by Wendy Qualls
Christ, no pressure or anything. They must really have been desperate for another dog. “Y’all will cover my area again if we still can’t find him, right?” Lito asked. “It’s been more than a month since Spot last got to do this and she might not even alert on the right scent anyway.” Gus looked confused. “Spot and I are still pretty new to this,” he explained. “And moving to Miami next week, so we haven’t been around much.”
“Ah. This is my first,” Gus explained. “I’m not gonna be much help, but at least I can follow you around and tell you embarrassing stories about Rick and Dave.”
Rick aimed a swat at him with his clipboard, which Gus dodged easily. “Don’t you dare.”
“Not within earshot of you, of course,” Gus retorted. “Your name’s Lito, right? Nice to meet you. Let’s do this thing.”
Spot’s search area started about two hundred yards in, covering the newer portion of the cemetery. It was generally flat and only studded with gravestones, monuments, and a few trees. Sharon and Scratch had taken the bulk of the wooded areas, thank God. At least on the flat Lito had a decent chance of finding the search target visually even if Spot didn’t give a clear alert.
It was a good day for a walk, though. Rick had ribbed Gus about his sense of humor, but Lito found himself enjoying the company a lot more than he’d expected. Gus was a good storyteller and he did have a huge collection of funny anecdotes to pull from. Even the ones about Dave didn’t hit too close to home for comfort. If Gus noticed Lito tensing up the first few times Dave’s name was mentioned, he didn’t show it.
One thing Rick had failed to warn Lito about was the fact that Gus was a ridiculous flirt. Truth be told, it was a bit flattering. A tiny bit. Score one for Lito’s earring and fashion sense setting off the guy’s gaydar, presumably—even if he flirted with everyone exactly the same way, it was good for Lito’s ego.
“So what’s up with Dave, anyway?” Gus asked, capping off a long story about Rick and a care package gone wrong. The question caught Lito by surprise. “He’s mentioned you exactly zero times, which is usually a sign he doesn’t want me to ride his ass about something. Or someone. Any idea why he’s been in such a shitty mood lately?”
Lito couldn’t tell whether that was supposed to be a hint that Gus knew about him and Dave or not, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up. “I haven’t talked to him in a few weeks, actually. I wouldn’t know.”
“Huh.” Gus’s gaze kept tracking Spot as she ranged ahead of them, but it felt like an examination anyway. “I only bring it up because Dave has been a serious homebody ever since this fall. I assumed it was because he had someone new in his life and didn’t want to jinx it. That was a gossipy question to start with, I guess—Dave won’t tell me what the hell is going on and Rick just keeps telling me to go ask Dave. Never mind.”
Okay, yeah, definitely some hinting there. “Was there ever a time he wasn’t a homebody?” Lito asked.
Gus laughed, startling Spot into looking back at them instead of scenting like she was supposed to be. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to distract your dog. It’s just…there’s a place in Nashville where he and I go sometimes. Used to go, I guess—he’s blown me off the last couple of times I’ve asked him to come up. If you weren’t about to move, I’d invite you to come join me. Assuming you lean that way too, obviously.”
“You mean a gay club?” Dave had mentioned trips to Nashville with “a friend” before, but never in any detail. “Dave claimed he could dance, but I half expected him to mean square dancing or something.”
“Oh, that means you do!” Gus winked, one of those I’m-only-teasing-unless-you-want-it-to-be-serious flirty things he seemed to constantly drop in his wake. “He’s gay; I’m pan. My wife and I take a weekend off every once in a while to go have some fun—she stays over with her girlfriend and I go down to Nashville with Dave and see who we can find. And yeah, Dave’s always been an introvert, but he’s never had any trouble picking up some damn fine eye candy. He can be charming and a damn good flirt when he wants to.” He flashed Lito a toothy grin. “Not as good as I am, of course, but it works for him.”
