Merge Ahead by Tanya Chris

Author:Tanya Chris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tanya Chris
Published: 2020-11-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

When Adam excused himself to the bathroom, Rosie got up and dropped into the spot Adam had vacated. “I don’t know why I thought you two were weird together,” she said. “You’re adorable.”

“You just needed a chance to get to know him.”

“I guess so. He’s different today, but so are you. And he’s definitely gay.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Like that’s a surprise.”

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure last time I saw him, but there’s something in his eyes when he looks at you today that’s irrefutable. Was he restraining himself for our sakes? Didn’t want to seem lecherous in front of your family?”

“Does he seem lecherous?” Will didn’t think that was the impression Adam meant to be giving.

She laughed. “No, not lecherous, just ...”

“Sort of possessive,” Will suggested.

“Yeah, sort of that, but not in an icky way. In a nice way. Like you belong together.”

Adam walked back into the room and Will looked up and caught his eye. They smiled at each other.

“See? Like that. I suppose you want your seat back,” she said to Adam as he approached.

“I can manage over here.” Adam sat down on her other side. “How’s training going?”

Rosie had started off-season training with the team even though school wouldn’t start for a few more weeks. She and Adam had that in common—being athletes—and they talked easily about coaches and teammates and training schedules and “leg day,” although they had very different opinions on that last topic, Adam being a runner and Rosie being a swimmer.

His father had his eyes glued to a baseball game on the television. Will could see Adam’s eyes drifting in that direction. The last time he’d brought Adam over, they’d kept the television off because Adam was a guest, but his guest status had expired.

“Adam played baseball,” Will told his father. “In high school.”

“What position?” Papa didn’t take his eyes off the television.

“Pitcher, but it was high school so I subbed in at other positions when they needed me.”

“Pitchers are prima donnas.”

“Papa,” Rosie said.

“It’s OK,” Adam said. “It’s true. I had a shoulder injury my Senior year that made me even more of a prima donna.”

“Like every pitcher. Always injured, those pitchers.”

“There’s a lot of repetitive stress in pitching,” Rosie said. “Shoulders are tricky for swimmers, too. We do a whole series of preventative maintenance exercises to try to keep the opposing rotator cuff muscles strong.”

When Rosie and Adam dove deep into the subject of rotator cuffs, Will went to the kitchen. “You need help, Mama?”

She passed over some plantains to be sliced.

“Your friend OK out there?”

“He and Rosie get along. Papa is being papa.”

“Bring him a beer.”

“Papa?”

“No, your Adam.”

Probably Adam would like a beer. Will put down the knife and wiped his hands on the dish cloth his mother kept hanging from the oven door. As he entered the living room, bottle in hand, he realized that Adam was telling Rosie about his short story making it into the top one hundred, recruiting Rosie to go vote for it.

Last night, Will

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