Always Waiting: The League, Book 3 Read online

  I said, “I tagged along when my older sister went bowling with her friends. She was supposed to be my babysitter and finally got frustrated that she had to miss out on getting together with them because she had to take care of me. Soon, she just started taking me along.”

  We were both pretty good at bowling, but Lowell had an edge. I said, “It must be the home court advantage.”

  He gave me a sly grin and said, “I’ll take any advantage I can get.”

  We weren’t really dating, because we didn’t end the nights with kisses or hop in bed together, but it started to feel like Lowell was my date. I looked forward to the time we spent together, and we shared a lot of hugs and physical contact even if it wasn’t overtly sexual in nature. I hoped for more soon, but I was having too much fun to complain about the present.

  Two evenings after the bowling, Lowell called me and asked, “Do you know how to polka?”

  I laughed and said, “I can’t say that anybody has ever asked me that question.”

  “Well, what’s the answer?”

  “I’ve done it many times at family weddings, and we were taught how in gym class, so I guess I do.”

  Lowell said, “That’s perfect!”

  I was confused. I asked, “We’re going to a wedding? Why do you need to know if I can polka?”

  He said, “No, Sven. We’re going to a polka bar.”

  I said, “I don’t mean to sound stupid, but I’ve never been to a polka bar. I’m not sure I know what one is.”

  He laughed. “There’s not a lot to understand. It’s polka dancing in a bar. Just put on some nice jeans and a button-up shirt, and I’ll pick you up in about twenty minutes.”

  The evening turned out to be the most fun I’d had in a long, long time. We drank and had simple bar food like macaroni and cheese and burgers. Then we danced. Lowell was even more sexy when he was dancing. He knew what he was doing, and nobody blinked an eye at two guys dancing together.

  After the first two dances, we switched partners and danced with women. We both got a lot of compliments on our polka skills. When we finally took a break, I was out of breath and nearly fell into Lowell’s arms.

  He asked, “Are you having a good time?”

  I said, “I’m having a great time. Do you do stuff like this all the time, Lowell? This is just crazy fun. It would be like being at a big, fat wedding reception every night.”

  Lowell said, “It’s hard to have so much fun when I’m just roaming the city on my own. I need a partner in crime, Sven. Loosen up a little, and we can go on even wilder adventures.”

  I felt a shiver up my spine. I was cautious. It was hard-wired into my brain. The idea of being more of an adventurer was exciting, but the adventure skinny dipping in Lake Michigan pushed my comfort with risky behavior to the edge.

  I stared into Lowell’s eyes across a round table, and he asked me, “What about skydiving, Sven?”

  My eyes widened, and then I slowly shook my head. “No, I can’t do that. It’s too…”

  Lowell interrupted me and said, “I think that’s our goal then.”

  I felt that shiver again, and I asked, “Have you gone skydiving?”

  He shook his head and said, “Nope, I’ve never had the right guy to go with.”

  I asked, “What makes you think you have the right guy to go with now?”

  He grinned and said, “I watched you polka.”

  * * *

  On Friday I pre-empted any effort for another grand adventure. I was trying to catch my breath. I called Lowell when I got home from work and asked him if he wanted to come over to my place for pizza. He accepted immediately.

  When he arrived, I gave him a hug and asked if it would be okay to just stay in for the evening. I suggested watching something on TV and enjoying the pizza and a few beers.

  Lowell cocked his head to one side and asked, “Am I a little too much for ya, Sven?”

  I smiled and said, “Not too much, but I need to catch my breath.”

  He said, “We need to get you on a zip line.”

  I said, “Now that does sound fun!”

  The pizza arrived five minutes after Lowell. He asked, “What, no anchovies this time?”

  I picked a slice of pepperoni off the pizza, held it to his mouth, and said, “Here, imagine this was a fish.”

  “You know, Sven, I really like that you have a sense of humor. Some guys just think I’m a little too much, and they start to back away,” said Lowell.

