“Smile pretty,” Garrick’s sister urged from her position by the paddock gate as she held up a camera. Her family had arrived that morning, prepared to stay the holiday week, and Garrick’s dad hadn’t wasted any time in hurrying them all to the barn and horses. Rain was counting down until their solstice party that night, but he hadn’t protested the idea of a short ride. The weather was too perfect to not be outdoors—crisp and clear and cold. Nothing like a soggy Portland winter, that was for sure.
“You sure you’re okay riding double, Rain?” Garrick’s sister paused her picture taking to get that worried-mom furrow to her forehead.
“Yup.” Rain tightened his grip on Garrick’s nephew. Kenny had the youngest in front of him, and it meant something to Rain that Kenny trusted him enough to let him ride with the other kid.
“He’s put in the time this fall, learning the ropes.” Garrick’s dad’s approval felt like the fleece lining of his jacket—warm and fuzzy. Learning to ride had been far more fun than he’d expected, and watching Garrick and his dad bond over the experience had been more than worth a few missteps along the way. “Old Blue stands around and pines for their visits.”
“And the new horse seems to love Garrick.”
“Dad’s retirement program for her is practically a luxury retreat,” Garrick joked, but Rain knew how hard he’d worked with his physical therapy to make riding in the adaptive saddle comfortable. “But Honey’s a great horse. Being able to ride again, that’s been awesome.”
His tone was light, but his eyes were serious, an emotion there that Rain wasn’t entirely sure how to name. It was similar to when Garrick had completed the purchase of his specially modified car, how he’d seemed proud yet vulnerable at the same time. Confident too, the way he talked to Honey now, a cowboy side Rain hadn’t realized he had. And seeing him gain it back, well that had been one of the highlights of the past few months for Rain.
And far from rendering Rain unnecessary, sharing the progression of both riding and driving goals had brought them closer together. He’d wholeheartedly cheered Garrick’s first solo drive, secure in his place in Garrick’s life. It had taken a few months to get there, but he trusted now, on a deeper level than he’d even thought possible.
When their eyes met, he tried to tell Garrick without words how happy he was. Later, everyone would gather at their place, work friends, his family, and Garrick’s. The prospect should be scary, but instead, all it did was fill him with a giddy sort of joy. Their place. Grandma had gently mentioned at a certain point that she wanted her spare room back, and he’d realized that it had been months since he’d spent the night there. So, he’d packed up his things and rather than live out of suitcases, he and Garrick had assembled a second dresser for the bedroom, and Rain had gotten to work on his holiday knitting and decorating projects, and that had been that. Shirley joined them for food several times a week, and Rain helped her whenever she let him, and together, they’d all fallen into a routine that worked for them.
“Tomorrow we can do a longer ride. You’re off, right, Rain?” Kenny asked as he made a slow circle around the paddock, much to the little kid’s delight.
“Yup. I’m working weird hours for the holidays. I volunteered for Christmas Eve since so many people wanted off for that, so I got today and tomorrow off. I wanted Christmas Eve anyway since that’s the big party for our residents in the morning.”
Surprising almost everyone, including himself, Rain had taken a job at a retirement community after the fire season had ended. His main job had started out as driving the community’s shuttle van, but he’d quickly moved into filling in for an activities director out on maternity leave and doing whatever other odd jobs needed doing, like holiday decorating.
“Adams and Ryland better watch out if they want you for a crew next summer.” Kenny laughed as he pulled up even with Rain’s horse.
“Oh, I’m still working out with Garrick to be ready for a fitness test. My friend Zeb is too. The woman I’m filling in for will be back from leave, and there’s a good chance I can work both places over the summer.”
As far as long term, he still wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted, but he was making his peace with not having all the answers yet. He’d come to really enjoy the work with his hand crew, and the thought of being back out there in some firefighting capacity come fire season made his insides dance. Anticipation, as it turned out, was its own adventure—having things to look forward to, things to return to, and things to try anew.
“Ready to head out?” Garrick asked as his sister opened the gate.
“Yep.” Rain had seldom meant his agreement more. Lead or follow, he was in this thing for good now. He was totally ready to head out, see what the future brought them both.
