How do I look?” said Ash, emerging from the bedroom.

“Oh. My. God.” Lucas burst out laughing. “Seriously?”

Ash looked down at the denim overalls he had put on. They were sized for Lucas, so they were a little big on him. “I’m telling you, I’ve got to start leaving some of my clothes over here, so I don’t have to dig through your closet for something to wear. But at least this will be good for farming.”

“Dude, we’re not going farming, we’re just walking around the farm. But you look fine. It’s just a little unexpected.”

“I thought a straw hat might complete the look.”

“Indeed it would.”

“Can we look at the pear trees? Have they grown any?”

“We only planted them a few days ago,” said Lucas. “But sure, we can go look at them.”

They took the truck out to a field that hadn’t been used for anything in years. It had good morning sun exposure, which would be important for the little pear trees they had planted. If he’d had his way, Lucas would’ve planted them a few months back, but life had gotten in the way. A spring planting would have to do.

Ash had been surprisingly helpful. Lucas wouldn’t have expected the president of a company to have such skill with a shovel and hoe. (”It’s not rocket science,” Ash had told him that day. “No, it’s more mysterious and complex than that. Trust me, you’ll see.”)

The sun had already dried all the dew off the leaves.

“How soon will they have pears?” Ash asked, looking down at the little plants. “They’re so tiny.”

“Oh, it’ll be a few years. That’s the thing about trees, they’re an investment in the future. They’re counting on you to be around to take care of them for years to come.”

That made Ash smile and tilt his head to the side; he looked down at the tiny tree he’d planted as though it were a puppy. “A commitment. I like that.”

“Yeah, you do?”

Ash leaned against him. “I’m a businessman, Lucas. You know that. And there are two kinds of businessmen in the world. The kind that sweeps in to make easy money, never looking beyond the next quarter, and the kind that's willing to go slowly, growing his business, creating something that will outlast him for decades. Guess which kind I am.”

Lucas slid his arm around Ash’s waist. “I never would’ve guessed.”

They might have stood there smiling at each other for hours, giving each other small kisses in front of the plants, but Lucas’ phone buzzed in his pocket.

“Oh man,” he said, looking down at the text on the screen. “Karl and Burns are finally back from their honeymoon. Simon’s throwing them a party. We are going to have so much explaining to do.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “More explaining. I’m still not over explaining it to my board of directors. And Callum. And my dad. And your dad.”

“That was terrible.” Lucas wasn’t sure which part of that conversation had been worse: breaking the news to his dad that Lucas and Ash were together, or letting him know that the land deal was off.

“The look on my dad’s face was priceless, though,” said Ash. “When he realized he was going to stay in jail for a long, long time…I think he finally understood, after all this time, how his actions had affected all of us. At least, I hope so. Do you think people learn from their mistakes?”

“Of course they do,” said Lucas. “Look at Ricky. Once he realized we were his key to survival, he got friendly really fast. So see, I was wrong. People do change.”

Ash nodded. “I was wrong too. People are forgivable. At least, we turned out to be. The jury is still out on my dad. Figuratively.”

After checking the pears, they began to walk along the farm. Ash watched Lucas carefully. He loved the way Lucas’ face would light up with ideas, as he looked around the land. The intelligence, the forethought, he could practically hear Lucas thinking of what to do with that field or this pond.

“What about goats?” asked Ash. “Goats are cute.”

“No, god no. Goats are unruly as hell, and they’re always escaping.”

“But cows are so big.”

“We have plenty of time to decide what animals we’d like to raise,” said Lucas.

“So…about that,” began Ash, feeling a little nervous.

“About what? Animals?”

“No, time. I want to ask you something about time.”

“Well, we should probably leave here in about half an hour—”

“Dude, can I talk?”

Lucas heard the strained, frightened tone in Ash’s voice—a sound he wasn’t used to hearing from his boyfriend. Ash’s face was absolutely serious.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Lucas…call me old-fashioned, but I’m a lot like those pear trees. I need a commitment.”

Lucas suddenly smiled. “Say…”

Ash couldn’t help it; even though he was afraid, he smiled back. He reached into the front pocket of the overalls and pulled out a small box.

“Dude, you’re kidding me,” said Lucas.

“Ask around, and you’ll find I never kid. Lucas, I can’t believe we were so foolish not to stay together when we were young. But maybe that made sense. We had to grow up a little to realize that rivalry is a dead end. But I wasn’t ready to grow up until I met you.”

“Yeah, the experience we’ve been through has aged me about ten years.”

Ash laughed. “You convinced me that not only can people change, but they can flourish, if they just learn to let their guards down. I was so scared of the way I felt around you. All my logic, all the numbers and figures went out the window when I was around you. But I’ve come to cherish that feeling, that freedom.”

He popped open the box. Inside was a simple ring with a small stone. Not a jewel, an actual stone.

“This is a little chip of the granite from the quarry. It’s not pretty…but we both know how much meaning it has for us,” said Ash.

Lucas blinked. “It’s beautiful, man. You’re beautiful. I thought we were just stuck in the past, you know? Doomed to repeat history, over and over. But you showed me how to escape that. I feel so new around you, and it’s a little crazy, like I don’t know what I’m doing…but I like it. I like how new everything feels, like there’s so much to learn.”

Ash was so close to him. “So how about it, you big farm boy? Will you marry me?”

“The guys are going to freak out.”

“Can you imagine what Callum’s going to say? He’ll probably just burst into flames on the spot. But you didn’t answer me yet.”

“Of course I’ll marry you!”

The brim of Ash’s straw hat mashed Lucas in the forehead when he went in for the kiss, but Lucas grabbed the hat and slung it away. He pulled Ash into his arms and kissed him. All around them, the gentle spring winds teased the long grasses of the meadows. The world hummed with life around them, and they themselves had never felt so alive as they did at this moment. So alive and so new, like they were starting a whole new story, a new world, a place all their own.