peace.”

“I am glad to hear that. We all miss him so much.”

“Yes. I expect we always will.”

“So good, Nathan. I am glad to hear this. I am surprised that you are calling so early in the morning, is there something wrong?”

“Indeed, Dear. It’s the septic service. We have a busted tanker. The pump, evidently. I have a favor to ask.”

“Sure, Nathan. What do you need?”

“I do not wish to take any new pumping contracts. We will finish what we have, but have the call-in team simply explain that we are reorganizing and repairing equipment.”

“That serious?”

“That serious. In addition, will you please look up the job that was botched when the truck broke down? Miguel has some story about not knowing about it before the client had to call another company. I want the client sent flowers.”

“Flowers?”

“Yes. And a bottle of champagne. A magnum. Of good stuff. And a note, a note that says that Mr. Greene was out of town, and this is merely a poor gesture by way of apologizing. Make sure the note says that leaving someone in trouble like that is NOT how we do business.”

“Oh, you are pissed, huh Nato?”

“Pissed enough to spit tacks, Maddy!”

“I’ll handle it. What else?”

“As we can, as the septic jobs clear, I want every truck, every piece of equipment, everything taken to our guy in Downey. Have him go over everything and put together a to-do list. Dominic knows how to prioritize. When I get back, I’ll look it all over, but he can go ahead and have the ‘worst-first’ stuff fixed, either by himself, or hiring it out. I trust him on that. OK?”

“And the crew?”

“As the jobs are finished, you cut ’em checks. They are laid off. I need people who fix stuff before it breaks, and I need people who give a damn. You can make sure they get that message.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow.”

“OK, Nathan. It will be done. I’m sorry to hear this.”

“I am sorry to say it. However, some of those guys did nothing wrong. So I’m handing this to you. Use your judgment. Offer the good guys work with Renaldo, Carl, and Julian. They usually can use a hand, but it’s also up to them. Will you explain it to them?”

“Yes, Nathan. OK. Anything else?”

“One more thing. I told Jim I’m looking at handing him the reins of the construction business, but I’m hoping I can promote him even more.”

“Oh, dear. You are going through some changes, aren’t you, Honey?”

“I am. We’ll talk more. Right now? I’m gonna do some fishing and shoot some guns. I probably won’t have cell reception, so best if you comm by email so I can batch process stuff.”

“OK. You got it. Have fun, Nathan. You’ve earned it.”

“Thank you, Madeline.”

He hung up. The rest of the messages were mainly routine, letting him know what was happening, jobs finished, and jobs started. For those, Nathan texted back to acknowledge and told them he’d be able to check his email later in the day.

Finally, done, he told Adrian, “We’ll find a café this afternoon, and I’ll handle my email. OK?”

Adrian laughed and said, “Il Capo dei Capi! The Boss of Bosses!”

Nathan was instantly cheered up. He leaned over, put an arm across his boyfriend’s shoulder, grinned, and rubbed his nose against Adrian’s nose.

With a sly smile, Nathan said, “Talk dirty to me, Baby.”

“My little boy butthole is all itchy Daddy! Will you lick it the way my puppy does when I put peanut butter on it?”

He made Nathan laugh uproariously. He held up a hand to slap palms.

Grinning and chuckling, Nathan started the big motor of the truck and pulled back onto the road. He found his mouth saying, “I really love you, Adrian,” before his brain knew what he had just said.

“Oooh! You said the ‘L’ word, Nathan! You are in trouble now!”

“I was hoping for that, Adrian.”

Adrian reached over to fondle Nathan’s cock in his shorts. “You want me to suck your dick while you drive?”

“I’d love that, but if we wreck, I’d be most embarrassed to have my meat hanging out, laying there you know?”

“Not to mention, ‘dead?’”

“Yes, I would hate that too.”

They chuckled together over their ridiculousness until Adrian said, seriously, “You know, Nathan, I saw you were stressed over those calls, but I notice you handled the fuck out it in, like, eight minutes! That was not too much time out of your day. That wasn’t so bad. Really.”

