River Town Box Set

by Grant C. Holland

  “Oh, yeah, Diego’s mentioned you.”

  “I’ve got one question for you, Mr. Hansen.”

  “A question?” asked Alan.

  “Do you love him?”

  Alan paused. He knew the answer, but he hadn’t told anyone else yet. In a firm tone, he said, “Yes.”

  The fragrance filling the car was so intense that it was intoxicating. The overwhelming aroma went straight to Alan’s head. He rolled down a window to dissipate the smell.

  As he pulled up to a stoplight on the edge of Red Wing, Alan glanced at the massive bundle of roses lying in the seat next to him and grinned. “I hope these do the trick. If they don’t, I’ll never want to see a damned rose again in my life.”

  When he pulled into the parking lot behind the former school building that contained the M-Trak offices, Alan spotted Diego’s car. There was an empty parking spot on the right side of his car, and Alan decided to take it. It might have been pure superstition to think that parking their cars in close proximity would help keep them together, but Alan needed any assistance he could get, superstitious or not.

  It only took one buzz on the office door for Rhea to answer. She wore a brightly colored dress with blocks of pastel blue and yellow. She smiled broadly when she saw the flowers. “How many do you have?”

  “It’s three dozen. Do you think Diego will like them?”

  “I’ll personally kill him if he doesn’t,” grumbled Rhea. “I think he will come to his senses. It seems like temporary insanity to me, but you know how emotional he is. I’d better not announce you. Just go down the little hall and knock on his door.”

  Alan followed Rhea’s instructions. He took three long, deep breaths and knocked on Diego’s door. He heard a muffled voice say, “Come on in, Rhea. I’m trying to get everything in order. I don’t have much left to do.”

  Alan pushed the door open and held the roses up in front of his face.

  Diego was staring at his computer screen and continued speaking. He said, “I’ll have plenty of time to finish the rest of this when I get back home from Tulum. I already have four property showings scheduled.” As he ended the sentence, he looked up.

  Alan pulled one dozen of the roses to the side and peered between the blossoms. “Can I interest you in a rose or two?” asked Alan.

  Diego looked confused. He asked, “Why are you here? I assumed you’d hate me forever after I told you what I’m doing.” He gestured at the chair opposite his desk and said, “Sit, and where did you get all those flowers? It’s not a funeral. I’m just going away for a couple of weeks.”

  “And then you’ll come back for good?” asked Alan. He reached out and grabbed an empty brass vase on the corner of Diego’s desk. He mumbled, “These will need some water,” as he stuffed the roses inside.

  “I told you last night. I don’t want to do it, but it’s for the best.”

  “Since when does Diego Flores do anything that he doesn’t want to do? Isn’t following your desire a guiding principle?”

  “Damn, Alan! I’m trying to think it through for once! I’m trying to stop following that rage in my heart everywhere. I should have done this before I ever came to Minnesota. I already have the plane ticket, and I’ve got four properties to see.”

  Alan threw his hands in the air. “Like a ticket matters to you. It’s throwaway money to you, Diego.” Alan placed his hands on the edge of the desk and leaned forward. “At least do me the decency of sharing one last visit to the Paddle Wheel. We can walk by the river one last time.”

  Diego growled. “You don’t give up, do you? Why didn’t you stop me from leaving the first time we met? I might have stayed that time.”

  “I was shocked that I had you in the first place. I assumed a man like you could only be a fleeting memory. I couldn’t imagine that you wanted me. Until last night, I thought all of that was different this time around.”

  Diego leaned back in his chair. “Okay, I’ll drive us down to the Paddle Wheel. We’ll each get a cup of coffee, and we’ll walk down along that muddy river. Rhea says you can toss your memories into the current and watch it all float away. That’s what we should do. We should let it all float away and move on.”

  Alan followed Diego out of his office. As they passed Rhea’s desk, he said, “Hold all of my calls for now. I will be back within…” He glanced at Alan. “Ninety minutes.” Diego opened the door and stepped outside.

