Dak watched the river flow on its endless journey south to the Gulf of Mexico as the sun rose. Brody squatted down to pick up a smooth, flat-sided rock. He said, “There was one positive takeaway from my unsuccessful Little League baseball career.”

“Baseball? I didn’t know you played.”

“I didn’t play well,” said Brody.

“What was the big takeaway?”

“Johnny Mellon taught me how to skip a rock properly. We came down here for a team picnic, and he showed me how. I’ve never forgotten. I think I do it pretty well.”

Brody started to sweep his arm forward to toss the rock into the water. Dak gripped his forearm and said, “Wait. You played baseball with John Mellon? The pitcher who took us to the state tournament in high school?”

Brody said, “I think it’s most accurate to say that Johnny played baseball while I desperately tried to hit the ball with a bat. I think I had three base hits in the entire season.”

“When was that?” asked Dak. “I don’t remember seeing you on a baseball team.”

Brody chuckled. “It was second grade. You weren’t living in Coldbrook Bend yet.”

Dak reached up to wrap an arm around Brody’s shoulders. “If it helps, baseball wasn’t my best game either.”

“Dak, I think that’s all relative. You were in the starting lineup on that team that went to the state tournament.”

“Yeah, by the skin of my teeth,” said Dak. “John was the real star, and he made it to the minors for five years.”

Brody said, “I hope you don’t feel bad that I’m glad you didn’t make it to the minors.”

Dak turned his head and asked, “I don’t think I feel bad, but why wouldn’t you want me to make it?”

“I don’t think you would have come back to Coldbrook Bend. I’m selfish. Now that I have you, I don’t want to think about a life without you.”

Dak smiled as he stared once again at the river. He asked, “Did you ever find out any more about your mom’s reasons for keeping the story of your great-uncle secret.”

“Oh, that’s right, I didn’t tell you,” said Brody. “I found an entry written about a year before Wiley Tarrant died. It wasn’t easy to read. She said she talked to him on the phone, and he was very sick.”

“Wow, so it got him, too,” said Dak.

Brody nodded. “She said that he thanked her for keeping their story private. He wanted to die while still in the good graces of his family. Apparently, multiple members were very phobic.”

“And did it say anything about you?”

Brody hesitated before speaking. He said, “This next part might choke me up. She said Wiley wanted to share part of his estate with her. She said she told him my story. I was almost twenty at the time, and I was still in the closet to almost everyone but you and my mom. She suggested that he plan for whatever he wanted to leave to her to be given to me after she was gone.”

“That was a wonderful thing to do,” said Dak.

“She said they both hoped by that time we would never again have to keep the joys of our lives private and locked up in our hearts.” Brody reached up and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

Dak gripped Brody’s chin with his free hand and shared a kiss. He stared at the river again and asked, “Do you remember when we camped out in your backyard in fifth grade?”

“You mean the night the tent collapsed, and I thought I was fighting some kind of animal attacking me?”

Dak laughed hard. “Well, yeah, that’s not the specific thing I was thinking about, but that was hilarious now that you mention it.”

Brody pursed his lips and said, “Yeah, it wasn’t you fighting the beast, but I never understood how you got out so quick, and I had such a hard time.”

Dak turned toward Brody with a weak smile and said, “I guess I have a confession to make.”

“A confession?”

“I…uh…might have pulled a stake out of the ground.”

Brody groaned, “Damn, Dak; really?”

Dak pushed past the confession and said, “But what’s more important is the memory I wanted to share.”

“Which one was that.”

“Well, I remember that we got the tent put back up on our own because neither of us wanted to have your mom make us go back inside. And when we woke up in the morning, we were both lying in our sleeping bags on our backs staring at the ceiling of the tent. Do you remember what I said?”

“I don’t think I remember the specific words, but I know that I’d forgiven you by the time we were eating our cereal at the table in the kitchen.”

“I remember it almost like I wrote it down on the inside of my brain.”

Brody reached up and scratched the side of his head. “Damn, I bet I’m going to feel bad because it was probably something I should have remembered.”

Dak squeezed Brody’s shoulder and said, “I forgive you already.”

“So what did you say?” asked Brody.

I said, “You’re the best for me, and I’m going to be your best friend forever.”

Brody turned his head and asked, “You said that?”

“I said that.”

Brody reached a hand up behind Dak’s head and kissed him. “You’re the best for me, too, Dak.”

Dak said, “I’ve been thinking about something else, too.”

“Another big thing?” asked Brody.

“Well, I guess it is pretty big. I want to take a month off from the river.”

As the smile spread across his face, Brody says, “Be careful saying it right here. She’s only about ten feet away. She just might slap us with a tidal wave.”

Dak laughed and said, “I think we’re pretty safe from tidal waves. I’ve never heard of them on the river.”

Brody stared into Dak’s ocean-blue eyes. “Are you sure you want to do that? I want you how you are. I don’t want to change you.”

Dak shook his head. He said, “I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for me. Some days I feel like a boxer letting my body get beat up so I can scrape together enough money to barely survive. You need a guy that’s still in good shape when he’s 50.”

“Well, I hope so,” answered Brody. “Do you know what you’ll do during that month?”

Dak tilted his head to the side and said, “Be your boyfriend, I suppose. Maybe I’ll pull some weeds. Or I could travel to the big cities for a weekend with my boyfriend. How does that sound for a plan?”

“It’s perfect to me,” said Brody. “I only have one plan.”

“And what might that be?” asked Dak.

“I’m planning to be your best lover forever and ever because I think together we’re the best there is.”