It was starting to feel more like summer outside. The evenings were warmer and more humid. Ian and Blake invited me to another cookout at their place, and, fortunately, Lowell was busy with one of his occasional evenings at work. I didn’t want him to feel slighted, but I did enjoy time with my friends. Lowell and I were spending almost every work-free evening together.

I put together another quick fluff salad to take to the cookout. This time I flavored it with tangerine, and it was a bright orange color. Grabbing a few beers from the refrigerator and stuffing them into a small cooler, I piled into my car and drove across town to Ian and Blake’s house.

Driving across the bridge from Bayview to the East Side, I realized that I was missing Lowell already. We needed to let the world know that we were really a couple and encourage invitations for the two of us together.

“Hey, Sven, good to see you, buddy! You look like you’re feeling good.” Reggie was the first to greet me and gave me a big hug. Then he pushed a beer into my free hand.

Blake stepped up and held out his hands for the salad. He asked, “Is it cranberry again?”

I said, “No, I switched to tangerine.”

Blake shrugged, “It’s still marshmallows and fruit. That works for me.”

I looked around and asked, “Where’s Connor?”

Reggie said, “He’s got an evening job tonight. He’s probably swinging from the rafters about now hanging up the lights.” Then he scratched his chin. “Actually, that was likely this afternoon. Now he’s probably testing everything for the show. His favorite part is hanging like a monkey in a harness eighty feet above the floor. It gives me the creeps to even think about it.”

I said, “I think that would freak me out a little bit, too.”

Blake said, “Me, too. I’ll stick with slinging the drinks on the ground.”

Ian joined us on the back deck with a platter full of meat. I asked, “Are those steaks?”

He said, “Yeah, I thought it might be fun to have something a little more upscale than burgers and dogs. Does it work for you, Sven? I figured I would slather on a little barbecue sauce at the end. Blake made it from scratch.”

I started to say, “Blake made…,” and I got a sharp elbow in the side. I grinned and said, “It sounds perfect.”

“So how’s the summer treating you?” asked Reggie. “This is your first one in Milwaukee, isn’t it?”

I said, “No, Stuart and I got here in the spring last year. I have to admit, though, that I didn’t really pay much attention to the weather. We were so miserable that we just hung out in the house and spent time either arguing or being bored. I guess that now it technically is still spring, but I love the breeze off the lake. Some days it’s almost a little too breezy where my house is, but that’s better than the hot, still, muggy days we had in the summer in Minnesota.”

Blake asked, “Where is your house again?”

I said, “I’m down in Bayview. I’m just about three blocks from the lake.”

Blake nodded, took a swig of his beer, and then asked, “Where is that?”

Reggie looked at Blake and laughed. Ian said, “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s been here over a year, and if it’s not between here and the Toolbox, he doesn’t know where it is.”

I said, “You know that big arched bridge you see right out at the lake? You can see it from I-94 when it makes its big curve at downtown.”

Blake said, “Oh, yeah. I’ve always wondered where that goes. You’re on the other end of the bridge?”

I grinned and said, “Yep, I’m on the other end. I should invite you all over sometime.”

Reggie said, “But, by the way you talk, your house is a safety hazard. I’m a little worried something might fall off and hit me in the head.”

With a heavy sigh, I said, “I think I’ve got that turned around. I got the contractor to fix a few things, and Lowell has been helping out, too.”

“Oh that’s right, Lowell,” said Ian. “How is that going?”

I leaned back in my chair. “Perfect. I was meaning to ask something. The next time you invite me for a cookout, can you invite Lowell, too?”

Reggie piped up immediately saying, “Of course they can. If they let me in, they’ll let anyone in.”

Blake turned toward me and said, “And that comment really is at least half true.”

Ian turned the steaks over and they sizzled on the grill. He asked, “How do you like yours cooked, Sven?”

I said, “Medium rare.”

Ian said, “Good man. That’s the way a man’s steak is supposed to be cooked. Blake prefers for me to turn his into shoe leather.”

Blake was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, and I thought he was falling asleep, but he opened one eye and said, “Hey! I don’t want to hear the cow moo when I stab it with a knife.”

Reggie said, “Medium rare for me, too. I know how to eat properly.”

The food was great. Reggie brought a potato salad, and Blake tossed together a green salad. We gathered around the table in Ian and Blake’s kitchen. We were all so busy eating at first that the table was nearly silent.

Ian spoke up and asked, “So Lowell really is treating you well?”

I said, “I’ve never dated anyone like him before. Well, except for the one time we dated in college, but I don’t even really remember what happened then.”

Reggie said, “I guess he would be a little different. I don’t mean that as an insult, but Lowell isn’t an ordinary guy.”

Ian raised an eyebrow and asked, “Like you are, Reggie?”

Reggie shook his head. “I never said I was normal.”

Blake asked, “So have you gone out much? Do you just go to dinner? Or movies?”

I looked around the table and for a moment I wasn’t sure how much to tell. Then I realized they were my closest friends in Milwaukee aside from Lowell, and I was proud of us doing things that were more interesting and exciting than what I thought most people did.