  I took a bite of one of the slices of pizza before putting it on my plate to take to the living room. After wiping my face with a napkin, I said, “You might be a little much, but it feels like something that I need.”

  Lowell grinned. He said, “That’s good to know.”

  I sat on the couch next to Lowell with my pizza on the coffee table surfing through channels looking for an interesting travel show. I sighed heavily when it looked like I was out of luck.

  Lowell piped up and asked, “How about a cheesy horror movie? Do you like those?”

  I leaned against Lowell and laughed saying, “When I was a little kid, I used to stay up late on the weekend watching horror movies on TV, and then I would have these awful nightmares and run to my parents’ bedroom. My mom would take me back upstairs to my bedroom and tuck me in and tell me that the monsters weren’t real. It turned into a habit, and eventually the horror movies got cut off.”

  Lowell said, “She had to break her little boy’s addiction.” then he asked, “So does that mean yes or no and watching a horror movie?”

  I said, “I’d love it, but I’m calling you if I have nightmares.”

  “Do you have popcorn?”

  I answered, “For the microwave.”

  Lowell and I settled in for an evening of watching creepy, cheesy horror movies together. He asked if I liked bloody stuff or if I preferred something that made me wonder what was in the closet or under the stairs. I told him that I wasn’t really into the blood, but the other sounded great. That’s why I kept glancing into the darkness of the rest of the house and finally got up to say I was going to turn the light on in the kitchen.

  When I came back to the couch, Lowell said, “You really are a little scared, aren’t you?”

  “Is that a big surprise?” I asked as I settled back down and leaned against him.

  He answered, “Yeah, sorta. I mean, I love having the big surprise in the movie where everybody jumps, including me. But for me, then the moment has passed. I never wonder what’s in the dark, and I don’t really connect the movie to real life.”

  I asked, “So do you think I’m just weird or a wimp?”

  He shook his head vehemently. “Oh, no, not at all, Sven. I think it’s…” He paused. “How do I put this? It’s really pretty sweet, and I kind of envy you.”

  “Envy me?”

  He leaned back a little bit. “Yeah, I do. It sounds like you believe things, and you trust things. I don’t feel the same way, and I’m not proud of it.” Then he excused himself and said he had to go to the bathroom. I thought I saw one eye start to tear up before he left.

  When Lowell returned to the living room, the emotion that had been creeping to the surface was gone. He asked if I wanted to watch one more movie. I said, “Sure. It’s late, but tomorrow is the weekend. I don’t need to get up early.”

  Lowell asked, “What does your weekend look like?”

  I said, “I was sort of hoping that tomorrow I could get that gutter put back in place. I was reading online how to do it, and I think I can get it taken care of. I’m going to go out and buy a ladder from a hardware store.”

  He said, “Don’t go climbing on a ladder like that by yourself.”

  I turned to him and asked, “Do you have a better suggestion?”

  He poked himself in the chest. “I don’t really want to invite myself over, but I could help out with that if you aren’t sick of me by now.”

  I was so very far from being sick of Lowell. In fact, I was starting
to see him as a regular part of my life. I knew that it would be hard to not see him for more than a few days. I said, “I’m not sick of you at all. Honestly, Lowell, I have a lot of fun when we’re together.”

  He gave me a sort of sheepish grin. “Yeah, hanging out with you is a lot more fun than I’ve had in a long time.”

  “Something to drink?” I asked. “For the last movie?”

  He said, “I think I should be done with both caffeine and alcohol for the night. How about water? Or tea?”

  I smiled and said, “Iced tea coming up.”

  We settled together on the couch to watch a young family get menaced by the ghosts and creepy stuff that called the basement of their newly purchased house home. At one of the movie’s key scary moments, I grabbed Lowell and pushed my face into his shoulder so that I didn’t have to look. He responded by running his fingers through my hair and then telling me when it was safe to open my eyes.

  The first thing that I saw when I opened my eyes again was Lowell’s smiling face.