“Well, I’m probably losing a thousand dollars a day right now, Adrian. That’s what it’s costing me to shut down that operation just to have peace of mind.”

“That much?”

“Yeah, and that’s factoring in a rough estimate of the payroll I’m not spending.”

“But how much does it cost you to just have idle equipment and insurance such as opposed to money you are not making because you are not using it?”

“Not a thousand… hmmm… Do you have your phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Will you make a note? I’ll ask Madeline to give me precise number.”

“Sure.” Adrian pulled out his phone and tapped on it with his thumbs. “Anything else?”

“I’ll let you know if I think of something.”

“Does your car phone have a voice memo feature?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“It might be a good way for you to jot down notes. There might even be a voice translation app.”

“You could look, if you like, Adrian.”

“I’ll make a note! I don’t want to mess around with that now. I’ll save that for a time when I’m chilling and need something to do.”

“Hah! Now you are thinking like me! But hey! Notice how we are suddenly in a place that has that high country feel? See those trees? Those are called ‘lodgepole pines.’ They are also called ‘tamarack pines.’ They appear above six thousand feet and indicate groundwater. Really sappy wood. See how some of them ooze?”

“That yellow stuff? Looks like dried, golden molasses, kinda?”

“Yep.”

They had moved away from the river into a wider and flatter area. Adrian looked at the trees in the meadow area to one side. “I’ve seen those kind. They grow at a lower elevation in northern Oregon.”

“Yep. As you go north, the growth belts begin at progressively lower elevations until around Seattle you see maples and Douglas firs at sea level.”

“It’s fun to look and stuff and know stuff, isn’t it, Nathan?”

“Yep. The world is and interesting, beautiful place.”

“I think you are interesting and beautiful, Nathan.”

Nathan looked over at Adrian. He had his head resting on his seat, looking sideways, and he stared at him with a serene smile.

Nathan beamed at the compliment. He said, “You want to hear something funny?”

“Sure.”

“Well, I sometimes will observe people and see many fine attributes. So many, that were I to say the things I see all at once, I might actually disturb people. Few know how to accept a compliment. It is as though admiration is a kind of coinage in many people’s minds, and they think you give something up if you give it away, so when I do that, they are weirded out. I’m breaking the ‘rules.’ You follow?”

“I follow. They think you want something. It’s just an act, or something like that, and when they find out you don’t, it means their assumptions are wrong, and that can’t be, so they get weird. Like that?”

“Well said! Yes. Like that.”

“I have that same problem.”

Nathan nodded and grinned. He slapped Adrian’s thigh. “That’s why I’m telling you! But here’s the funny thing! Make a note. Seriously. Make a note. You see, I’ve been saving up compliments about you. I do that. I save them. I dish them out later. I use it to cheer people up. Get ’em motivated, you know? Also, not overwhelm them, but here’s the funny thing: I’ve saved up so many compliments about you, I’m starting to lose track. So make another list. This is the ‘Nice Things to Say to Adrian’ list!”

“Sure!” Adrian got busy on his phone. He was a fast phone typist.

“How do you do that so fast, Adrian?”

“I have an Android phone. I use something called ‘swipes.’ It’s a pattern recognition thing. iPhones don’t have it, natively.”

“Huh. I like Apple stuff, but that’s an interesting feature.”

“There’s a learning curve. You kinda have to teach the phone, too. It goes faster and faster, but anyway? ‘Nice things to say to Adrian?’”

“Hah. Yes. Adrian’s eyes, when I first saw them, reminded me of sapphire.”

“Got it! And thank you! I’ll make a shared Dropbox folder for you, so you can access these notes from your computer. Do you use Dropbox?”

“No.”

“I’ll set it up for you. It’s pretty cool for file sharing, less complicated that Google Docs.”

“Great. Here’s another one. I noticed that Adrian repaired his clothes rather than let them have holes or rips, but didn’t buy new clothes.”

“Funny! But I had no spare money on the trip. I needed to make sure I always had cash to keep my bike running. Plus, doing that kind of thing gave me things to do when I had time to chill.”

“Oh, I understand, Adrian. Here’s another one: That showed me he had a wealth mentality rather than a poverty mentality.”