“Dinner with a candelabra on the beach?” I had just described the official first date, and Reggie repeated it in disbelief.

I smiled and said, “Yep. The food he brought was just KFC, but it was so good. He fed it to me.”

Ian put his fork down and said, “Now that’s sexy.”

“Well, then, why don’t you feed me?” asked Blake.

Ian said, “Aww, sexy, I didn’t really think of it, but we’ll have to put it on the list.”

I said, “We went to a polka bar, too.”

Blake asked, “What’s that?”

Ian grinned. “Oh, those are fun. There are still bars in Milwaukee where you can go and drink and eat and dance to polka music.”

“Seriously?” asked Blake. “I remember when we did the polka in junior high. I had to dance with that mean, ugly Linda Yates girl.”

“You mean you didn’t find a boy to dance with, Blake?” asked Reggie.

Blake gave him the side eye. “I didn’t really have a good idea that I was into guys until I was fifteen.”

“And then what happened? One of your good buddies gave you a kiss?”

“Do you really wanna know, Reggie?” asked Blake.

Reggie said, “I always wanna know. You’re one of my sexiest friends.”

Blake said, “I jerked off watching Baywatch, and it wasn’t about the boobs.”

We all laughed hard. Reggie said, “But please tell me it wasn’t Daddy Hasselhoff either.”

Blake smirked and said, “No, it wasn’t.”

“So how was the polka bar?” asked Ian.

I said, “It was a whole lot of fun. There were people there across all ages, and I danced with a few women, and then nobody blinked an eye when Lowell and I danced together.

Reggie said, “That does sound like fun.”

I added, “We’ve gone bowling, too. It was at this tiny old alley where these teenage guys still set the pins up by hand.”

Blake said, “Damn, you’ve got the coolest boyfriend, Sven. Why don’t we do fun stuff like that, Ian?”

Ian sighed and said, “Maybe because you don’t think of it?”

Blake asked, “Why’s it gotta be me?”

“I didn’t know you liked bowling,” said Ian.

“I’d give it a try.”

Reggie chimed in, “Blake’s the natural. He would be good at anything related to sports, but I’ve gotta ask Connor, too. I love going out to dinner and a movie, but yeah, there’s more to do in the city than just that.”

I smiled. I suddenly realized Lowell and I had probably done more different, unique things together than our friends did in over a year with each other. I said, “I’m still hedging on one thing that he wants to do.”

Ian chewed and swallowed a bite of his steak and asked, “What’s that? Jump out of a plane or something?”

I laughed. “That’s exactly it. He asked if I wanted to go skydiving with him.”

Blake shook his head. He said, “I stop there. I’m good with the ground.”

Reggie rubbed his chin. He said, “I don’t know. Maybe if I was with the right guy, I would consider it.”

Ian said, “I would be shocked if Connor hasn’t gone skydiving already. If he hasn’t, I’m sure he would love to, Reggie. Maybe you should surprise him with a gift. I know they jump from planes down in Racine.”

Reggie shook his head. “I’m in no hurry. Maybe someday.”

I asked, “Would you do it, Ian?”

He said, “I think that’s a big maybe. Somebody might have to help push me out. I’ll take Blake to a zip line first.”

“Those things that go down through the tree tops in the woods?” asked Blake.

“Yep, those,” said Ian.

Blake swallowed a forkful of the fluff and stared at Ian. He asked, “Why can’t we just stay on the ground? If we need to fly somewhere, we can take a plane. I think the beach and polka dancing sound fun. I can keep my feet on the ground.”

Ian said, “I didn’t know you were quite so afraid of heights.”

Blake nodded and said, “I get a little nauseous on those really high Interstate ramps downtown.”

I blurted out, “Oh, and we went skinny dipping, too.”

“In a pool?” asked Reggie. “I’ve done it in one of those.”

I said, “Lake Michigan.”

Ian dropped his fork. He said, “I think you can get arrested for doing that.”

I said, “We didn’t do it at the public beach. Lowell has an old friend from up north of the city. His parents live in a house perched on the bluff. We found our way down to the shore after dark there and stripped down and went swimming in the lake. It was a little cold, and I still can’t believe I did it.”

Ian asked, “Isn’t that how Lowell broke his leg? Slipping around on rocks at night along the lake?”

“Yeah, that is how it happened, but he wasn’t skinny dipping, at least from what he said. He was just wanting to sit on a big rock and stare out to the horizon. Then he stepped the wrong way, and he fell.”

Reggie said, “It’s a good thing he didn’t crack his head open, too.”

I said, “I kinda like how adventurous Lowell is, and he’s romantic, too. He even sent me flowers at work.”

Ian and Blake looked at each other. Ian said, “Don’t even ask.”

Reggie giggled. He said, “It sounds like you’ve got a good one, Sven. Connor likes to be adventurous, but I think he wastes most of his adventure energy when he’s up there hanging those lights. He needs to spend more of it on me.”

I said, “Maybe the two of you can come join us sometime when we’re doing something. It would be fun to have more company.”

Ian and Blake said in unison, “Us, too.”