Dak skipped the doorbell and knocked sharply on the door to Lewis’ house. It was a handsome two-story brick structure on the edge of the neighborhood once populated by Coldbrook Bend’s steamboat barons. Lewis’ home had a simple front stoop and lacked the ornate wood gingerbread that decorated the fronts of the Victorian mansions down the street. Symmetrically arranged windows faced the street. It was a simple, handsome house kept up with loving care by the same family for over a century.

Lewis’ familiar voice shouted, “Coming!”

Dak shuffled back and forth from one foot to the other. He warned Lewis about his arrival with a text message, and he didn’t receive a response to dissuade him from his visit. However, he was worried that Lewis didn’t really want to meet. They didn’t resolve anything since their last argument.

The door opened, and Dak heard an audible sigh. Lewis said, “Hello. Is it safe to let you in?”

Pushing his right hand upward and raking his fingers through his coarse, wavy red hair, Dak said, “I’m going back to the boat in a few days, and I had some things to say. I guess it’s up to you whether you want to hear me out or not.”

Lewis pulled the door open and stepped to the side sweeping his hand toward the interior of the house. He wore an immaculately-pressed creamsicle-colored linen shirt and khaki trousers. Lewis frequently bemoaned the fact that no one ever dressed up in small towns anymore unless someone was getting married or someone died. Otherwise, it was a town full of frumpy people unattractively dressed from cradle to grave.

The first time Lewis made the comment, Dak wanted to trace the outlines of his own muscles visible through the fabric of the T-Shirt clinging to his frame and ask if it was attractive. Instead, he held his tongue and let Lewis continue to the next complaint about the world in general. Dak learned to let most of the endless commentary pass from one ear through to the other filtering out only the most relevant pieces for discussion.

Lewis pointed to the vintage sofa in the center of his home’s parlor. He said, “Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? Lemonade? A beer?” Dak noticed the usual cringe when Lewis said the four-letter word “beer.”

In their relationship’s most relaxed, comfortable days, Lewis urged Dak to join him in the small den-sized room he used for casual socializing and watching TV. The request to sit in the parlor was a clear sign that they were still on rocky ground.

To avoid any antagonistic behavior, Dak smiled and said, “Lemonade would be great.”

While Lewis disappeared into the kitchen, Dak looked around the room. On one corner of the fireplace mantel, a small cluster of framed photographs gathered like a crowd gossiping about what might be going on elsewhere in the house.

During one visit, Dak looked at all the photos. They were casual shots of members of Lewis’ family and a few close friends. When Dak asked when a photo with him in it would be added to the group, he received an acid response. “When I can guarantee that you’re in it for the long term.”

Lewis handed Dak a tall, cold glass etched on the sides with yellow daisies. “Do you have something to tell me?” Lewis sat on the opposite end of the sofa from Dak after setting his glass down on a round bamboo coaster. He clung to the arm of the furniture like Dak’s friends hung on to the boat during storms on the river.

Dak sipped at the lemonade. It was a little too sour for his taste. He would have dumped at least two more teaspoons of sugar into the glass if it was available. He pursed his lips and said, “I’m willing to consider your request.”

Lewis tilted his head to the side. “My request? If I remember correctly, I think I said that you were quite welcome to do whatever your heart desired. That was before you stormed out the door in a huff. I thought I was very reasonable.”

Dak gritted his teeth. He had so many comments he wanted to make in a rapid-fire attack on the half-truths rolling out of Lewis’ mouth, but, instead, he followed Brody’s advice for the situation and rubbed one hand on his jeans forward three times before saying anything. Brody told him he should calm his frustration by picking an innocuous action to perform at least three times before responding in anger. It was a brilliant piece of wisdom.

When he was ready to speak, Dak used a soft tone of voice and said, “I thought through the concerns you mentioned. I am willing to refrain from intimate contact with other men on the boat for the next month in an effort to decide whether what we have is good enough for the long term. In other words, I’m willing to try.”

Dak heard the words spill out of his mouth the way he’d rehearsed them in his bedroom in front of the mirror. He thought he sounded like he was sitting at the witness stand in a high stakes trial. It was the way people sounded in the shows he watched on TV.

Lewis raised an eyebrow and asked, “No sex on the boat?”

After sipping from the glass and cringing once again as the sour taste became increasingly bitter on his tongue, Dak said, “Yes, that’s what I propose.”

Lewis’ next response surprised him. His boyfriend rolled his head back and laughed out loud. He didn’t stop with short chortling. Instead, it was a full-throated laugh. Dak wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Lewis laugh so hard. In fact, Lewis rarely laughed at all.

“Something is funny about that?”

“Oh it’s hilarious,” said Lewis. “I’ve decided I’m finished with monogamy at least as far as we’re concerned. If you continue to be my boyfriend, I’m going to look for dates every weekend while you’re gone. It only seems fair to me. I’ll snuggle in beside the latest hunky guy that I can find. Maybe I should visit one of those hot, trendy gay bars in the Twin Cities.”

Something snapped. Dak had a long fuse, and using Brody’s advice, he rarely raised his voice against anyone in anger. As he dropped the glass of lemonade and heard it shatter on the hardwood floor, Dak shouted, “Enough is enough! You’re just a ridiculous bastard, Lewis, and you know it. Good luck finding a desperate fool to take you to bed!”

Dak had so little practice with storming out on anyone that he didn’t know what to do. He started to bend down to reach for the largest pieces of the shattered glass, but when Lewis shouted, “You idiot! Look what you did!” Dak kicked the shards across the floor and bounded for the door. He thought he heard Lewis say something, but he ignored it as he slammed the door shut with all of the strength in his powerful right arm.

Sitting behind the wheel of his truck, Dak’s body shook from the intensity of the moment. He watched his fingers tremble when he struggled to place the key in the ignition. He muttered, “Asshole,” when the engine engaged.

As he drove home, clinging tight to the steering wheel, Dak looked back and forth three times at all intersections to make sure his state of mind didn’t cause a careless accident. He knew exactly what he saw in Lewis the first time they dated, and he hated himself for it.

Lewis looked like an easy target for companionship. His eccentric ways with clothing and his attitude of condescension toward at least eighty percent of his fellow town residents made him an outsider. Dak rarely saw him anywhere in town with companions, romantic or otherwise.

One late night they connected through an online dating app. They recognized each other immediately through the shared photographs. Lewis typed, “Should we give it a try?”

Intoxicated from an evening drinking beer and lonely three nights after the end of a month-long shift on the boat, Dak typed back, “Sure, why not.” That was the beginning of a relationship that was never better than difficult.

Parking his truck at an angle downtown, Dak stepped into the Corner Hitch bar. It was the location for his first meeting with Lewis, but it was never a comfortable space for the two of them together. The Corner Hitch was Dak’s territory since high school.

Jake, with fifteen years of bartending experience behind him, said, “Hey, Dak! Good to see you, buddy! The usual? I’ve got a bottle lined up right here for you.”

Dak shook his head. “No, I need something a little more serious tonight. Give me some Jack straight up on the rocks. There’s something I’ll want to forget by about a half hour from now.”

Brad shook his head. “Rough night then. Hey, when do you go back to the boat? Are you looking forward to that? Is the river calling?”

Dak wanted to smile and ramble on about the upside of working on the tow, but he knew it wouldn’t be completely sincere. For a change, he had genuinely mixed feelings about leaving town for a month. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be away from Brody for four full weeks. He saw the signs of grief lurking behind his best friend’s eyes, and he knew that the wave wasn’t cresting yet.