It was the first hot Sunday afternoon of the spring, the day after seeing the Brewers win with Lowell at my side. The temperature was pushing ninety degrees which was very warm for Milwaukee in late May. Ian and Blake decided to have a backyard barbecue at the last minute. Just after noon, I received a text message from Blake. It read:

I thought about what I had planned for the day and stared out my French doors at the roof that still lay half collapsed on the brick patio. I was trying to convince myself that I had the talent to begin reconstructing it on my own. Sunday was the day I picked out of the schedule to begin disposing of the debris. It looked like a huge job. The invitation was a handy way of delaying the start of my efforts.

I stared out at the mangled wood and metal, and then replied to Blake’s message:

He responded:

Reggie and Connor were invited as well. When I climbed the steps to the wood deck, I asked, “Is this it? Just the five of us?”

Reggie smiled and handed me a beer. I passed a classic Wisconsin bowl of cranberry fluff to Ian and took the beer from Reggie. He said, “Yup, just the five of us. If somebody gets their act together, maybe in the future it will be six.” Reggie winked at me.

I sighed and found a free Adirondack chair with cushions and seated myself next to Connor. He was already responding to the heat and had peeled off his shirt showing us all a buff, chiseled body. Reggie was a lucky guy.

Blake appeared at the door to the kitchen. He was carrying a tray laden with bacon-wrapped cheese curds and little ramekins filled with ranch sauce. He asked, “Appetizer anyone?”

Connor asked, “You made those yourself, Blake?”

Blake rolled his eyes. “I’m doing well when I’m successful at putting together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. These are an Ian concoction.”

Connor reached for the tray, grabbed a toothpick and dunked the morsel into the sauce. He deftly slipped the cheese curd from the toothpick with his teeth, chewed, and then smiled. He said, “Send our compliments to the chef.”

As Blake disappeared back into the kitchen, I said, “I’m glad we don’t have to be worried about eating healthy.”

Reggie guffawed and then he patted his belly. He was the only one of the five of us with a slightly rounded mound there. He said, “It’s Sunday afternoon. I’ll start to burn it off tomorrow.”

Reggie asked, “So, Sven, is there something there with Lowell that we don’t know? It might not be any of my business, but it seemed like the two of you knew each other.”

I said, “I don’t have anything to hide.”

Then we heard Ian’s voice. His face was pressed close to the screened kitchen window. He said, “Don’t start yet. I want to hear this story, too.”

I said, “I didn’t know I was the target of a news investigation.”

Reggie reached a hand out to my thigh and said, “No, it’s nothing like that, but we need to know all of the latest juicy stories. It’s what we do.”

Connor added, “And Lowell’s kind of a unique guy. I know a lot less about him than these guys, but I could even tell he’s a little outside of…” Connor searched for the word and then said, “The mainstream.”

Ian and Blake both appeared at the door carrying glasses of iced tea. They pulled up two lawn chairs and sat down. Ian said, “You can start now. How do you know Lowell?”

I said, “Well, at first I wasn’t quite sure how I knew him. You know how you see somebody and you both know that you’ve met somewhere before, but neither of you can match the face to a name or remember exactly where you met?”

Connor said, “Oh man, yeah, I know that feeling. About two years ago, I saw this guy in a bowling alley in Milwaukee. He looked so damn familiar, but I really couldn’t figure out if he was from my hometown, somebody from college, or somebody who worked with me on a show.”

I asked, “What did you do?”

“Well, I lucked out. He walked up to me, and he knew my name, and introduced himself. Then I knew he was in my high school class. It was just so weird to randomly run into some guy I grew up with here in Milwaukee out bowling.”

“Where did you grow up?” asked Blake. “I don’t think I know.”

Connor said, “Omaha.”

Reggie added helpfully, “He’s a cornhusker.”

Ian asked, “So, is Lowell a high school friend, Sven?”

I said, “No, college.”

Reggie scrunched up his face. “A college buddy and you didn’t remember him? College wasn’t that long ago.”

I winced slightly and then said, “Not really a buddy. We dated, just once, and he didn’t remember me either.”

Connor chuckled saying, “It must have been a really good date then.”

I cast a withering glance at Connor remembering Lowell’s text message. I didn’t ask him about it at the baseball game, but it was still on my mind. Clearly, there was something memorable from it for him. I responded to Connor saying, “It was better then you’re thinking it was.”

He held up his hands and said, “Oh, it’s okay. I wasn’t meaning anything by it.”

I said “Don’t worry, and besides, Lowell is a little…um…different.”

They all laughed softly. Ian said, “I guess we shouldn’t be like that, but yeah he is. Lowell marches to his own drummer. He and Antonio make a perfect pair as friends. There’s nobody else on the team quite like them.”

Blake spoke up and said, “I do want to say something on his behalf. Lowell has guts. Some of the stories that he tells…”

I opened my eyes wider and turned to Blake, “What do you mean? Stories?”

Blake said, “Oh, just if it’s anything that’s a little bit scary, I think Lowell has done it. He’s gone zip-lining, bungee jumping. He even said he took a buddy with him to Mexico for cliff diving the year after his college graduation. All of those take guts. I have to admire that.”

