Story:
Daniel Cortega is stuck in the past, and his shattered heart is unwilling to leave behind all it had ever loved. That is, until Jesse Gardner, an ex-detective trapped in an investigation long turned cold, turns up at his front door and confronts him about it. The more Dan reveals about his lost love-life, the more he realizes that the past is no longer a safe place to be. Genre: m m romance. monologue, one shot.
The zenith was little more than gray cloud. A single ray of sun shafted through a hole in the congested maelstrom, shining radiantly upon a mountain of red stone, but it was quickly snuffed out as a cloud shifted to hide it behind its greedy curtains. The world was draped in staid cold again. Walking between the fingers of the dead afternoon was a haggard man in his mid-thirties, a silent man neither young or old. Thin scars nicked the whole of his dark face, and the laziness of tired men made its mark in the form of thick stubble and messily cropped hair. His gait was little more than him dragging his feet across the dirt-ridden roads, hardly any better than a pocketless beggar, but many who happened to venture in his path knew better than to cross him.
This man, Dan, was searching for something in the mute world of Torrentes. Yet he searched in vain, for even he knew he had already found it long ago. Something told him there was still more to find, that something had been left behind. Perhaps hope, perhaps a ghost. He needed to find it to know.
Jeans turned muddy-red as the wind blew up swirls of miniature dust tornadoes. The smell of rain was sweet in the air. Dan had to walk past several boarded up houses and empty lots thick with weeds and stray cats before coming across a single human being. The remnant whispers of the dead littered itself upon every corner, poorly disguised as nostalgia, but they shattered apart in the winds to be whisked away into the mountains. Dan released a weak sigh.
He came before a crossroads. An elderly man dousing his gardenias with a green and snaking hose looked up at him with thick brows furrowed together. There were no words to be exchanged between them.
Eventually, Dan came to a stop before a van rusted beyond repair. The worn and leaning houses that pattered across Torrentes seemed to stop here, as if an invisible wall had held their invading boards back. Bent in fences that were reminiscent of car accidents and violent rebels lined the road beyond the eye could see, a small sign that read NO TRESPASSING--NO TRESPASAR posted every few feet. Dan felt an involuntary jitter in his hide, noticing the familiar bounce of faint rap music from a distance. The cursory lyrics came to a crescendo as a purple convertible rolled down the unpaved street towards him. Passengers with grim faces threw him irreverent stares, slowing down but still driving on. Dan himself gave them a weak smile that held no friendly greeting. When the car turned into the next street, utter silence once more settled like winter dust.
Dan wiped the dusty glass of the abandoned van with a fist. Peering inside with squinted eyes, he saw the van had been completely gutted; no steering wheel, no floors, and certainly no seats. Just the skeletal leftovers of a pack of starving wolves. Several teeth marks--that is, bullet holes--marred the driver’s car door and windshield.
Stand as still and silent as he might, Dan could not recall exactly all the events that had happened here. It was one of the few regrets in the world he refused to forget, yet only trickles of blood and smoky mirrors entered his mind at the sight of the abandoned truck. It was as if that singular, fatal day had become a black hole in his memory, taking what little he had left by the handful.
With a sigh and shake of his head, Dan looked up once more at the dreadful sky. He felt even moodier than before, the clouds foreboding as it was boring. Not a day of sunshine during the past week, yet from Torrentes he could easily see the downpour of rain and mist hailing the distant city-side. There had even been warnings of tropical storms in the past few days, but the town with its tired residents didn’t seem to care much what happened or didn’t happen. Either they were lucky, or some greater being was accumulating a dangerous amount of vile for one catastrophic blow, waiting for the right moment to strike. Dan himself did not want to think about it, though recently he had been forced to map evacuation plans for the whole of Torrentes.
With a defeated sigh, Dan slicked back his hair and closed his eyes. It was difficult to clear his mind. Thoughts were constantly clashing with one another, fighting to take precedence. The car, the rain, the poverty that marred Torrentes. Finally, Dan turned for home and left the truck alone to its faded past. It was pointless to have come.
The ceiling fan did nothing to help relieve Dan of the sweat forming along his brows, but it hypnotized him out of all feeling, its blades churning like the pages of an endless book. The chirping of the birds and the light cough of passing cars faded into a noiseless breeze. A trickle of a smile played upon Dan's lips. He lay utterly alone on the couch of his living room, yet he could feel a pair of familiar, warm hands caress the line of his jaw, tender as clouds on a summer day.
My love, said a honey-sweet voice, a finger running across the coarse hairs on Dan's cheek. Where have the years gone?
Dan’s mouth went dry and the pulsing of his heart paused. Where indeed? Has it been so long? The voice asked again, but it echoed answerless in the emptiness that inundated Dan's mind. It drowned out into silence altogether, replaced by the thunder of bleakness. Dan lurched forward, aching so badly to feel those hands upon him once more, but only his own hot tears were there to nettle the edge of his lips.
Suddenly, a banging filled his ears, booms harsh enough to make a deaf man flinch. Dread flooded Dan's as he came to a realization that nearly paralyzed him.