Oh, hell. Dave in clubbing clothes… Lito nearly tripped over his own feet at that mental image. Even with what little Dave had mentioned about his Nashville trips, Lito had never made the full connection. He would have pegged Dave as more at home in a country-western bar than a club. Especially the kind of club you went to for no-strings-attached sex. Now that the thought was in his mind, though, it was all too easy to imagine Dave in a mesh tank top that showed off how built he was. Maybe with a pair of jeans slung low on his hips and that intense fuck-me he got in his eye sometimes… Hell. Lito knew exactly how good a flirt Dave could be.
“I did discover that there isn’t much of a scene around here,” he admitted aloud. “Or, you know, anything at all. Black Lake feels kind of claustrophobic sometimes, like it really is its own little world.”
“Oh, I know it. Dave has complained about that before. Although it’s all a load of shit, isn’t it? He wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Lito hummed a non-committal little acknowledgment. It must have given away more than he intended, because Gus gave him a long sideways look.
“You know…” He turned his head upward toward the sky and drew in a deep breath. “There are some benefits of living out in the boonies. Fresh air, for one.”
“Except during pollen season? That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”
Gus huffed out a soft laugh. “Except for that. The more important one, though, is you don’t have to be ‘on’ all the time. People meet you, react to your baggage however they’re going to react, and then they move on. Clarksville is bigger than Black Lake and a helluva lot bigger than the godforsaken town I grew up in, but sometimes I miss everyone having already formed their opinions of me. Fort Campbell is a busy base—it’s hard to make long-term friendships because everyone gets moved around so often. Sometimes I do envy Rick and Dave for having put down roots.”
Roots. Just what Lito needed. If he could just figure out where the hell he belonged, he’d probably be a lot happier.
All in all, he and Gus had about an hour to walk and chat before the group text came through:
Waldo found by police patrol in front of the public library. Come on back to IC for debrief.
“Guess we should get back,” Gus said. “It was fun walking with you, though.” He waggled his eyebrows and made an exaggerated pouty face. “Look me up if you’re ever in Tennessee?”
“You gonna give me your number?” God, he so didn’t need one more thing to remind him of Dave after he got to his new job and started trying to move on, but Gus was funny and cheerful and Lito could see himself swapping snarky texts with the guy.
Call me when you get sick of those Florida boys, Gus texted him. Clarksville, Tennessee, nearest real airport (and real fun) is Nashville. I’d make the drive for you. -Gus
“Aww, that’s sweet.” Lito texted him a quick thanks back. The chances of him calling a near-stranger for a long-distance booty call were slim, but Lord only knew how pathetic his social life in Miami was going to be. Probably just runs with Spot and video games with the guys for a long time.
Christ. I’m already ancient at twenty-five.
Rick filled them in once they had all gathered back at incident command: their wandering dementia patient was found sitting on the steps of the public library and singing to himself. It wasn’t even the police patrols who found him—a friend from church recognized him and didn’t have the son’s number so she called the non-emergency police line instead.
“Small town,” Scooter said, nodding sagely. “Funny how that happens, isn’t it?”
Lito could feel Dave’s gaze on him, but he didn’t look up.
Chapter 19
Gabriela acknowledged Lito’s entrance with a nod of her head a
nd a little smile, then went back to stirring whatever she had in the saucepan on the stove. It smelled vaguely Italian—spaghetti sauce, maybe. “How was your first day at the new job? Sorry I wasn’t up to see you off this morning—my late shift ran even later than normal last night and I didn’t get to bed until almost one o’clock. Grab a drink and tell me about it?”
He did, settling at the small kitchen table with a glass of iced tea. “I’m not settled in yet, but it went fine.” Spot looked up at him from her pillow in the corner, huffed, and put her head back down. Sitting still was nice. “Betty and Ronald are here for the next two weeks,” he added, “but since it’s a brand-new office we spent most of the day unboxing computers and putting together furniture.”