“Doing okay?” Shirley paused in setting out food to give Garrick an appraising glance.
“A little sore,” he admitted. His hip flexors were still getting used to the special saddle, and the kids had begged for a longer ride than initially intended. But damn, being up there on Honey, hanging out with his dad and the rest of the family, had been more than worth a little discomfort. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed riding until he had the chance to do it again. He hoped his dad knew how grateful he was to him for making that possible.
“Well, try not to overdo.”
“Says the woman who’s been baking all week,” he teased. Garrick and Rain were hosting, but Shirley had been bustling about all week with preparations too. It was funny and more than a little surreal, seeing his once-dream bachelor pad transformed for a gathering of friends and family. He’d held plenty of parties here, but nothing compared to this. Endless strings of white lights twinkled both indoors and outside, the firepit was roaring on the back patio, and the table groaned with the ever-growing buffet as more people arrived.
Garrick’s dad had contributed a fresh-cut tree, which stood in the front window, baby gate around it to keep Cookie from stealing the colorful ornaments Rain had produced—an eclectic mix of miniature stockings he’d knit along with discount store finds and a few additions from Shirley. Even Garrick had been goaded into crocheting little snowflake ornaments, something he’d found surprisingly hypnotic, a nice way to relax while Rain and Shirley worked on their holiday knitting projects.
“All this food looks amazing.” Garrick’s dad snagged a muffin from the basket on the table. Garrick couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his dad so happy, all the visitors and holiday prep rubbing off on him in a way they hadn’t in years. He’d even made sure that there would be a veggie roast for Rain for Christmas dinner in a few days. Garrick’s sister and dad would cook a big meal and the kids would get Santa presents, and Garrick couldn’t wait to see his dad’s place filled with the sounds and smells of the season.
“We made it!” Someone must have opened the door to let in Rain’s parents, who arrived with yet more food for the table and hugs all around.
“Is there anyone you didn’t invite?” Garrick’s dad shook his head as he took in the gathering. Rain’s brothers and Harper stood near their parents, while other friends like Bosler and Zeb mingled with some of Garrick’s old crowd. “Surprised Rain didn’t add some of his residents.”
“Maybe next year.” Rain’s smile was wide and pleasure clear in his words whenever he talked about his new job. Every day he came home with fresh stories about helping this resident with groceries or that resident with hanging pictures, going above and beyond what the community paid him for. It wasn’t a hotshot crew, but in a lot of ways, Garrick had never seen Rain happier, and he was so glad that he’d backed off and given him the space he needed to apply widely to different jobs as the fire season had ended. And if Rain’s growing collection of muscles was any indication, he wasn’t going to have any worries about making it onto a crew in the summer.
“Heck, it feels like half the town came as it is.” Garrick gestured around the packed house. This was nice. More than nice. Felt like his chest could scarcely hold this much joy and happiness. And Rain wasn’t the only one happy with work. Garrick had stayed on with the forest service after fire season had ended, helping Ryland and Adams plan for the spring controlled burns and working dispatch for winter crews. He was always going to miss smoke jumping, but there was surprising satisfaction in his new role.
And more than a little of that was having Rain and his bottomless enthusiasm to come home to. Even on boring paperwork days, he could look forward to some new recipe, some silly story or some new Cookie antics. Having this place truly become a home for both of them was a pleasure he hadn’t seen coming and one he wouldn’t trade for anything.
Leaving Rain to his family, he slipped on a jacket and wheeled out to check on the small group by the firepit. Linc had a steaming cup of coffee while Jacob was playing tug-of-war with Cookie and her new favorite toy, a fake leopard-print slipper Rain had produced recently. It was something of a private joke between them as it also matched a sexy leopard-print robe Garrick had given Rain some weeks back, and the toy never failed to make Garrick smile.
“There you are. Been waiting to catch you alone.” Linc gave him a smile. Garrick still wasn’t used to how much more his friend smiled these days, thanks largely to Jacob. “We’ve got Jacob’s family gathering on Christmas, so we’re giving you your present early.”
“I don’t need a present,” he protested.
“Yes, you do. Yours for us arrived yesterday. Nice taste.” Jacob laughed.