“OK. Got it. Explain?”

“People who are concerned what the neighbors will think try to put on a display of wealth. This inevitably reduces their discretionary income, so they stay middle class.”

“Oh, you really have to talk with my parents, Nathan. My mom would agree. She’s so Martha Stewart-ish. Always making things. She likes to sew. She taught me stuff about that.”

There was the, “Meet the Parents” thing again. Nathan did not pursue the topic, but he did once again see the trend of Adrian’s thoughts.

“But your dad? You mentioned a Mercedes and an Escalade? So bourgeois!”

“He’s not like that, not really. He has things he indulges in, like nice cars. He likes cars, Nathan. You like cars! So you can’t fault him there. But he’s pretty tight with money. He made me come up with the money for the trip, for example. It was the only way he would give his consent.”

“OK. Good. I understand that. I do like my nice cars too. And tailor made clothes. Expensive haircuts. There are a few luxuries I like too.”

“Yeah. And by the way, I really like the haircut you gave me. You just dashed it off, and it looks like I had a super expensive solan cut. Thank you!”

“It was fun, Adrian. Hah! Here’s another! Adrian’s hair smells like sunflower seeds!”

“Really?”

“It’s the best description I could think of. It’s a healthy smell, but that reminds me of another: Adrian has a fucking gorgeous ass!”

“I’m not writing that down, Nathan.”

“Fine, be that way, but when I walked out of that Chevron in Santa Clarita and saw you standing by the truck, looking north, I started to get a woody. You really do have a spectacular butt.”

“A butt you have fucked several times now, if I recall. You like fucking my beautiful butt, don’t you?”

“Yes. I like fucking your beautiful butt.”

“We are a couple of cock-sucking butt-fuckers, aren’t we, Nathan?”

“You are making my dick hard, Adrian.”

“I can see that. I like this game, Nate!”

Nathan grinned at him. Adrian was turned on too. He said, “We shall continue this game! But, anyway, we are almost to Gumboot Lake. There’s a ‘Y’ coming up. They have these rare carnivorous plants that grow on the far side. Sometimes there’s a bald eagle there. Sometimes hawks. Now, I explained to you that trout feed at dusk, but do you know why?”

“I thought it was because that’s when the bugs come out, but now I’m guessing there are less birds that hunt them?”

“Yes. Both. They try to stay deep when the sun is shining on the water. During the day though, you can catch them with bait. I don’t have any, but the river will usually provide me with any bait I need. I do have some sinking flies that look like grubs. We call those ‘wet flies’ as opposed to ‘dry flies.’ Anyhow, here’s the road.”

They rumbled up a badly maintained road and emerged onto a broad, gravel parking area beside an almost perfectly circular lake about a mile across. Nathan backed the truck up against the far side near the inevitable Forest Service signboard. They got out of the truck.

Looking around, Adrian exclaimed, “It’s beautiful, Nathan! Look at how the trees, sky and mountain reflect on the the still water of the far side! And look! Two hawks!”

Adrian squinted. “Those are hawks, right?”

“Yes. Red tails. If the eagle comes, he chases the hawks away. I’ve seen ospreys here too.”

“Huh. You always sat ‘the’ eagle, not ‘an’ eagle.”

“It’s always the same one. He even has a name. He owns this lake and the river all the way to Lake Siskiyou. People have been hoping he’ll find a mate. He’s a famous eagle. Brian got some pictures of him when he was an adolescent and first came here. He is considered a good omen.”

“Do you know his name?”

“I think it’s ‘Siski.’”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky!”

As Nathan slung his fishing paraphernalia over a shoulder, he said, “Oh, we’ve already gotten lucky, Adrian, we are way past lucky!”

Adrian grinned back and trotted over to the lake as Nathan grabbed his fly rod. He followed.

“Let’s walk around the lake, Adrian. I want to fish the east shore. It’s in shadow. OK?”

“Sure. It sure is lush and green here. It’s like early spring, not summer.”

“That’s the high country for you,” Nathan agreed.

