by Mia Terry
“I noticed the car park,” Billy replied. “I can’t get my head around the vehicles in this place. It’s like a quarter of them are fifteen-year-old junkers and half of the others would pay off a considerable part of our Sydney mortgage.”
“Weird huh,” Rhys replied, noticing the others listening in. “And at the end of today, Mum will also do a delivery of vegetables she holds back for the local soup kitchen for the homeless. Byron’s population makes it just a mid-sized coastal town, but it has the most unusual mix of people. New money, old money, backpackers, the locals who were born here, and even people in crisis who see it as a place to start over. In the surf, I kinda like how you can surf next to anyone from a movie star to the local electrician, and mostly what you talk about to all of them is what the waves will likely do in the next week.”
“It is a funny place,” said Luke. “But what I really can’t understand is why there is a thirty-person line for that man’s stall when all he is selling are pumpkins.”
This, Rhys did know the answer to. “They are really good pumpkins. People take their food seriously here. Come on, let’s see how your man is going as a store holder.”
His mum’s usual spot was in the far corner, so they had to pass the equally long lines for mushrooms, cheese, and then the longest line for what were admittedly amazing tomatoes. Walking through the crowd Rhys liked the feeling of Ollie’s hand on his back. While so much of their relationship was undefined, there was something so solid about a man unafraid to touch, a man who was unafraid to ground himself in this simple affection.
When they got to the stall, there were only a few people waiting to be served. That was partly because it looked like his mother had sold out of quite a few of her specialties, and partly because of Jai’s lightning speed of service.
When Rhys remarked on it, Luke replied with “Ex-bartender.” He must have seen the surprise Rhys tried to hide. “Pre-sobriety obviously. Though I bet he was pretty good.”
Looking at Jai with his ready smile, and fast hands, of that Rhys had no doubt.
Finally, Jen spotted them and waved them over for a kiss. “Hey boys,” she said after every one of them had been kissed, ignoring the fact Luke was obviously shy under her focused maternal energy. “Well, we’re killing it today and should be completely sold out in the next half-hour. I should release my captive since he has been working tirelessly since six-fifteen.”
“No fear,” Jai said, barely looking up as he made change for the customer he was dealing with. “I’m in it until the end. How else will I get the satisfaction of seeing the bottom of these boxes when we are completely sold out?”
Ollie asked. “Does being sold out mean your mother won’t have anything to drop in at the soup kitchen?”
Rhys liked the concern in Ollie’s voice and the fact he had picked that up from the conversation Rhys had been having with Billy before. “No,” he answered. “Mum keeps that stuff separate in coolers in the back of her van. That produce is probably as meaningful to her as what she sells at the markets. Part of her philosophy on growing food is that some of it goes to the less fortunate and it doesn’t matter that she could sell it two times over this morning.”
“That’s a good way to live,” Ollie replied. “I have to admit though, I don’t get this whole place.”
Rhys looked at him genuinely curious. “What about it?”
“I don’t know it just seems so inefficient, having to go to these different stalls for different produce rather than just a fruit and vegetable shop or a supermarket.”
Rhys had to laugh. Ollie really was bewildered by the idea. “I get a lot of my fresh produce from mum otherwise I’d take you around myself. The going around the different stalls is part of the attraction. You take your time and talk about the weather with the sellers or how their harvesting is going. And if you’re in a line you talk to the person next to you. Admittedly, the people who come here, especially at this time of the morning, probably aren’t time poor but you have to admit there are worse things you can do with your time.”
“God yeah, you could be stuck in Sydney traffic,” Billy said, with the disgust that only a boy who grew up in the country could have.