  Rhea looked at Alan and whispered, “So?”

  Alan mumbled, “Who the hell knows,” and he followed Diego out into the late morning sun.

  “You don’t mind if I drive, do you?” asked Diego.

  “Not at all as long as you don’t have any Thelma and Louise fantasies.”

  “Those crazy women?” asked Diego. “That would be an exciting end, wouldn’t it? It might take care of so many problems. I could drive us into the river and bring our sad story to an end.”

  Alan rolled his eyes and climbed into the car. The seats were expensive chocolate-brown leather, and the ignition started with the touch of a button. The luxury of their surroundings whispered, “Diego.”

  As he pulled out of the parking lot, Diego asked: “Do you know the problem with you, Alan?”

  “I have a problem? I guess I don’t know what it is.”

  “You don’t know when to give up and move on.”

  “Move on?” asked Alan. “I’ve been moving on my entire life. That’s all I’ve ever done. This time I want to stay, and I want you to be here with me at my side. I’m tired of moving on, and something inside nags at me saying you don’t really want to go.”

  30

  Birdsong

  As he ran his hand along the highly polished wood of the Paddle Wheel counter, Alan said, “This is a beautiful place. Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “The wood is from actual paddlewheel steamboats that used to dock at Red Wing more than a hundred years ago.”

  “And you’re leaving it all behind.”

  Diego sighed as he picked up the two cups of coffee and handed one to Alan. “Should we walk down to the river?”

  “I think that sounds perfect.”

  Alan struggled to hold his emotion in check when he was standing in Diego’s office, but he was calm as they walked side by side following the paved path down to the bank of the Mississippi. He wondered if it was a sign that his gut was giving up.

  Alan said, “Dak told me that he feels lost if he doesn’t see the river flowing at least once a week. He used to work on the towboats and spent four weeks on the river and then two weeks at home.”

  “That’s a harsh schedule. You can’t be married to anyone but the river with that kind of work.”

  “Now you understand why he quit when he moved in with Brody. Still, he said he couldn’t get far away from it. For him, there’s something mystical about the water.”

  As they watched the muddy water flowing downstream, Diego said, “It’s like the Gulf of Mexico at Veracruz. The difference is as a child I started to fear the waves that washed ashore.”

  “You were scared of the waves?” asked Alan. “Couldn’t you swim?”

  “My grandfather said they always brought invaders. The waves at Veracruz didn’t mean peace. They meant that we were vulnerable.”

  “But you see the river differently?”

  “I think so. The way Rhea described it, the Mississippi River cleanses. It takes the impurities away. Perhaps our little friend Lewis should take a ride south on the current.”

  Alan laughed softly. “I don’t know what will happen to him, but with Dak around, I don’t think he will bother me.” They approached a bench, and Alan asked, “Can we sit?”

  Diego nodded, “Yes. I don’t want you to be mistaken, Alan. I will miss you. I will miss you more than anyone since my parents passed away.”

  Alan seated himself on the bench and leaned forward with his chin in his hands. Diego missing him was some consolation, but it wasn’t much. It was like finding a penny buried und
er the cushions of the couch when you needed $1.50. He said, “I’m confused. I don’t know if you can help me understand, but I don’t know why you’re giving all of this up. I don’t get it. You’ll be a stranger when you move back to Mexico. Isn’t a man from Veracruz going to Tulum sort of like a Texan moving to Vermont? It’s in the Yucatan at least a thousand miles away.”

  Diego laughed softly. “Not quite that far, but you have a solid grasp of geography. You’re so very wise, Alan. Yes, some of the locals will be skeptical of me. I’ll look different from them, and my speech won’t sound the same. The only common thread is that we will all speak fluent Spanish.”

  “And you can have so much here, Diego. You have your business. You have new friends in Dak, Brody, and Ross. And you have me. Are you taking Rhea with you?”

  He shook his head. “No, I think the idea of moving to Mexico is an exciting dream to her, but she can’t take the leap. She has family, friends, and half a dozen anchors to keep her in Minnesota.”

