Gay Amish 03 - A Way Home (30 page)

Isaac elbowed him playfully. “You’ll have to put on your disapproving big brother face and scare him.” Then he sighed and grew serious. “I wish Ephraim had come with her.”

“I know. For your sake, and hers. I think he broke her heart a little in the end.”

“I think so. He doesn’t seem to know what he wants yet. I suppose it’s good he’s not rushing. I think he might stay after all. Or go back to Red Hills. I should be glad that Anna’s talking to boys. Although I admit part of me was hoping they’d both move here and end up getting married and having babies so we could be uncles.”

“They still might. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? I miss having kids around.” With a pang, he thought of Sarah, and her face pressed to the window as he’d left, Elizabeth and Rebecca close behind her.

“Me too. I hope Aaron and Jen don’t wait too much longer.”

David watched the silent jumble of streets and buildings, the cars and invisible people going about their distant business. “I like the city from up here. It’s quiet. All the noise blends together until it’s peaceful somehow. Almost like the country.” He closed his eyes as the sun peeked out. Isaac’s bare arm brushed against his, and David inhaled deeply. It had a been a long week of hard work, and he looked forward to the weekend. He had the desk to make, but with Isaac helping it would hardly seem like work at all.

“I’ve been thinking.”

David cracked one eye open. “Uh-oh.”

Isaac nudged him, laughing. “I was thinking…” He took a breath. “I was thinking that maybe next year, when we’ve saved enough money, we could get our own place.”

David’s heart jumped and he peered closely at Isaac. “Really?”

“Yeah. Aaron and Jen still won’t take rent from us, and I thought if we continue saving, and I helped you with work every chance I can, we could find somewhere just for us.”

“You’re already working a lot more. What about school?”
Don’t get excited yet. Don’t get excited.
His breath was already coming faster.

“Summer school helped me so much. I don’t feel like I’m so behind now. With both of us working on your orders, think of how much faster we can save. I’ll still need time for homework and classes, but it won’t be as intensive as it has been. That’s the word Mr. Silverstein used. It won’t be as hard.” Biting his lip, he hesitated. “Wouldn’t you like to live together without anyone else?”

“Of course.” David smiled as he considered it. Their own home. “We could build all-new furniture. Our bed, like we talked about. And a dining table. We could cook more, even.”

Isaac licked his lips, nodding excitedly. “A place with a garage, so you wouldn’t have to work in that shoe box with Alan’s rapper music next door.”

“I’m used to it now. Mostly.”

“But you deserve your own space. The way you like it.”

David wrapped his arm around Isaac’s shoulders. “Thank you. But we can’t afford anything like that in the city. Definitely not with a garage.”

“I was thinking we could go out of the city.”

David blinked, afraid to believe it. “But what about school?”

“We could move out of the city somewhere a little more peaceful, but close enough to the BART. It wouldn’t be the country, not yet. But we could have a bit more space and quiet.”

“Well…” His heart thumped. He hadn’t thought they’d be able to move for years.

Isaac gave him what Jen had dubbed his “bitch, please” expression: lips flattened into a line, his chin down, and an eyebrow raised.

“Okay, yes. Definitely. But you’d have to take the train in and back every day. It would take a long time.” Still, excitement prickled David’s skin.

“What a chore to take the train every day. Boo hoo, poor me.” Isaac grinned. “It would be the best of both worlds. You could have your own workshop in our garage, and we’d have a place. We’d have to rent something at first, and it wouldn’t be big, but it would be ours. It’s great living with Aaron and Jen, but…wouldn’t that be nice? Our own house?” Isaac ran his hand over David’s thigh.

Nodding, David wanted to stand up and shout for joy, but he knew they shouldn’t get ahead of themselves. “But I don’t know when we’ll have the money.”

“I actually went to see Logan at his office yesterday. You know, Clark and Dylan’s friend who does the financial stuff? Obviously he wants to meet with both of us, but he said he would help us make a financial plan. With a budget and goals for how much we should save every month. I think it’ll be good to have a plan all written down. There can be little colored charts too.” He laughed. “It’s silly, but it makes it seem more official.”

“A plan.” David mulled it over. “I like that. And if we can’t afford it this year, maybe next. It’s not that long. You’ll be ready to go to college.”

Isaac nodded enthusiastically. “Aaron thinks I might get one of those scholarships if I do well on my SATs. He says I have a good story.”

David found himself smiling, and he kissed Isaac soundly. “It
is
a good story. It’s my favorite, in fact.” He rolled around the idea.
Our own home.
Then another thought flickered through David’s mind.
Maybe one day we’ll be fathers. Maybe we can have a family that would be just ours.

It would be years before that could happen, but the idea took root in him, burrowing deep. He kissed Isaac’s cheek. “I think it’s a good plan, Eechel.”

Isaac beamed. “It’ll be hard work, but we can do it.”

“We can.” David wasn’t sure why he felt so certain, but he did. They could do it. They
would
do it. “How about tonight? What should we do?”

“I don’t know.” Isaac leaned into him with a contented sigh and took his hand, playing with his fingers. “Do you want to stay here for a while?”

David did, and they watched a ship at sea powering over the waves, smaller and smaller as it sailed beyond the harbor for the horizon.

THE END