Chapter 105

Scooter: gt ur ass bak hre. Nd u 4 a fw dys.

New text from Jeff: not far. Charleston. be home tomorrow.

Jeff hadn’t even asked why. Fuck, Andy was going to start crying or something. “Okay, then. Yeah. Let’s…” He took a couple of quick breaths. “I’ll look up air fares tonight.” He wrapped his arms around Scooter’s waist and squeezed. “Thank you.”

“Never been on a plane before,” Scooter mused. He put his arms around Andy, gently. “It’ll be okay, babe. I promise, I won’t let anything happen.” He kissed Andy’s hair. “Let’s finish getting closed up, yeah?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s…Yeah.” A sudden laugh bubbled up out of Andy’s throat. “Oh, God, you’ve never flown and I’m going to take us to La Guardia.” But he felt better, knowing Scooter would be with him. He let go, then took the hand Scooter offered to stand. “Maybe I’ll drag you sightseeing while we’re there. So you’ll finally know what it’s like to bethe tourist.”