Alec stared down the staircase after Jensen left. He was in shock. He felt invisible. He was naked, and Jensen acted like Alec wasn’t there. It took several minutes for Alec to realize that he was buck naked as he stood at the top of the stairs. He told himself to hold it together. The moment wasn’t about him. It was about someone hurt in an accident. Alec had plenty of experience with how freak situations could fuck up one’s behavior.

Less than fifteen minutes earlier, Alec woke to the sound of the cell phone, and, despite the annoyance of waking up to a call, he smiled when he opened his eyes and saw Jensen’s long, slender body in his bed.

The night before was amazing. Alec had a vague recollection of his nightmare. It was about Satch and the lighting disaster. The last time he had one of those was at least six months ago. He wasn’t surprised that it came back. He was on the verge of climbing back into the theater rafters, and he was still smarting from Coral’s death. Once the intensely positive emotion of sleeping with Jensen joined the mix, something had to give.

Jensen. He had a friend in trouble. That was obvious. He also woke up in another man’s bed. Alec wasn’t sure if that fact registered with Jensen once the outside world reared its ugly head.

Alec returned to the bedroom and pulled a pair of flannel boxers out of a dresser drawer. He tugged them on and padded his way down to the kitchen.

It was not quite 6:30. It was still early, and it was dark outside. Alec dropped a cartridge into the coffee machine and waited impatiently for it to brew. He reached up and ruffled his hand through his hair. He needed a haircut. He hadn’t had a haircut since before Coral arrived. Alec loved to wear his hair buzzed tight and close to his head, and it was growing shaggy. The house was clean. He was going to back to work. It was time to get the haircut.

Alec smiled for a moment when he remembered the new job starting in the afternoon. It was a Broadway-style show downtown, and Beef was the head of the lighting crew. Alec looked forward to helping hang the lights and spending showtime up in the clouds among the catwalks. He knew that he would have to fight back memories of Satch, but he was finally confident that he could deal with the issues when they emerged.

With the steaming coffee in hand, Alec seated himself at the kitchen table. He’d carried his cell phone downstairs in the pocket of the boxers. He pulled it out and placed it on the table. He wondered if he should try to call Jensen.

Alec didn’t know what hospital, how long it would take to get there, or if cell phone reception would work. It was problematic when his mom was in the hospital. He had a strong enough signal to receive messages in Coral’s room, but the phone didn’t work in the waiting room. Alec shook his head. Proper planning would have it work the other way around.

Instead of calling, Alec decided to send a text message. He typed in:

After sending the message, Alec decided the best plan of action was to forget about it. He couldn’t hang by the phone hoping to hear something all day. He smiled broadly when Jensen’s answer arrived less than five minutes later.

Alec answered:

Alec smiled at the screen of the phone for the next several minutes. He wished he’d taken a photo of Jensen. He needed to do that soon. He wanted to see the whiskers along the jawbone, the dark, soulful eyes, and the lips that he kissed.

As he tore himself away from the phone, Alec felt his motivation to accomplish tasks continue to grow. He didn’t know if it was the grief he felt in the wake of his mom’s death receding or the potential in his relationship with Jensen. It could be a little of both. He lowered his head into his hands for a moment disbelieving that he’d slept with his next-door neighbor. It sounded like one of those cheesy romance movies Coral liked to watch on TV at Christmas.

The morning was a productive one. Alec busied himself with cleaning out the refrigerator and driving five minutes away from home for a haircut. He stopped in at one of the budget places, and the hairdresser finished with the razor cut in less than twenty minutes. He left the shop with a bounce in his step feeling more like his normal self than he’d experienced in the last three months.

Over a fast-food sub sandwich lunch, Alec gave in to the urge to look at his cell phone. He didn’t have any new messages from Jensen, but he’d missed a text from Beef. It said:

Alec typed back:

He smiled to himself. He only had about an hour left to kill, and that would be easy. He drove home and decided that he had the perfect amount of time available to finish the job of pulling out the dead flowers along the edge of the porch and raking up leaves in his postage-stamp-sized front yard.

While he piled the leaves along the curb for public pickup, Alec glanced over at Jensen’s house and the way the grass grew up flush against the edge of the front porch. If all went well for the next several months, and it was a big “if,” he thought he could help Jensen plant a new flower bed to match the rest of the eager gardeners in the neighborhood.

Alec’s timing was perfect. After raking the leaves, he had ten minutes left to dress in his black jeans and black T-Shirt to blend in with the dark background of the rafters of the theater while working. He stopped momentarily by a mirror before leaving. He saw the best image staring back that he’d seen since before his mom arrived.

Beef offered a huge hug when Alec appeared. He declared, “You’re looking great, buddy. I even see some color in those cheeks. I like it!” He reached up and swept a huge paw across the top of Alec’s head. “And the buzz is back. Good work!”

Alec coughed. “Well, you can let me go so I can take a breath. You’ve got a wife at home. Remember?” Beef’s body was like an iron maiden torture device closing in tight. He didn’t seem to understand the crushing power of his arms and chest.

Beef laughed. “Heh, sorry, man! I’m happy to see you. I was a little worried, but you always bounce back. Every damn time you bounce back. Honestly, you do look fucking great. You’re an inspiration.”

Alec ran a hand up and over the top of his head. “It felt great to get this mop trimmed. It’s a new me just like the old me.”

“And I think I saw a smile when you hugged me. It’s been a long time since I saw one of those. Are you pumped for work? I told the rest of the crew they’d be working with the best damn rigger in the business. I think they’re all new since you last worked downtown. They’re all rookies compared to you.”

A slight blush spread across Alec’s face. “It’s not like you’re putting any pressure on me or anything.”

Beef landed a good-natured light right-hand punch to Alec’s gut. “And you’re still strong there. Maybe you’ll head back to the gym with me sometime. Hey, by the way, do you want to go out after the rehearsal tonight? It shouldn’t be too late, and I’m sure we’ll all be feeling like a drink.”

Alec thought about Jensen. He said, “I don’t think I can. I’ve got something else I need to do. At least, I think I will.”

“What’s up? Have you got a man? Are you getting back in the game that way, too? Are you back on the prowl?”

Alec leaned in close. “Do you promise to keep this close to your chest? I’m still feeling skeptical, but fuck, last night was amazing.”

Beef grinned. “Alec got laid.” He threw an arm around Alec’s shoulders and placed a hand on his chest. “Seriously, buddy, that’s damn good news, and I’ll keep it quiet. I’m like a bank vault when it comes to private stuff.”

“You’ve met him. It’s Jensen, the guy next door.”

Beef’s jaw dropped, and he gave Alec another good-natured punch to the gut. “Nooo…you devil. He’s cute. I can even see that. And next door? So fucking convenient.”

“Yeah, and I’ve got to be home tonight. A friend of his was in an accident of some kind last night. Shit like that seems to follow me around, but I want to be there when Jensen comes home.”

“You’re one good man, Alec. I’m so fucking proud of you. Now let’s get back to the clouds. Those lights aren’t going to hang themselves. We’ve got a rehearsal to light tonight, and the shows start in a week, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Fuck, that is this week isn’t it?”

“Damn, yeah. I might have to go downtown on the holiday and feed the guys at the shelter. I can’t spend it at home with the ghost.”