  “I would ask to go with you if it wasn’t for Auntie Erin. She wants to meet you someday, Diego.”

  “Is she half as charming as you?”

  Alan said, “Twice or even three times. She’s my favorite person in the world. Well, except for…” Alan leaned to the side until his cheek rested on the shoulder of Diego’s sports jacket. “Could you wait for a month? Or even two? Are you in a hurry to go back to Mexico?”

  Diego rubbed the dark stubble on his chin. He reached a hand up to Alan’s face and held on tenderly. “Do you know why I moved to Minnesota?”

  “To escape the guns?” asked Alan.

  “That was only part of it. It was because of you.”

  “But that’s crazy, Diego. What were the chances that you would ever see me again? For all you knew, I was still in Texas. Finding me would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. There are probably thousands of Alan Hansens in the world.”

  “But I assumed there were other men at least somewhat like you?”

  “Like me?”

  “I never was so intimate with a gringo until that night in Texas, Alan.” Diego rubbed his cheek gently.

  “But you said I fucked like a gringo. How did you know if you’d never…”

  Alan felt the chuckle deep inside Diego’s body. “I’m a proud man, and it was a bold comment. It touched you, didn’t it?”

  “Everything about you touches me.”

  Diego rubbed his cheek again. “Such a very charming man, Alan.” Silence reigned for a few moments. Diego continued, “I heard so many negative ideas about gringos when I was growing up. It was like Lewis talking about me. Honestly, I had a huge chip on my shoulder when I found myself hiding behind a hunk of steel with you.”

  “And that changed when we slept together?”

  Diego nodded. “It did. You were…how do I say this, a kind man that burned with a steady internal fire. When we touched, and when my lips connected with your naked body, it was like turning up the gas on a stove, Alan. I had to control it to keep from getting burned.”

  Alan laughed. “I’ve never considered myself to be that hot. It’s such a funny use of words, Diego.”

  “So, when I decided it was time to leave Veracruz, I had choices to make. I could find somewhere else in Mexico, or I could leave the country entirely. As I considered it in my head, I had the taste of you on my lips. I came north to find myself a gringo. I’m not ignorant enough to think I was the first Mexican man to head north on that quest.”

  “But you’ve been here for years now, and you were single when we met again,” said Alan.

  Diego shrugged. “I dated a few gringos, and I discovered something.”

  Alan couldn’t resist reaching a hand out to Diego’s shirt. He slid his fingers beneath one side of Diego’s jacket. “What did you discover?”

  “You’re a lot more than just a gringo.”

  Both men were silent as the muddy water flowed past. Alan heard nothing but the songs of two persistent chickadees and the whisper of his own breathing.

  Alan pulled his head up from Diego’s shoulder and said, “You know, I think it’s funny.”

  “What’s funny?”

  “I don’t even think of you as Mexican. All of the things that everyone else points to that make you different or a foreigner are the things I love about you. The accent in your voice is like music to me, and my heart stops when I see the color of your skin spread across your bare chest.”

  Diego shook his head. “Oh, come now, Alan, you sound like an addict.”

  “Maybe I am an addict. Is that such a bad thing?”

  “It will be when I’m almost three thousand miles away hiking up ancient temples in Tulum.”

  “Then don’t go,” said Alan. He listened to his words and knew they were the most forceful he’d yet spoken.

  Diego turned his head. “I have a question.”

  “Yes?” asked Alan.

  “Did that come from your heart and not your head?”

  Alan sniffed and answered, “Yes.” For some reason, he knew that he was on the edge of tears again, but he didn’t know for sure what was behind Diego’s question.

  “That’s different, Alan.”

  “Different how?”

  “Every time you turned me down after we met in your office at Tar-Mor, it came from your head. Now, when the words come from your heart, you want me to stay.”

  Alan held his right hand up over his eyes. “Fuck, Diego, you’re going to make me cry. Of course, it comes from my heart. I’m going to say this so that you hear it, and I want you to hear it over and over on this trip to Mexico until you finally decide to come back to me. I love you.”

