Mason gawked at the oil regulator he was holding, his fingers cold from the chilly morning air.

“I said, isn’t that just great?” Tom asked impatiently. “You made a such a fuss about your customer having to hang around in town — now I’ve fixed it.”

“Right, yeah. Thanks. Thank you,” Mason finally replied. He held out his hand for Tom to shake, who thrust his hand into his palm, gripping just a bit too hard.

“Y’all have a pleasant day now,” Tom spat out before stomping to his pickup truck. Mason supposed he should have been more thankful, but his entire week had been completely shattered.

He wouldn’t be able to have a nice cooked breakfast with Rhys this morning.

Or have Rhys bring down a plate of his mac and cheese for lunch today.

No pecks on the cheeks when customers weren’t around and Lily wasn’t looking.

There was no reason for Rhys to stay in Hidden Creek.

Mason turned to look at Rhys as Tom pulled away from the curb, rap music about shooting ‘ganstas’ blaring out his open car windows.

The two men stood staring at one another as the rap music faded away. The only sound was the gentle breeze rustling the brown wrapping paper on the ground.

“How long…” Rhys eventually began. “How long to install the oil regulator?”

“Half an hour, tops,” Mason informed him, feeling his chest tightened.

He looked back down at the oil pump regulator box, seven-inch custom variety. No one else knew this had arrived yet.

“We could just pretend,” Mason thought out loud. “We could just pretend this will arrive on Monday, spend the weekend together.”

Rhys looked up at Mason, clearly thinking it through.

“We thought we had another three days together, we can make the most of it,” Mason carried on.

“Can we?” Rhys asked. “With this hanging over our heads?”

“We knew this had an expiration date on it from the get-go,” Mason pointed out. “How is this any different?”

“It just is, it’s right there!” Rhys motioned towards the oil regulator. “Every meal together, every kiss, every hug. It’ll be there reminding us this is ending soon.”

Mason knew he was right. They both knew this was coming.

Then why did it hurt so much?

Rhys stormed back toward the shop, leaving Mason alone in the cold.

“Rhys!” Mason called out, snatching up the wrapping paper from the ground before jogging after him.

They entered the garage. It was somehow colder than the outside, the big empty space unable to keep any warmth for long.

“I could’ve just left it as a crush,” Rhys said, heading for the stairs.

“Rhys, stop. Please!” Mason begged as Rhys began the ascent.

“But I had to open the floodgates. I had to put on a ‘getting to know you’ event, and now — I have to go,” Rhys said as he reached the top of the stairs.

“Please, just stay,” Mason pleaded. Rhys turned, looking down at Mason.

“Can you honestly say you’d enjoy breakfast together or snuggling before work, knowing that the oil regulator is right there?” Rhys asked.

Mason thought about it. He wanted to say that he could.

But he knew Rhys was right.

The expiration date had come earlier and had spoiled the rest of their relationship.

“We could just…” Mason paused, not knowing what they could do.

He just didn’t want this to end. But it was too painful to carry on.

“I’ll… should we just get this over and done with?” Mason asked. He wanted to make this as painless as possible. For both of them.

“One last breakfast?” Rhys asked. “You can shower. Then we eat. Then I shower while you…” Rhys motioned back toward the oil pump regulator, choking on the words.

“Breakfast sounds great,” Mason replied, even though he didn’t feel like he could swallow a single bite. His stomach was so tight.

Ten minutes later, Mason was out of the shower, in his fresh clothes for the day. He went to sit down at the kitchen counter while Rhys stirred a pan of scrambled eggs.

As soon as Mason sat down, Socket leapt up onto their usual perch on the kitchen counter. She looked between Mason and Rhys, wide eyes darting between the two.

“MEOW!” she protested.

Rhys glanced around as if she’d said something upsetting.

Mason looked down, noticing that her bowl of kibble was empty, even though he’d filled it up last night. He moved around the kitchen island, heading to the cupboard to grab more food for her.

As he did, Rhys moved to the frying pan of bacon, the two accidentally stumbling into each other.

“Sorry,” Rhys replied.

“Pardon,” Mason said.

They stood next to each other awkwardly. Mason wasn’t sure what to do with his body, unlike almost every other time with Rhys. Before he’d just acted on instinct, and it had worked out great between them.

Now he had no idea what he wanted.

One last hug?

Or to never touch him again?

Maybe Rhys was right. Maybe the pain Mason was feeling right now was too much. Even though the last few days together had been some of the best of his life, the rest had been ruined.