I tried to imagine Lowell doing those things, and I decided he was just impulsive enough to try. Ian interrupted my thoughts by asking, “Do you still like him, Sven? If you do, I want to apologize. We’re not being very nice about Lowell, and that’s probably not fair.”

Connor frowned and sipped at his beer.

I said, “I don’t really know for sure. Can I be honest with you guys?”

Ian looked around the small circle. “If you there’s a reason that you can’t be, I’m personally sending the offender home.”

Blake piped up and said, “Unless it’s me. This is where I live.”

Ian gave him a stern glance and said, “In your case, we send you to your room.”

Blake laughed hard. He said, “Don’t worry. I’m the nice guy of the group.”

“What do you like about him?” asked Ian. “I know I’m being nosy as hell, so just tell me to shut up if you want to, but maybe we can help a little.”

I said, “He’s easy to hang out with, and he seems like he’s the same guy I dated back then, if you know what I mean by that. It was almost ten years ago, and for a guy to stay pretty much the same, there’s something about that I like.”

Reggie hummed and sang softly, “Love, soft as an easy chair…”

“Oh puh-leeze,” said Connor.

“Maybe you should ask him out,” suggested Ian.

I said, “We went to a Brewers game last night.”

Blake piped up saying, “Oh wow, a date already, and they got to see all those strikeouts.” He turned to Ian and asked, “Why don’t you ever take me to a baseball game?”

“Who’s the baseball expert in this couple?” asked Ian.

I continued, “With three guys from his work offices and dinner before at a fast food place.”

“Oh…ouch,” whispered Connor under his breath.

“Did you have fun anyway?” asked Ian.

I blushed slightly. “This might be a little embarrassing to admit, but I did my best to rub shoulders with him and lean in close every time we stood to cheer for something.”

“Any response from him? Did he do the same?” asked Ian.

I said, “He didn’t back away.”

Blake interrupted and said, “I have an idea.”

We all turned to face him. I said, “I’m not breaking a leg to attract him like you did when you met Ian.”

“I did that for Ian? I don’t think that was for Ian,” said Blake. “There are limits.”

I chuckled and said, “I’m just joking, but do you have an idea? I thought about asking him out on a real date, but I wasn’t sure that seemed right after we just went to the game as friends hanging out.”

Blake said, “Yeah. How’s the stuff coming along with your house, Sven? I know you said you were having some frustration with the contractor guy. Are there things that you could do with the help of one other person?”

I nodded my head yes and said, “There is a ton of work that two guys could get done together. There is the replacement of the bannister on the staircase, some fairly simple plumbing work in the kitchen, and hanging the new mirror I bought to replace the cracked one in the bathroom.”

“There you go.” Blake leaned back in his chair and said, “My work is done.”

---

I was eager to see Lowell again at the next softball practice. I couldn’t deny any longer that I was still interested in him. At the baseball game, he was a perfect gentleman to me, and we kept exchanging what others would call stolen glances. I looked at those big biceps and wondered what they would feel like wrapped around me.

When he left to get us each burgers, I couldn’t wait for him to come back and sit down beside me. Like I told the other guys, when we stood up to cheer extra-base hits by the Brewers, I leaned against Lowell while we cheered. Our shoulders touched. Lowell’s body was thick and sturdy. I liked that.

He was already at practice when I arrived. I wasn’t surprised to find him in the outfield tossing a ball back and forth with Antonio. I tried to not laugh too hard when he turned to look at me, and Antonio didn’t notice that he’d turned away. The softball bounced off Lowell’s shoulder, and then I heard a loud shriek of an “Ooops!” from Antonio.

After a withering glance at Antonio, Lowell gestured for me to join them. I jogged directly up to him and held up a hand to try and ward off any other errant throws from Antonio.

Lowell looked at me with a questioning gaze. “What’s up, Sven?” he asked.

I smiled and bounced back and forth from one foot to the other. I said, “Oh, nothing is wrong at all.” I asked, “Are you doing anything Friday night?”

I could see his body tense slightly, and he looked about as nervous as I felt. In a soft voice, he said, “I don’t think I have anything going on. Did you have something in mind?”

That’s when I suddenly realized I was about to invite him to my house. There was a lot more at my house other than the projects that needed completing. There was a couch and a bedroom and a bed. I instantly wondered if Blake had an ulterior motive in mind when he suggested teaming up on fix-it projects. Unfortunately, I was already stuck careening down the path I chose.

Cursing Blake in the back of my mind, I said, “I was wondering if you might be willing to come over and help me with a few projects on the house.”

Lowell’s eyes widened. He asked, “At your house?”

I scrunched up my face in confusion. That seemed like an odd question, but he was probably as flummoxed as me. I said, “Yeah, my house. I’ll buy you a beer.” I paused and then added, “Or even three.”

Lowell grinned. He said, “Yeah, I’d love to come over. I’m not the most skilled handyman in the world, but I’ll do what I can. Just tell me what time.”