In the short term, for Aaron, there were ice shows and tours across the country and around the world. Which was evidently a first for him; as he told Zack, he’d never before felt like he could leave the island in the summer when his family needed him most.
But he spent most of the previous summer away to no dire consequences, so there was no reason not to do it again. It turned out there was quite a bit of demand among figure skating fans for that year’s surprise star.
So they spent a lot of that summer apart, but that also worked for them. With distance, they could slow things down and not rush completely headlong into a relationship that still needed time and work to heal and deepen and grow. Zack could sit in Saint Paul and write while Aaron travelled, and the adult hockey league didn’t stop playing just because the pros took the summer off or someone’s boyfriend had gone to the Olympics.
Katie and Brendan started inviting Zack to the farm for dinner on the weekends—at least the weekends when they weren’t off travelling for their own ongoing skating careers. Zack was pretty clear they hadn’t hated him in a while, if ever, but he was never quite sure when the turning point had been. Now he worried they liked him enough to ask him to babysit the cows while they were on the road. The cows still freaked him out.
Zack went to the last show of Aaron’s tour, one Aaron, Katie, and Brendan were all skating in together. Since it was in Saint Paul. Matt went too and somehow smuggled in both another seal plushie for Aaron and flowers for some skater he’d been talking to since the whole ridiculous Four Continents road trip situation. They sat in the front row, in the seats basically on the ice. Zack spent the whole time in awe of the art Aaron and his fellow skaters could create—and anticipating the moment when he could, finally, have Aaron back in his arms. They’d been apart for weeks.
Also, wow did Katie and Brendan really did skate like they were about to fight or fuck. He had suspected that from the beginning, but now he knew that was just how—and why—they worked.
Zack got himself backstage at the end of the show, and threaded his way through bustling crew and chattering performers to find Aaron outside the dressing rooms talking with one of the other skaters. Even though Zack knew Aaron had had his eyes on him the whole night, Aaron still gave a delighted shout when he saw him.
Time seemed to slow down as Aaron ran toward him and threw himself into Zack’s arms. He was so warm, so real, and Zack drank in the feel of him.
“You did amazing,” Zack told him, kissing the top of his head. His curls were sweaty and sticky with gel.
“I know.” Aaron tipped his head back to beam up at him. That smile still made Zack go weak at the knees. “Let’s go home.”
Home. Zack loved the sound of the word. “Yours or mine?”
“Oh for tonight? Whichever. I think you’re closer. But I meant the island.”
“I thought you were off the hook for the summer,” Zack said, hesitating. He very much wanted to be on the island again, sharing that space with Aaron. But the thought of doing that flight again was almost too much.
“I am. Technically. But there’s just a few weeks left before pre-season starts, and I want to spend them there. Maybe take an actual break for once. I know I should have talked to you about it before, but I didn’t want to do it from the road, and...”
“Shhhhhh, that’s not what I meant,” Zack said, rubbing his thumb through the short hair at the nape of Aaron’s neck. “Just... seriously. That flight.”
Aaron stared at him with that look that said once more, Zack was ignorant of a basic fact of his world. “Ice melts in the summer. The large island is a resort, remember?”
“Are you telling me we can have a lovely summer vacation?” Except for the flight, the idea was more appealing than Zack could say.
“No,” Aaron said laughing. “I mean yes, we can, even though we’ll probably end up doing work at the restaurant anyway. But no, I’m telling you we can take a boat.”
Chapter 33
THE NEXT SUMMER
Whisker Island
AARON SAT AT THE END of the dock, his feet dangling in the water. The glaring rays of the setting sun had faded into rosy pinks and oranges at the horizon. Behind him, to the east, the sky was already dusky blue with the coming night. In a few days, he and Zack would head back to Saint Paul so Aaron could start training for the coming season. For now, the air was muggy, but rapidly growing cool as the light faded. The gentle lap of the waves on the shore made him smile with the memory of a thousand childhood evenings spent just like this.
Footsteps behind him made the dock creak and sway. There was a warm hand on his shoulder and then Zack was sitting down next to him.
“You finish your chapter?” While Aaron had been spending much of his time pitching in with the restaurant, Zack had been pounding away at his book.
“Close enough for now. I thought I’d come out and say hi.”
“You missed the sunset.”
“There’ll be more.”
Zack put his hand on Aaron’s knee, and Aaron twined their fingers together. With the ups and downs of the last season, he’d had plenty of occasions to appreciate just how capable Zack was in a crisis, even in crises of his own making. But the last several weeks here on the island had been good, too. They could just exist like this, quiet and together, through the ordinary