Mason filled up Socket’s dry kibble bowl, and within a couple minutes, the three of them were eating in near silence.

A few times Mason put his fork down, thinking of something to say. But any casual conversation would be ignoring the problem between them, and he didn’t want to talk about Rhys leaving.

Saying it out loud would just make it worse.

Rhys showered as Mason attached the oil pump regulator to the rest of the Impala’s engine. He double-checked the oil levels one last time and was finished within twenty minutes.

At ten to eight, there was a knock at the customer entrance.

“We’re closed!” Mason grouchily yelled out. There was a massive sign outside with the new opening times. Who would think they’d be ready to go ten minutes early?

“It’s Lily!” she called from the other side of the big metal doors.

“Right, of course. Sorry!” Mason apologized as he closed the hood of Rhys’s Impala.

He walked over to the entrance, opening the door for Lily. She was standing outside with her rose-covered Thermos. Her smile quickly turned to concern as she saw Mason.

“Oh gosh, what’s wrong?” she asked as she entered the garage. “Is Socket okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah, she’s fine,” Mason replied. He wasn’t even sure Lily had met Socket, and was positive he’d only mentioned her a couple times. “Keys.”

“I’m sorry?” Lily responded.

“You’ll need keys,” Mason finished his thought. “You can have Rhys’s set.”

“When he leaves on Monday? Yeah, that makes sense.” Lily was about to take a big swig from her Thermos, but she paused as she saw Mason’s face. “Is Rhys okay!?”

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Mason told her. “The… we were waiting on a car part…” Mason paused. He needed to say it out loud. He couldn’t.

“Oh no, is it delayed?” she asked, lowering her Thermos.

“The opposite,” Mason said. “It… it arrived this morning.”

“Oh? Great!” Lily exclaimed, a smile forming across her face. “But that’s good news, right? It means Rhys can get home.”

Mason instinctively looked up the stairs at the end of the garage, leading up to his apartment. His home felt like it belonged to Rhys now.

He turned back to Lily. “Yeah. It is. He can carry on with his life,” Mason said.

Rhys was only visiting Hidden Creek. He needed to get back to his family. Back to Salt Lake City, three states and a time zone away. Back to a life without Mason.

Rhys wouldn’t be hanging around trying to help Mason and his struggling business. He’d be helping his family.

That was what Mason needed to remember. What he should have thought about all along. Rhys was always just a visitor. No matter how well he slipped into Mason’s life.

Just then Mason heard the door to his apartment open, and Rhys came down with one of his three boxes.

“You’re all good to go,” Mason said. Lily looked between the two men, frowning.

“I’m just gonna go make sure the old Saab isn’t double-parked,” she told them. “For ten minutes,” Lily added, heading back out the door into the chilly morning air.

The sun had fully risen, already bearing down on Hidden Creek. It would be warm soon enough.

“Let me help you load the car,” Mason offered. Rhys nodded as he put his first box into the back seat, and the two of them headed up the stairs together.

Mason took a box under each arm, leaving Rhys to carry his peace lily and his bag filled with gift plants for his sister Debbie.

“MEOW!!!” Socket protested once again. Mason knew she was only a cat, but it almost seemed like she was saying, ‘No, Rhys, don’t go!’

Mason headed down the stairs. Rhys followed, locking the apartment door behind him.

After loading the back seats with Rhys’s belongings, Rhys handed over his set of keys to Mason before pulling his own car keys out of one of his three boxes.

“So…” he began before awkwardly looking at his car.

“We should keep in touch,” Rhys suggested.

Mason wanted to fight for this. He wanted to plead with Rhys for him to stay.

But he knew that wouldn’t be fair. To either of them.

So instead, he just said, “Sure.”

“I use Instagram a lot,” Rhys replied.

“Brilliant.” Mason knew it was some kind of app. Like Twitter for photos or something. He’d have a look at it later today.

“I guess this is goodbye?” Rhys asked, looking up at Mason.

“I guess so,” he answered.

Mason pulled Rhys into a big hug. Every time before, he’d felt Rhys’s muscles relax under him.

Today it was like hugging a rock.

He let go. Rhys didn’t even pause as he opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.

Within seconds the engine roared to life.

Mason walked over to the big metal doors, pulling them all the way open.

He watched as Rhys pulled out from his body shop and onto the streets of Hidden Creek.

Mason waved, but Rhys didn’t look back as he drove off, away from the shop.

Away from Hidden Creek.

Away from Mason.

Forever.