Okay, okay wait,” said Pete, “let me get this straight.”

Lucas gathered up the dice and let them rattle down into the cup. “No. There’s nothing to get straight.”

“You, a Phelps—”

“Seriously, I’m not interested in discussing it.” He shook the dice and let them fall onto the table.

“—are joining up with Ash, the most hated Cray of them all—”

Lucas picked up the dice that were showing three and four, and set them next to the three and four he’d rolled earlier. Try for a full house?

“—your mortal enemy—”

“Can I take my turn, Pete?”

He rolled again. A two. He groaned. He wrote down 8 on the Yahtzee pad in the spot for fours.

“If you guys are done for a second, it’s my turn,” said Simon, reaching for the dice.

“It’s quite a turn of events,” said Pete. “Crays and Phelps on the same side? Being bosom buddies?”

Rex snickered at bosom.

While Simon rolled, Lucas turned to Pete. “Do I need to throw you off the property?”

“You have to admit it’s a little funny,” said Rex. “Not two days ago you were ready to call down curses on the Crays for putting little survey flags on your land.”

“If you guys don’t change the subject now, I’m canceling game night.”

“Quick, think of something,” said Pete, lifting his slice of pizza. “Game night is the only time I get any sustenance anymore!”

“Here’s a topic,” said Rex. “I miss Karl.”

“It’s a strange new world,” said Simon, writing down his score and passing the dice to Pete. “I wonder if he’ll stop showing up.”

“He’s on his damn honeymoon,” said Lucas. “You can’t expect him to ditch his new husband and come back here for a game of Yahtzee.”

“Why not?” asked Pete, rolling the dice. “We’re well on our way to having Simon back full-time, now that Evan is always at work. Oh, wait, since Evan is a Cray, is this still forbidden territory? Or is it only when we talk about your new boyfriend Ash—”

“I swear to god, Pete!”

Pete passed the dice to Rex. “I’m glad we’re not playing pool. You might’ve brained me with the cue.”

“It doesn’t even matter,” said Lucas. “I did what Ash asked me to do. Looked through all my dad’s stuff. What did I discover? That my dad is a disorganized hoarder of old papers. I think he’s got every letter he ever received, except not in any order, just tucked away inside books and drawers and boxes.”

That perked Simon up. “Do you need help organizing it?”

Lucas shook his head. “Best to let it all be. There’s nothing there that can help me. I don’t know what to do, man. I can’t give up, but it’s not my land, not legally. If my dad doesn’t know who’s buying, and Ash’s dad isn’t saying…”

Pete sighed. “I wish everything would stop feeling like the end of an era. First we lose Simon to a Cray. Then we lose Karl to Burns. Now Lucas is losing the land. What next?”

The unexpected emotion in Pete’s voice made Lucas pause. It was easy to forget that beneath the constant jokes, Pete was a sensitive person. He knew what this all meant to Lucas.

“Things change,” said Rex. “Nobody ever promised us we’d all be teenagers down at the quarry forever. You saw how happy Karl was at the wedding. Even Simon is slightly less mopey these days. Love is a good change.”

Pete raised an eyebrow. “All right, Mr. Greeting Card. That’s one way to look at it.”

“What’s the other way?”

Pete looked around, and leaned over the table, whispering conspiratorially: “Love is like a murderer in a mystery, and it’s taking us all down, one by one. The only question is…who’s next?”

Simon rolled his eyes, Rex laughed, and Lucas got up to grab another beer.

“Love? You can have it,” he said, reaching into the mini-fridge.

“Oh, here we go again,” said Pete, “Lucas is about to make a noble speech about loneliness.”

“No speech,” said Lucas. His beer bottle hissed as he popped the top. “Simple facts. Some of us were meant to stay single.”

“You don’t believe that,” said Rex.

“It has been ages since I’ve had a boyfriend,” said Lucas.

“Geologic ages,” added Pete.