Adrian looked him over. “I see you kicked off your sandals.”

“Well, if you walk out in the lake, you’ll find out why they call it ‘Gumboot!’”

“Oh yeah!” Adrian took off his shoes and socks and immediately walked into the water. It was a shallow lake The bottom was indeed sticky.

“Oooh! It’s like clay! It feels all squishy!”

There was family with many small children walking towards them from the west, and evidently hearing Adrian, the kids all wanted to step in the ‘squishy’ lake.

Out on the water, there were a pair of fly fishermen who were using a technique that seemed to be a new thing. They were suspended in inner tubes. Nathan knew that they were wearing waterproof waders and had flippers to cruise around. From his observations, it was an effective fish catching method, but to him, it was technological overkill.

He watched one pull in a fish, and then the other did the same. Overkill or not, the method did get one to where the fish were. Nathan felt the urge to have a boat once again. It was a constant yearning that would rise up, over and over, but the pressures of his business and the distance to waters he wanted to sail on from LA had kept him from following that dream.

He sighed at that and tipped his head at Adrian, indicating that he wanted to go around the lake. Adrian stomped his way out, picked up his footgear, dashed to the truck to toss his shoes in the bed before running back to Nathan.

God, he is beautiful!

Nathan gave him a nice, affectionate, side hug when he rejoined him. This made Adrian smile at him. “People probably think you are my dad. We don’t look too different. We could be related.”

“Yes. I suppose we look that way. It might be a useful to let people think that. I don’t like playing that way though. You are entitled to your dignity.”

Adrian looked down. “Yeah,” he said. He looked up at Adrian with a sexy look in his eyes. “Besides, I never wanted to have sex with my dad. That would be very weird!”

Nathan nodded. They walked along and entered an area with many trees. The path looked like it would narrow to a single file zone ahead. His read on Adrian’s relationship with his father was that he had the normal issues any son might have. However, he did ask, “Is your dad physically affectionate to you, Adrian?”

“Not so much, no. He’s more affectionate with my sister. When I was little, he hugged me a lot, but I think it’s him that has the issues, if that’s what you are getting at?”

“Yes. I was getting at that. Just checking. Verifying my impression, actually.”

“OK. Yeah. I am concerned he will think it is his ‘fault’ that I am gay. He’s homophobic. He tries to be ‘PC,’ but he doesn’t really think that way. I’m dreading telling him, but I’m also looking forward to it. It’s time, you know?”

“Yes. You might want to wait until after your birthday, though. You’ll be negotiating from a stronger position once you are eighteen.”

Adrian said nothing. He simply nodded thoughtfully. It was a personal choice. Nathan had an opinion, but it was Adrian’s life.

They did have to walk in single file then. It gave them an excuse to be quiet. Nathan saw a stretch of shadowy water with a fallen tree. It looked like a good fish hideout. In confirmation, he saw a fish rise to eat an insect, so he told Adrian, “I’m going to try a few casts here. You’ll need to hang back from the shore so they don’t spook.”

“OK.”

Nathan ran out his fly line, casting it overhead, back and forth, then rolled it on the water so his fly landed with the same delicacy an insect would make. Drawing back the rod, his instinct told him he had a fish, so he gave the rod a flick, and sure enough, he did have a fish. He stepped forward into the water and readied his net. Soon he had a struggling trout captured. He called Adrian over to have a look.

Without pulling the fish out of the water, he said, “See the small pectoral fins and the weak colors? Also note how fat this fish is? This guy came from the fish hatchery. I don’t keep those.”

Holding the rod between the inside of his arm and side, he reached down and deftly removed the hook without even touching the fish. He let the fish swim free.

“I use barbless hooks. They don’t tear up their mouths. Now that fish will hide. I just schooled him. He should not be feeding now. He should not be near the surface. He will live another day.”

“You did that without even touching him!”

“I try not to. They bruise easily.”

Adrian sighed. “I did not want to tell you this, but what I don’t like about fishing is that I feel sorry for the fish!”

“I guessed that Adrian. Don’t ever change. You are perfect in every detail.”