Ollie looked at him, and Rhys could see his brain ticking over. Rhys hoped Ollie could see some appeal in the life Rhys had described. If for nothing else, his understanding meant he wouldn’t judge Rhys’s life choices that led him here. Rhys knew that someone with Ollie’s stated ambition probably couldn’t really understand how Rhys ran his life. Rhys’s business was certainly successful enough to provide him with a good living, but he knew it could be more profitable if he didn’t spend one day a week helping his mum, and if he made himself just that bit more accessible to his clients. However, part of the reason Rhys lived here was lifestyle, and with that, he was happy. Maybe he had been a little lonely until this week, but he had thought of himself as happy.
“Okay,” Ollie said. And his smile was sweet enough that for a minute Rhys didn’t mind if he was being patronized or if Ollie really understood. In fact, Ollie’s smile was sweet enough that Rhys leaned over to taste the man’s lips. And even after he broke away, Ollie had leaned over to press another kiss to his cheek. For long seconds they were lost in each other, and it was only a giggle from Kris and the other men’s amused smiles that had them rejoining the flow of the crowd.
It took fifteen minutes for Rhys to make sure each man had a specialty pastry to their taste and a second coffee, and then the men walked, sans Jai, up to Main Beach. Normally Rhys would be in his van and then straight into the surf, so he enjoyed playing tourist with the others.
Kris and Billy were a great fun couple, bantering and working out a complex scoring system for the particularly beautiful men who passed them. And here in Byron, that was a frequent occurrence. Though the frequency of beauty was probably a phenomenon that no one in their little group could pretend even a little annoyance over. Luke’s presence was grounding and his eyes kind, even if he looked a little lost here without his other half.
Finally settling in the sun on the grass looking over Main Beach, Rhys looked at Luke. “Your boyfriend is a very sweet man. I can’t imagine many men who would get up so early on their holiday to spend a morning helping my mother so well at the markets.”
The look of pride Luke gave him was unmistakable as was the possession in his voice. “It’s true, he’s great. No wonder I want to marry that man.”
“What?” Jai’s voice let them all know he’d caught up with them after finishing up at the market. “You want to marry me?”
Luke turned around slowly, looking more unsure than Rhys had ever seen him.
“How many times have I told you I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it?” Luke asked, passionately. “How many times have I told you I want to spend the rest of my life with you?”
“You’ve just never said the word marriage.” Jai walked up to Luke, and the look on his face was so loving Rhys almost looked away. Almost, but not quite. The gentle hand Jai put on Luke’s cheek was too sweet to not watch. This was a moment of love in action.
“To be fair, marriage wasn’t a legal reality until just over a year ago. I’m slow, you know that. I’ve been sure. Maybe I just needed to know you were sure,” Luke replied.
“Fuck you,” said Jai, but despite his words, his tone was still gentle. “How many times have I told you I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it? How many times have I told you I want to spend the rest of my life with you?”
When Luke started scrabbling in his pocket for his wallet, Rhys got an inkling of what was going to happen. And Ollie’s hand in the middle of his back made it even harder for him to breathe. That they were here to witness this, was painfully special. Having seen these two men together for the last week, their love and compatibility had been obvious. Rhys hadn’t known them long, but to get to see them take the next step of their life together was a privilege.
Luke finally extracted what he needed from his w
allet. The big man then knelt on the ground, right there on the grass. A choked sob from next to Ollie, had Ollie reaching out for Kris’s hand. If Kris was Ollie’s best friend, Jai was Kris’s brother. And in the split second that Rhys could bear to look away from the scene in front of them, he could see Kris’s eyes overflow with tears of joy.
“Jai Latimore you changed my life and made me happier than I ever truly believed was possible. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Jai blurted out, almost before Luke had finished. “So many yeses.”
As soon as the gleaming gold band was pushed onto Jai’s finger, Luke was back on his feet with his man in his arms and passionately kissing his new fiancé. Kris, Ollie, and Billy were bellowing beside him. Joining that symphony of excitement; applause from all around them reminded Rhys of exactly where they were. They were in the middle of a park, midmorning, not the most commonplace for a proposal. But the applause and quite a few shouted congratulations from around them were sustained and genuine. The parents gathered by the play park were clapping, as was the large group of German girls who were sunbathing about ten meters away. They got a few friendly whoops from the gathering of thirty-something’s and more high-pitched, excited screams from the group of teens who Rhys was pretty sure were supposed to be at school. Even a few of the older grizzly surfers who were waiting their turn for the beach shower shouted out words of congratulations.