“How big is it? I thought HR was basically just you.”
“It is. There’s only four rooms—an actual office, an office-slash-storage-space for Betty and Ronald to use when they’re in town, a front reception area, and a fourth that they’re probably going to turn into a small conference room. Longer-term, it’s probably just going to be HR and a regional manager in there.”
“Whom you haven’t hired yet, right?”
“Exactly.” It would probably be another week—at least—before Betty and Ronald would be ready to start sorting through applications, but they’d put the hiring notice up online that morning and already had a few applications. “Renovating all thirteen motels at the same time would be ridiculously expensive, so Betty’s decided they’re going to start working on the first two here in Miami right away and the others can continue to run under the Sunshine State Motel name until those are finished. That gives me less than a month to put together a redesign plan for the entire chain. No pressure or anything.”
Gabriela laughed. “I’ve got faith in you, chico.”
“I’m not eighteen any more, cocha.”
“I noticed that.” She turned the burner off, shifted the pan to an already-cool one, and came to join him at the table. “I also noticed that when you mentioned the long-term plan, you said ‘HR.’ You didn’t say ‘me.’ And even though most of your stuff is sitting in your free hotel room, you and Spot are over here more often than not. Which is fine—I’m not complaining—but it certainly looks like you might be feeling lonely. Are you having second thoughts?”
“Yes. No. Maybe.” Lito sighed. “I committed to this, so I can’t back out now, but maybe in a few months once the initial hiring is finished… I don’t know.”
“You miss your friends in Alabama?”
More than he’d ever thought possible. Gus had been right, during that last search—Black Lake was good for putting down roots. Miami, not so much. It was true he saw a lot more diversity, in skin color but also in personal style. So many people—and it all felt forced, somehow. Like all those people had made their conscious choice about “this is what I want everyone to think when they see me” and then had to spend all their time upholding that image.
It had never been like that with the NALSAR team. There hadn’t been any sidelong looks, no whispering as soon as he turned away. No awkward questions from anyone fishing for gossip about his exciting gay sex life. Just people, and dogs, and Dave.
“You’ve grown up so much,” Gabriela said softly, “and it throws me off sometimes. I honestly wasn’t expecting to hear back from you after Christmas—I was thinking of you when I was sending out cards so I figured I might as well reach out. I’ve thought about you a lot, actually.”
Probably because he’d run off like an idiot and cut off all communication. “I’m sorry, I should have—”
“No, I wasn’t trying to guilt you.” She put her hand over his. It was the same thing Aunt Ximena used to do, and the sense memory hit Lito in the gut like a sucker punch. “What I’m saying is, you’re an adult now, and that keeps catching me by surprise. I think it catches you by surprise sometimes too. You’re not the same mouthy teen who ran off to start a new life, and you’re not the same twenty-year-old who presumably had a wonderful time with the big-city scene. Am I right?”
More than right—dead on target was more like it. “…Yes.”
“So now you’re starting a new phase of your adulthood, one you’ll probably stay in for a while, and you get to choose what it will be. Live on the move, don’t try to plan ahead, and take your adventures as they come? Enjoy being young and good-looking in the Miami and spend your days working and your nights out partying? Start looking for someone you want to settle down with?” She got a soft, warm look in her eyes. “Lucas and I opted for starting something together, close enough to see both our families but far enough away we could carve out our own lives. You have the chance to do that too, if you want, but it’s not required. None of it is.” She squeezed his hand one more time, then got back up and went to stir the spaghetti sauce.
* * * *
“Lito!” Rick sounded surprised, but his tone made it clear he was trying to pretend Lito calling him was a totally normal thing. They’d never done more than text before, and that was always in the context of NALSAR group announcements. After a lot of putting it off, though, Lito decided this conversation was worth the actual call. “How’s Miami?” Rick added.