“Wow, Nathan! So that was one of your super-duper, big-hitting, Nathan compliments!”

Nathan grinned as he made his way from the water.

They worked their way around the lake, fishing and talking. Nathan did not catch any fish he wanted to keep. On the far side, the shore became sodden with spring fed water, so they took a trail higher in the trees. It was then that Nathan spotted the eagles.

“Look, Adrian! Siski found a bride! Fantastic!”

They heard then the double cry of two ferocious birds of prey. The two hawks immediately fled.

As a spectacular treat, they were further rewarded by the sight of the larger of the two eagles diving to the water and retrieving a fish in his mighty talons! Both birds flew to the limb of a large tree fifty feet from them and to their supreme joy, they shared the feast.

They had not said a word. They watched all this in hushed awe. Nathan got chills as the larger of the two eagles raised his beautiful white head and looked right at them while the smaller female finished eating the fish.

Adrian whispered, “It feels like we are intruding.”

“They do not seem concerned.”

But the eagle continued to stare.

“Let’s give them space, Nathan.”

“Yes.”

Quietly, they walked on, every once in while looking over their shoulder. By the time they reached the patch of bizarre yet eerily beautiful pitcher plants, the eagles had resumed circling above the lake. They saw them dive several times, but they did not see them catch another fish until they were getting ready to leave the lake.

“That was amazing, Nathan!” Adrian exclaimed as the got in the truck.

“Yes. A good omen!”

Nathan started the truck and putted out. He remembered something then. “I meant to tell you, Adrian, that place where I pulled over to take the calls? That was very near where Brian pulled up to give me a ride.”

Adrian laughed. “I meant to ask you about that too.”

“I guess we are just so into each other, we forget the whole world, huh?”

“Yeah. I really love you, Nathan.”

It did not seem a strange thing to say. Nathan smiled. He said nothing.

They drove up to the ridge then and Nathan pulled into another parking lot. “This is one of the Pacific Crest Trail entry points. Let’s get out. There’s a nice view here. You can see Shasta behind us and the Trinity Alps ahead of us.”

“This is a great day, Nathan.”

“Yep.”

After admiring the view, they got underway again. The other side of the ridge had a different feel than the east side. The trees were less dense, and it was drier. Instead of Douglas firs and ponderosa pines, there were white firs and red firs. Nathan pointed these out. They were pretty trees, growing tall and slender with fine symmetry. They looked to Adrian like giant Christmas trees.

“It’s funny, Nathan, but even though I grew up in Oregon, I don’t know much about trees.”

“I did not either until I did the PCT. I had a book with me that I used to identify flora and fauna. It was part of the fun, seeing something new and looking it up. These days, I would probably carry a solar charger and look things up on my phone. I also had a star map.”

“I have an app on my phone for that. That was one thing that my ex-friend Stan enjoyed too. On his good side, he was always interested in new knowledge… Well, when he was not in a bad mood, that is.”

Nathan chuckled. “Here’s one for the ‘Adrian list’: ’Adrian is not irritated by trivia. He enjoys new knowledge. This is a sign of intelligence.’”

Adrian laughed. “Do I really need to write that down?”

“Yep. Write it down. Oh, there’s another lake coming up on the left. It’s smaller than Gumboot, and the road is unmarked. It’s often devoid of tourists. We will see fewer cars and people over here on this side in general.”

Adrian laughed, “One of my English professors told me that there is a casual literacy test, and it is revealed when the speaker sprinkles rare or unusual words in his casual speech, unselfconsciously.”

Puzzled, Nathan asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, you just said, ‘It is often devoid of tourists.’ That is not how regular, ordinary people speak, Nathan. You are really smart!”

Nathan chuckled. “It takes one to know one.”

Adrian smiled back. “Well, I am hoping it is, indeed, ‘devoid’ of tourists, for I know you wanted to ‘edge,’ but I need to go over the edge. Are you down?”

“I’m down. I love having a horny boyfriend.”

“Is that what I am? Your ‘boyfriend?’”

Nathan fucked with him. “Today you are. Is that a problem?”

“No,” Adrian teased back. “No problem. Today at least!”