Luke looked around as if dazed, and blushed, but the smile on his face got even wider. Jai just wrapped his legs around his man and waved back at the teens who were just close enough for Rhys to hear their excited discussion of how hot the two men were. It was a nice reminder of how much the world had changed. Apart from marriage actually only being legally open to two men in Australia for such a short time, Rhys just couldn’t have imagined such overwhelming support for such a scene even five years earlier. Homophobia in this country was certainly not dead, but the voices expressing it were a hell of a lot quieter, and most of the country was ready to celebrate love no matter what gender it was expressed for.
“A ring. How long have you had a ring for me?” Jai’s voice broke into Rhys’s musings. He was amused to hear along with the happiness there was shock in Jai’s voice. This proposal had been a genuine surprise.
“A while,” Luke smiled wider than Rhys had believed he knew how. “Not in Dungoon obviously, otherwise you would have known about my plans within hours of me buying it. I had to wait until I was in Sydney for training.”
“That was months ago,” Jai said, both incredulous and overjoyed.
“And I’ve wanted this since the day I walked into the Dungoon Tavern holding your hand. It just took a lot longer to feel like I might deserve this. And then I realized that you loving me made me the luckiest guy in the world already so I figured I may as well push my luck.”
“And my overwhelming happiness and the house we’re buying together couldn’t convince you to do it sooner,” Jai’s words might have sounded chiding, but the fact that every second word was punctuated with a kiss showed how nothing in this day had disappointed him in the slightest.
Unable to wait any longer, Ollie, Kris and Billy all crowded in with their congratulations.
Rhys hung back a little, now slightly awkward about being there. He wasn’t an intimate friend in the same way as the others. As if seeing an opening, an excited mother ran over to Rhys and offered the footage of the proposal she had filmed on her phone.
“I’d have loved being able to remember my proposal like that. You’re so excited, the details slip by you,” she said, clearly thrilled by the moment.
“Thanks,” Rhys said, as he tapped his email into her phone. “I’m sure they’ll love it. It was a beautiful moment wasn’t it?”
“So gorgeous.” The young mother agreed before heading back to her child on the monkey bars.
When Rhys looked back to the others, they were laughing.
“Hey Luke,” said Ollie, as he reached out and pulled Rhys to him. “You got the proposal’s official videographer for free”.
Suddenly Rhys no longer felt awkward and separate from the others. He leaned over to kiss both Luke and Jai and share in their moment.
“The most discreet man we know sure knows how to stage a scene.” Kris laughed. “Though he is also one of the most in-love men we know, so maybe I’m not surprised.”
“Thanks, mate,” said Luke. He had earlier kissed Kris on the cheek, but now, still holding Jai against his body, extended his hand to Kris for a handshake. There was something in the moment's solemnity—as if this best friend was giving his permission to the newly minted engagement—that deeply touched Rhys. That these men had created a true family among their relationships, and the depth of their friendships, made his eyes well up.
“Tonight, we’ll have to have an amazing dinner to celebrate,” Ollie chimed in. “I’m organizing and it’s my treat.”
Luke and Jai accepted, looking euphorically dazed enough that they probably would have agreed to anything. The rest of the group smiled widely around them.
“Well we better give these two some time alone to celebrate,” said Kris. “And considering what a scene we’ve already caused here this morning, we better do it now.”
With that, they all trooped happily to the cars, laughing loudly especially at how Luke seemed unable to let Jai out of his arms, so he ended up half carrying his fiancé to the car. Giving the engaged couple space, Rhys took Kris and Billy, and Ollie in his car. They all seemed to assume he would be there with them for the afternoon and evening celebration, and Rhys was certainly selfish enough not to want to sacrifice any time with Ollie so he didn’t argue.