“Hot, mostly.” Suffocating would have been more accurate. From both the humidity and the pace of the city. “Look, I know this is a bit out of the blue, but it’s, um. It’s looking like I may get the option to come back to Black Lake in a few months instead of having to be here on-site.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
There was the sound of a door closing, then the background noise on Rick’s end quieted considerably. “That was surprise,” Rick said. “I didn’t mean ‘oh’ like we wouldn’t welcome you back on the team. It’s been quiet here without you.”
“How is everyone doing?”
“How is Dave doing, you mean?”
Fuck. “Yeah,” Lito admitted. “Before I left, I didn’t mean to… I’ll just say things were awkward.”
“You want the truth?”
“I…yes? I don’t know whether I’m hoping he’s happier than ever or that he’s missing me.”
Rick made a commiserating sound. “The truth is, he hasn’t mentioned you once since you left.”
Fuck. Lito hadn’t realized how much he’d been hoping—
“He also hasn’t gone out to have fun in ages,” Rick continued. “Not to go visit Gus and not even for a beer with me.”
Gus had mentioned it in one of his occasional flirty texts, just in passing: “Dave’s standing me up again this weekend—sure you don’t want to come visit the Music City?” He and Lito exchanged gripes once every couple of days. And, now that Lito thought about it, he hadn’t exactly been painting the town red himself. “Oh,” Lito said.
“He’s taking on extra hours at work to finish projects that don’t have to be done for months. He’s doubled down on recruiting for the team too—without you there, we’re always one sick handler away from not being able to fully cover call-outs. He’s drawn up a whole fundraising campaign to find the team a boat and trailer so we can do water searches again. The dogs are doing better than ever because he’s pushing everyone harder, but to be honest…something has to give. And soon.”
“Fuck.”
“I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.”
The conclusions were obvious. The solution, though… Lito looked down at the paper where he’d sketched out his idea. It could be modified. They had time. “So back to the thing I mentioned earlier—I’m maybe going to be able to come back around mid-May. And I was thinking of something that might be good for the team…”
Chapter 20
Dave hopped out of Gus’s pickup and closed the door behind him with a hollow thud. Gus had been strangely excited the whole drive, but now he was grinning like a loon.
“Are you plotting to blindfold me or something?” Dave asked. “You’ve got m
e worried now.”
“Nope.” Gus swept a deep bow and gestured dramatically toward the park. “This is your big surprise—from here on out is up to you.”
There were a handful of tents up and probably several hundred people milling around the large greenspace. People and dogs. Lots of dogs. Something about that sounded familiar, possibly in a memo from work… The name suddenly popped up in his mind. “Dog Days,” he said aloud. “Mike is on clean-up duty after this finishes up tonight.”
Gus laughed. “I assumed you’d have been all over this, but Rick said you haven’t been paying attention to outreach stuff recently. I guess he was right.” He pointed toward one of the tents on the near side of the field. “Recognize those goofballs?”
Rick cheered at him once he and Gus came within hearing range. Sharon, Scooter, Janet, and Steve whooped and clapped as well. “‘Bout time you idiots got here,” Rick called out. “The fun started an hour ago!”
“You decided to do a booth at a community fair and wanted to surprise me with it?” Not that he wasn’t surprised, but it didn’t seem like the kind of thing Gus would have been so excited about. Or something the rest of the team would have done without him—usually most of the scheduling was Dave’s job. “I should have brought Lumpy and Woozy.”
“Not today,” Gus said. “And your team didn’t just set up a booth at some fair. This whole thing is a fundraiser for NALSAR. Gonna buy you a boat.”
Dave’s brain ground to a halt.
“Well,” Sharon said, “it’s split between raising money for the team and for the Second Chance animal shelter. They’ve got about thirty of their adoptable dogs here today—two found new homes already, or so I’ve been told. Everyone gets to vote for them winning various prizes—scruffiest, biggest, most interesting mixed breed, stuff like that. It’s supposed to raise interest in some of the less cute ones.”