  8

  Lowell

  I was stuck. At least I felt like I was stuck. It was obvious that Sven and I were getting closer. I really liked that, but I didn’t want to just be best buddies. I wanted something a lot more intimate than that, and I wasn’t sure how to make the next move.

  Sven invited me over to his house to help fix the gutter that hung loose on the north side of his house. I was enjoying the handyman fix-it jobs. When I was a kid, my dad insisted that I help him any time that he had to fix something up around the house, and I hated it. I did learn a few things. Actually, I learned a lot of things, but I rebelled the entire time.

  Now, when I was helping Sven, it was fun. There was a huge sense of accomplishment, and, I got to spend more time with him. That was the big bonus.

  By the time I arrived at his house in the late morning, Sven had visited the hardware store and purchased a sturdy extension ladder. Any time Sven went shopping, the goods he came home with made it abundantly clear that he was in a comfortable financial situation. I expected that from a banker.

  We stood at the side of the house and both looked up. Sven said, “From here, it looks like the brackets to hold the gutter are still there, and I don’t think the gutter itself looks damaged. We just need to put it all back together.”

  I nodded and said, “Yep, I agree with that assessment from down here.”

  Sven asked, “Who do you think should climb the ladder? You? Or me?

  I asked, “How many gutters have you worked on?”

  Sven laughed and said, “Zero. How about you?”

  I said, “I think I’m going up the ladder. I helped my dad repair gutters after a storm once. I cleaned them out multiple years, and then I helped him completely replace them.”

  “It’s my lucky day,” said Sven.

  The entire job took a lot less time than I expected. Sven was correct with his assessment. It was a pretty simple job of just putting things back together. I was worried we would find bent pieces or wood at the side of the house that was starting to crumble. All things considered, the house looked like it was in pretty good shape. I think Sven’s string of house repairs were normal. He just had the bad luck of them happening all at once. Then I thought about the patio roof. That one was a little bit different.

  When the project was finished, it was just after noon. Sven asked “Do you want some lunch? I’ve got stuff for sandwiches, and I picked up some local beers before I came home this morning.”

  I said, “Sven, you’re always ready for everything. Yeah, I would love to have lunch. I need to clean up a little, but that sounds great.”

  When I’m at someone else’s house and using the bathroom, I’m always tempted to look in the medicine cabinet. I think it tells a huge amount about the life of anyone. Of course, the stories could be a little inaccurate. My medicine cabinet still held opioid meds that I had left over from my leg injury. Someone could incorrectly assume that I’m an addict. So far, I resisted the temptation to snoop on Sven. I expected his medicine cabinet held little more than shaving equipment and aspirin.

  I gave my hands a vigorous washing and then splashed my face before drying it off with the hand towel that matched fluffier bath towels and washcloths. I couldn’t help but smile when I looked in the mirror. I was feeling happy. That was an emotion that I felt far too little before reconnecting with Sven.

  In the kitchen, Sven put together a big platter with stacks of ham, bologna, roast beef, and cheese. One plate held a stack of slices of whole wheat bread. A big bowl was filled with potato chips, and he even had a selection of raw carrots and celery.

  I said, “Don’t tell me you put all of this together in the five minutes I was in the bathroom.”

  Sven said, “I put the meats and cheese together. I had a bag with the veggies, and the chips I just poured into the bowl. This is how my mom puts lunch together.” Then he looked up at me. “Is something wrong?”

  I grabbed a chair and sat down. “Nothing is wrong at all. I think it’s all perfect. I’m hungry now.”

  We sat down for a hearty lunch. I marveled as Sven stacked together ham, cheese, and roast beef on whole wheat bread slathering one slice with mayonnaise and the other with mustard. He then sliced the sandwich in half on the diagonal, carefully positioned them on his plate, and then piled on the potato chips. He grabbed a handful of carrots and celery to complete his meal.

  Sven said, “Dig in. What are you waiting for?”

  “I was just watching the master at work.”