“But I’m surviving just fine. Solitude is fine. Hell, it’s not even solitude, really, since I can’t seem to pry you guys out of my house.”

Among the many things he couldn’t say to them:

I’m scared of the day you all find boyfriends or husbands, and move on.

I’m scared I might never find anybody of my own.

I’m scared I might have missed my chance.

Maybe it had been stupid to think of himself as a farmer. Maybe he should’ve tried to emulate his dad, live off investments, be a gentleman, in the old-fashioned sense of the world. A man of leisure.

What did he have planned for his life, really? Just working the crops, all alone? How could you ask another man to join you in that? Nobody wanted to farm. It was hard enough finding people to hire to work here; why would anyone join him for something as unprofitable as love?

Pete, with his stupid jokes, had proved the point. The only people in Lucas’ life were friends…and enemies. He and Ash might be on the same side temporarily, but eventually something was going to happen, to put them at odds again. It was natural, unchanging as the seasons. It had nothing to do with the feud, nothing to do with Crays versus Phelps. He just couldn’t stand Ash being better than him at something, and eventually that would come through. Or maybe Ash would revert to his true self, and try to cheat and steal, and then they’d fight, and…

He realized everyone was looking at him. “What?”

“Are you going to come back to the game, or are you going to stand there for another hour or two?” asked Pete.

“Come on,” said Rex. “He’s deep in thought. That’s okay. You should try it, Pete.”

“Are you okay?” asked Simon. “I know this land thing has been a big blow to you. Pete, no jokes about big blow.”

“Dude, it’s stupid, I don’t want to talk about it,” said Lucas, settling back into his seat at the table. “Let’s play.”

But the guys were looking at each other, then back at him.

“What? You really want to hear this? Want me to bare my soul, humiliate myself in front of everybody?”

Pete started to say something but Rex touched his arm to quiet him.

“Go ahead,” said Rex. “It’s not humiliating, if it’s with friends.”

“You’re going to think I’m some mopey asshole, though. You know me. I’m not sentimental or anything. But…what if I am destined to be alone? I think about it a lot lately.”

“You’re not destined to be alone,” said Rex. “Come on. Guys like you. You’re a big, muscular farm-boy, you’re a natural leader. People look up to you.”

“Around here?” said Lucas. “No. Around here they only look up to the Crays.”

Pete laughed. “Dude, are you serious? Have you spoken to a human being in this town? Everybody hates the Crays. Nobody likes the iron grip they’ve got on everything. You, on the other hand…you’ve got a bit of a reputation.”

“Christ, Pete, if this is another one of your jokes—”

“No! I’m being absolutely serious.” Pete looked around at the other guys. “Come on, support me here. You know what I’m talking about.”

“Well I don’t,” said Lucas.

Rex sighed. “Guys like you, Lucas. We get asked about you all the time. Is he single, is he seeing anybody, what’s he like?”

“I don’t see the appeal personally,” said Pete, “but yeah. You’ve been deposited in more than one guy’s spank bank.”

“Gross!” said Simon.

Lucas chuckled, but he wished that he’d never brought it up. Yeah, he knew guys around town liked him. Maybe they liked his looks, or maybe they thought he had money, who knows. But things always played out the same way: No spark. No fire.

“On that disturbing note,” said Rex, “I think it’s my turn with the dice. I’ve still got to get a small straight.”

Pete grinned. “That’s what he said.”

“You can’t just say that after every sentence, and hope there’s a double entendre involved,” said Rex.

Tomorrow, things would be different. Lucas would go to Ash, and confess he had nothing. Maybe by then, Lucas could shake all the thoughts rattling around in his mind. Where had they even come from? Why was he thinking about loneliness now, instead of how to save his land?

Leave it to the guys to mess with his head.

“Hey, I got a Yahtzee!” said Rex, looking down at the sixes on the table.

“At least somebody’s getting lucky,” said Pete, studiously avoiding Lucas’ gaze.