  Diego laughed. Alan opened his eyes wide in shock. “What’s funny?”

  “Irony. Awkwardness. It’s funny in an unusual way. I love you, too. I’m not sure I’ve ever loved anyone else in the way that I love you.”

  Alan felt his hands start to tremble. He lowered them into his lap and anchored his fingertips between his thighs. If he didn’t hold on, he was worried that he would lose it completely. With his eyes glassy with tears, Alan pleaded, “Please stay, Diego. I have too much space in that house, and Boomer needs another dad.”

  Diego leaned back against the bench and laughed again. “Alan, you’re too much, and I think I’m a little loco. I had an idea in my gut that things would happen this way. I thought I might have to tear up that plane ticket.”

  “And you led me on and let me worry that you were leaving forever.”

  “Oh, I didn’t lead you on. I woke up this morning planning to be in Tulum three days from now. Then Rhea dressed me up and down. You don’t want to cross her when she’s angry.”

  Alan chuckled as he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. “I have a confession.”

  “Do we need a priest?”

  Alan smiled. “Rhea called me this morning. Coming here wasn’t solely my idea.”

  “She told you to come?”

  “She asked me if I loved you. That was all I needed. I was in the car in minutes.”

  31

  Living Love

  As he climbed back into his car with Alan, Diego asked, “Do you need to go home? Do you need to walk Boomer?”

  “No, I don’t,” said Alan. “Brody is taking care of him. I made a wish after Rhea called this morning.”

  “A wish? Do you wish a lot?”

  Alan said, “Not usually out loud. My wishes were almost always silent until I talked to Brody. He said that silent wishes never come true. He told me that I have to send them out into the world by either writing them down or saying them out loud.”

  Diego nodded. “Brody is a wise man. So, you don’t have to be home until tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes. I don’t want to presume, but I could go to your place. I’ve never been there.”

  Turning on the ignition, Diego said, “I have a different idea. I think you’ll like this one.”

  “Are you going to tell me what it is?”<
br />
  “You’ll figure it out.”

  Alan smiled broadly when Diego pulled into the parking lot of a large chain hotel. He asked, “Are we here to bring back old memories?”

  “They’re good ones aren’t they?”

  Alan nodded. “Not just good. They’re searing hot is what they are.”

  “I’ll pop the trunk,” said Diego. “You can grab the bag that’s in there. I think it has everything that we’ll need.”

  Alan smirked. “Someone else made a wish, too.”

  “I made sure that I prepared for all the possibilities.”

  As the hotel room door shut behind him, Alan asked, “Are you sure you’re going to stay, Diego? I can’t do this if you’re not going to stay.”

  “Do you need shackles on my wrists? Yes, I’m staying, Alan.”

  “Then kiss me again, Diego. Kiss me like you mean it.”

  Diego pinned Alan’s shoulders against the door and smothered him in a kiss filled with fire and passion. He licked first at Alan’s lower lip before hungrily tasting his mouth. His fingers began to work at buttons and a zipper while the kiss grew more feverish.

  Alan’s hands were busy, too. Diego’s sports jacket fell to the floor, and then his shoulders were bare as his shirt slowly slid down his arms. Alan pressed the palms of his hands against Diego’s chest.

  Alan whispered in his ear, “Your body is a work of art, Diego. Let me take you to bed.”

  The fly of Diego’s pants was already open as he found his way to the room’s king-sized bed. He kicked off his shoes and shed the rest of his clothes before lying down and surrendering the initiative to Alan.

  Diego’s breath caught in his throat as Alan shed his boxer briefs and stood naked staring down from the foot of the bed. Diego’s cock stiffened and pointed toward the ceiling while he watched Alan’s gaze travel over every inch of his body.

  The first kiss landed on the left side of his chest. “For your heart,” whispered Alan. Seconds later, Diego pressed his head into the pillow letting out a growling moan when Alan’s tongue found its way below his waist.