Rhys was interested in eavesdropping on Billy’s conversation with Kris in the back of the car. Hey, he reassured his slightly guilty conscience; he was driving as well as listening.
“You okay, babe?” Billy asked Kris.
“Seriously happy darling,” Kris replied. “There might have been a time when I would have selfishly mourned that this really meant Jai wasn’t coming back to the city, but I came to terms with that a long time ago, and now I’m just overjoyed that they will be so happy.”
“I’m glad,” Billy said, and Rhys could see him kissing his partner’s cheek in the rear vision mirror.
“Yeah, well, it was you who convinced me of that,” Kris said.
“I’m sure we haven’t talked about it,” Billy protested.
“Still it was you,” Kris confirmed. “When we fell in love, suddenly I understood that Jai wasn’t coming back. Mainly because for the first time I knew real love was worth giving up everything else for, and with love you could be happy anywhere. So, after that, I’ve only ever hoped Jai really would get the chance to spend the rest of his life with Luke, even if it is in bloody Dungoon.”
“And that’s why I love you too.” Billy murmured the last words, but in the close confines of the car, it was impossible not to hear them.
Rhys’s chest burned with an emotion he wasn’t ready to name. He also didn’t dare to look at Ollie sitting next to him, who was listening to the same thing. Bloody Ollie who was leaving in four days and who was seriously considering going to the fucking Gulf after that. Rhys wanted more time, more time to show Ollie his world, maybe more time to convince Ollie that Byron might be somewhere worth staying. Rhys knew it was too soon for him to be even thinking that way, but watching these men so in love settled a certainty he’d been feeling inside. Ollie would be worth taking a risk on if only the man didn’t seem to be so risk averse.
Chapter 15
Ollie got off the phone to the restaurant, happy with the arrangements he’d made for tonight. It was amazing how easily plans could come together when money was genuinely no object. He so wanted it to be special for his friends. He felt honored he’d been there today and honored that he got to be the one to plan the celebration. Ollie had always liked Jai and Luke so much, since he’d first met them when they made their infrequent trips to the city, and their stea
dy love had along the way become his relationship goals.
Thinking about relationship goals today though made him feel like he couldn’t quite breathe. He’d left a beautifully rumpled Rhys in bed after a sweet rubbing-off session. They’d fallen into bed together the moment they’d said good-bye to the others. The reason they’d frotted happily was they’d been unable to stop kissing long enough for any other prep. Afterward, the fact he’d desperately wanted to stay there with Rhys sleeping wrapped trustingly around his body, had been enough to make him panic and suddenly feel the need to organize tonight’s dinner. A continuing sense of uneasiness had him heading out towards the pool he shared with the other men rather than slipping back into bed with a sleeping Rhys.
When he went outside, Speedo-clad Billy was lying on a lounge, soaking up the sun. Glad of a distraction, Ollie took the next lounge with a friendly “hello.” Because of Ollie’s close friendship with Kris, they’d spent a lot of time together over the last year, though rarely had they spent much time alone. Ollie liked Billy. He found him a relaxing presence, despite the differences in their backgrounds. As happiness and Kris’s absolute devotion had imprinted themselves onto Billy, the man now glowed with contentment. Ollie knew how hard-won that contentment had been for the man and had never stopped admiring the way he had seemingly shed so many of the difficulties of his past.
“That was something this morning,” said Billy, smiling as he pulled off his headphones.
“I know,” Ollie said, still feeling a little emotional at the memory. “I’ve been to a few same-sex weddings in the past year and a few commitment ceremonies before that, but this is the first proposal I’ve been there for and it was pretty damn amazing.”
“Hey, I knew of Luke back when I thought he was a straight cop and then he and Jai were the first gay couple I ever saw holding hands in Dungoon.” Billy shook his head in amazement. “I’m still amazed I get to be friends with these men, let alone be there when Luke proposed to Jai.”