Before I crawled out of bed the next morning, I had a text message from Sophie.

I tried to think of something short to say that would satisfy her curiosity. I had a busy morning planned, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time giving details about the night before. In fact, I didn’t want to share much of anything that James and I did with Sophie. I finally typed:

It was perfect for Sophie. Her response made me smile.

I had an hour of time available in my studio at the college before teaching my first class of the day. Fortunately, I had the foresight to complete my lecture plans before dinner with Sophie and Jerry. I nearly pushed them aside to wait until after the meal was over. If I’d done that, I would have rushed through my morning. Instead, I knew what I wanted to do with my hour when I arrived at the studio.

I pulled out a folio from my sketching days back in Amsterdam. It held images of hockey players, and two sketches of James in particular. The images of James showed him speed skating instead of playing hockey. I took out my paints and began turning one sketch into a proper portrait. He told me that he was trying speed skating, so the portrait was more accurate than I expected when I created it.

I still had a lot of work left to do when the hour was over, but the icy blues and etched lines indicating speed were beginning to fill the canvas. I appeared in the classroom with a smile on my face ready to face a busy day.

By the time my workday ended, I was eager to return home. I had a brief text conversation with James during lunch hour and arranged to meet him online at 7:00 p.m. Communication would be significantly less complicated with us living in the same time zone. I tried to concentrate on classes and meetings with students, but it was difficult. I found my attention drifting off to memories of the night before and speculation about the next time I would see James in person.

As soon as the clock reached 5:00 p.m., my phone rang. This time it was Sophie. She said, “Tell me more now. I have a casserole in the oven, and I know your work day just ended.”

“And my older sister is bossy.”

Sophie laughed. “I think you’re stuck with that. I’ve been that way since day one.”

I said, “I don’t have a lot to tell. It went great. James hasn’t changed much. He’s home for the summer, and he will be going back to college for his senior year in the fall.”

“The important question is when you will see him next.”

“I’m talking to him tonight, and I think we’re going to discuss that.” I said, “I hope he can come here before he goes back to school. If not, I’m thinking about ways that I can travel to Minnesota. It would be good to see more of the United States while I’m here.”

Sophie said, “I think the two of you should go to California together. Take a trip. You will figure out whether or not you are the perfect match.”

I paused before I responded to Sophie. She had a good idea. I said, “I can’t afford it right now, but maybe during James’ Christmas break. It’s something worth discussing.”

Sophie said, “I’m full of great ideas sometimes. Jerry will be home soon, and he’ll be grumbling about dinner. He had a rough day at work. My casserole will soothe the savage beast.”

I smiled. Sophie and Jerry knew exactly what to do for each other to deal with any negative situation. I hoped one day to have a partner like that. Maybe James was the one. I needed a lot more information to know for sure. I looked forward to finding out.

At 7:00 p.m. on the dot, the video chat on my computer rang. It was James, and he was smiling. Before I could say hello, he said, “I’ve got a plan for coming to Chicago. Can you put me up? I can spring for the ticket to get there, but I can’t afford a hotel.”

I asked, “Do you think I would let you stay anywhere else?”

James shrugged. “Some people are kind of funny about that. My mom will think I should stay at a hotel. I’ll figure out a way to both avoid lying and avoid telling her any details. As long as she can call me on the phone, she’ll be satisfied.”

“You’re a good son, James.”

He nodded. “I try to be one of the good guys. I’m sorry I screwed up so badly with you last winter.”

I shook my head. “Let’s not talk about that. When do you think you can be here? When do your classes start? We’ve already started here.”

“I was thinking about traveling down there during the week before Labor Day. That’s next week. Then I need to get back here by Sunday. We start classes on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.”

I said, “I do need to go to work and teach classes, but I think you can figure out something to do during the day. You’ve been to Chicago before.”

“I can do that. Oh, Lucas, I’m so happy. The only hard thing is I know I won’t want to leave. I love Chicago, and, well, there’s you.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling when I talked to James. “We’ll have a brilliant time, and I promise not to keep you in the apartment the whole time.”

He smirked and said, “I thought you might lock me in the bedroom the whole time.”

“Would that be a bad thing?”

We continued our conversation for another hour, and then it came to a close when we both leaned forward and kissed the screen. James said, “Next week it’s in person.”

I added, “With tongue.”

James yelped, “Damn, that made my cock jump.”