“That was Rain’s doing!” He laughed because of course Rain had remembered the threat about matching pajamas from their Pride double date and followed through on it, finding ridiculous ones with paw prints on them. And how damn amazing was it to be here now, hint of snow in the air, Rain still around, to the point of doing joint presents.
“Card said it was from both of you, and regardless, this is for you.” Linc pulled a white envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it to him. Jacob stopped playing with the dog long enough to watch Garrick open it, and Rain slipped out onto the patio right as Garrick was reading the slip of paper inside.
“What? I don’t understand.” He looked at the three of them, all of whom were studying him intently. “It’s a gift certificate for skydiving. But I can’t...”
“You can.” Linc clapped him on the shoulder. “I found an instructor out of Reno who’s a master at adaptive skydiving, even taking people with quadriplegia up. He’ll be in the area over New Year’s. What do you say?”
“I...uh...” Garrick swiveled his head, gaze landing on Rain, who had an expectant smile on his face. He’d bundled up in a thick hand-knit cardigan and mittens and looked even more eager than Linc and Jacob. “You were in on this?”
“Well, yeah. And I know a tandem jump isn’t quite the same as a solo flight, but I know how much you’ve missed it.”
“Oh...wow.” All summer and fall, Garrick had worked on coming to terms with not returning to smoke jumping, letting go of the idea that he might never get to experience the high of free fall again. And now his friends were saying that some piece of that might be possible after all.
It was not without risks. But even knowing all those risks, he wanted to, could already feel the wind rising up to meet his face, the tug of the chute when it deployed, and the thump of landing. And yeah, tandem jumping was different, less control for him, but the idea that he could have even a little slice of all that back was intoxicating. As was the fact that Rain seemed to want that for him. He understood him so damn well, on a level that few others could.
“I do want to try. But only if you’re okay with it.”
“I’ll be right there, cheering for you. I’ll keep the coffee hot on the ground, and then we can all watch the video after.”
All Garrick could do was nod at that because the idea of getting one more jump with Linc and Jacob...that was really something. Best present he could imagine from friends he wasn’t sure he deserved and the person who already had his whole damn heart.
“Good. Can’t wait. I’m getting more food. Jacob?” Linc ushered Jacob back into the house, leaving Garrick and Rain alone in front of the fire. A stray flake landed on Rain’s sweater arm, and Garrick brushed it away.
“It’s snowing. Hope it sticks.” Rain’s grin was warmer than the fire, more joyous than the music filtering out from the house, and there was enough mischief in it to have Garrick counting down to when the house might be empty again and they could crawl under the covers in their big bed and watch the snow falling together.
“Thank you.” It wasn’t adequate, but it was all he had.
“Well, most of the logistics was Linc.” Rain waved away the praise. “I’m just your cheering section.”
“And that’s a lot. Everything. Knowing you’re waiting for me...” He shook his head. “I’ve had plenty of reasons to jump before, but never such a good one to come back to earth for. You’re something else.”
“You were willing to wait on me or follow me if that’s what I wanted and needed. I’m just returning the favor.” Rain held his gaze. “And always. You go fly. Cookie and I will be right here. And who knows, if you make it look fun enough, you guys might get me to try it yet.”
“I’d like that. And I like knowing you’re here even more. You don’t have to ever jump to prove something to me. I love you exactly how you are.”
“Same. And this is a part of you.”
“A part of my past,” Garrick corrected, grabbing his hand. “You’re my future. The future I never knew I needed this damn much, but I do. I love you for making this happen for me, but I love you for giving me my future even more. You give me hope, hope that the best parts of my life are still to come. And I can’t thank you enough for that.”
“How about you just love me instead?” Smiling, that secret private pleased grin of his, Rain bent his knees so he could brush a kiss across Garrick’s mouth.
“I can do that.” And he could. And he would. Behind them, the house erupted with laughter, a joke they’d hear about later, but right here, it was only them and that wide-open future full of possibilities. Job changes. New hobbies. More pets. Lots of additional parties over various seasons. Trips. Promises they’d make and vows they might take. They’d grow and change, and Garrick honestly couldn’t wait to see it. He pulled Rain down for another kiss, this one more lingering. This was his forever person, whatever the future brought, and he was going to keep on loving Rain through all of it.
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