  I was satisfied with simple ham and cheese and a small handful of potato chips. When I was a teenager, I could eat up half the food in the house and not gain any weight. Unfortunately, less than ten years later, it was no longer true. I couldn’t figure out where Sven put it all. I guessed that he had some sort of seriously rigorous gym routine.

  The cold beer was perfect after working on the gutter. It wasn’t quite hot outside, but I did work up a sweat. I asked, “So did you have nightmares from the horror movies last night?”

  Sven finished up chewing a bit of his sandwich and said, “No, but I checked under the bed and left the closet door open before I went to sleep.”

  I laughed and said, “That’s great. I hope you weren’t too scared.”

  He grinned. “Not scared enough to keep me from falling asleep.”

  As we each finished off some of the last of our chips, Sven asked, “Do you think the two of us could do the patio roof? Or should I wait on the contractor for that? I did get a quote, and I got a pretty good chunk of money from the insurance company. It would easily cover the materials. If we did it ourselves, there would be quite a bit left over.”

  I swallowed a swig of my beer and said, “Why don’t we go out there and take a look after we finish up lunch. I’m willing to give it a try if you are, but it’s your house that’s the guinea pig.”

  Sven shrugged. “I gave my dad a call, too, about it. He thought we could handle it, and he said we could always bring a contractor in to fix it if something goes wrong.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You told your dad about me?”

  He nodded. “I tell my dad about almost everything. Yeah, he knows about you and the softball guys.”

  “What did you say about me? Am I that crazy guy that makes you go skinny dipping in Lake Michigan?”

  Sven laughed. “Oh, I didn’t tell him about that. I’m not really sure what he would say.”

  “He knows you’re gay?” I asked.

  I got a strong nod in response. “Oh, yeah, my parents are great about that. Last year when I went home for my birthday, my mom even put a couple of little rainbow flags on the cake.”

  “You went all the way back to Minnesota for your birthday?”

  Sven gave me that huge smile with a mouthful of perfect white teeth. “Yeah, I did. It was the first year that I was living outside of Minnesota. I love my birthday, and my mom makes the cake from scratch. I think they would be very unhappy if I didn�
��t go home for my birthday.”

  I stood up and carried my plate to the dishwasher. The plates clinked against each other as I closed it back up. Sven was crunching on one last carrot. When he finished chewing, I said, “Sven, get up for a second.”

  He looked a little confused for a moment, but he did as I asked. I stepped up to him, wrapped him in a hug and then pressed our lips together. To my surprise, he parted his slightly, and it led to a real kiss with just the tips of our tongues touching.

  I reached a hand up behind his head and raked my fingers into that handsome blond hair. Sven pulled back from the kiss and looked into my eyes. I could feel a slight shudder move through his body as it vibrated against me. Then it was followed by a blush and a grin. He said, “I’ve wanted to do that since the softball practice.”

  I shook my head and asked, “Well, why the hell didn’t you?”

  “I was waiting for you.”

  I started to laugh but continued to hold Sven tight. It was almost a giggle at first, but when Sven started laughing, too, it got louder until we were both laughing out loud. I clenched my fingers in that hair and then kissed him hard again. This time it was longer and the heat in Sven’s tongue made my toes curl. I let go of his hair and placed my hand on his chest instead.

  We were both breathless when we separated from the kiss. When I could speak again, I looked into those blue eyes and said, “Don’t ever wait for me again. Just jump right into the deep end of the pool, Sven. You know what to do. Just jump in and start paddling.”

  He laughed again. “That’s what my dad said when he threw me in the pool at the camp up north in Minnesota.”

  I said, “Dad had the right idea.”

  Sven reached out to wrap his arms around me again, and we kissed. This time there was nothing tentative about it. It was passionate, and it was intense. I slipped one hand up inside Sven’s T-Shirt and I could feel his warm skin and the hard muscle beneath. Sven tilted his head to the right and kissed harder.

  Our tongues tangled together, and I let go of a soft moan. Sven cupped the back of my head in his powerful fingers as he pressed his lips hard to mine.