But he had to do something. He was the only one here to help. This was what he came to Torrentes for in the first place! Only a single phrase rushed through his mind as he reached for the combat knife on the coffee table--save him, save him, save him! In his haste, he nicked his palm on the blade, and a warm trail of blood oozed towards his elbows. A shrill cry for help pierced his ears, and Dan shouted back in return--
Dan’s eyes burst open. He gasped for a long drought of air, his heart racing as if he had been suffocating in his sleep. Quickly, he rose and surveyed the room around him, finding nothing else but the usual shelves void of books. The coffee table in his sleep was clear of any knives, but he then noticed a stinging in his hands. There was the knife, digging into his bloodied palms. He released the fist around it slowly, his joints worn with rust, letting the knife clatter to the ground.
A succession of knocks at the door quickly followed.
Dan shot forward from the sofa when he saw a blurred, sheepish face peer in from his front window. He strode towards the door after replacing the knife in his pocket, wiping his hands on a towel draped on the windowpane. He saw the stranger hop back onto the porch, opened the door, and was greeted by the stranger's outstretched hand, which Dan let fall unanswered.
“What do you want?” Dan asked, arching a brow as he searched this figure up and down. The man was covered head to toe in a trench coat and slacks, and his dark blond hair was slicked back like a movie star from the 1950s. The scent of a dry cleaner store was thick in the air.
“Name’s Gardner," the man answered stonily, "Jesse Gardner, but I prefer Gardner. Just wanted to say good job at handling those kids back at the La Poderosa. Saved us a whole lot of paperwork.” The stranger, Gardner, tipped the rim of his hat and flashed a pearly grin.
“What do you want?” Dan asked again more slowly this time, unaffected by Gardner’s charm.
There was a pause in which Gardner pursed his lips. “Straight to the point. I like that. Mind if I come in?”
“Depends on what you’re looking for.”“Well, I want to talk to you about a friend of yours. A long lost--or, I should say, stolen--friend. Think you can help?”
Dan narrowed his eyes. A powerful gust of wind blew at that instant, rustling the tree in the yard violently. The door creaked open wider as if beckoning Dan to let Gardner in. Stealing one glance at the sky and feeling somewhat indignant, he gave in and motioned for Gardner to follow him into the living room, where they settled down opposite from each other.
Gardner wasted no time. As soon as Dan’s bottom plunged into the feathery soft couch cushions, Gardner slammed a newspaper onto the coffee table. A monotone cameo shot of a young man stood out in bold ink on the front page, the words ‘23 yrs, 20 mar ‘01, college student, middle-class’, penned in red just below it.
“A man walking home from work disappears into thin air,” began Gardner without tearing his gaze from the image. “No one saw what happened, no one claimed to have heard anything suspicious. Wild guesses and speculations begin circulating; he was the…Ninth? Tenth? Kidnapping in a row that month. The streets are stark naked with fear as both cops and parents begin issuing curfews and restrictions like tyrants on a rampage.”
“So? People disappear all the time.”
“As much as the insensitivity of that statement irritates me, I'm gonna bite my tongue and stay on topic. Back at the station, we discovered something strange about these ‘disappearances’ in particular. Something odd they have in common, a pattern if you will.”
“You think I am connected to all these disappearances?” said Dan flatly.
Gardner shrugged. “Yes. And no.”
Dan remained silent for a long while. His mind was racing, and he could do nothing to control it. He clasped his hands together to keep them from shaking. “But you have brought only one picture of one victim. Where are the others? Or does this one simply deserve extra attention?”
After a ponderous moment of chewing his bottom lip, Gardner sighed. “I don’t know, really. I just couldn’t let this one rest; I slept with this young man’s image burned into my eyelids. He seeped into my nightmares, and I woke up shaking, scared and confused. It was as if he were haunting me in my sleep, trying so hard to tell me…something. Showing me signs. I lost no more time to sleep, and when that wasn’t enough, sacrificed my career for this one person. And now, after all these years, I have finally found me a lead. What can you tell me about the disappearance of Nico Boyé, Daniel Cortéga?”
Dan smiled. He had caught the twitch on Gardner's lips when the man let slip his career. Gardner had no jurisdiction in this area whatsoever. “And how did you find me after all this time, ex-detective?”
“Funny thing, that. I asked the folks around here for the local police station, and they direct me straight here.”
There was a pause. “So what now?”
“Well, obviously, we communicate. You have a reason for being here in this particular town, at this particular time; I have a reason for being here as well. You know, I have this tingling feeling that it‘s a little more than fate, this.”
Another silence passed in which Dan rolled his thoughts in his mind. “Maybe,” he said at last.
“Come on now, Daniel--”
“Just Dan. Please.”
“--Dan. I‘ve done my research, I‘ve bled the blood. Since it looks like you’re the friendly neighborhood hero, do me a little justice and quit these word games.”
“Don’t mistake me for any friend of any neighborhood. I am here simply because of consequence.”
“Yeah, sure, we all are. You part of the cartel because of consequence, too?”
“I can tell you like to talk, detective. I take that as a bad sign. After all, will you listen to the words I am willing to share with you?”
“Well, people like me only hear what we want to hear. At the very least, we don’t talk above others out of courtesy.”
“Then let us go for a drive. A very long drive. I will take you straight to the answers, and I will tell you everything you want to know.”
“You really expect me to trust you just like that?”
“No, but something about the open road makes my thoughts clearer. Besides, this room is stifling. No, this whole town is. Everyone is so cramped close together that I feel there are ears glued to the walls.”
“You’re just paranoid.”
“Aren't you?”
“Who is Nico to you?”
Dan sighed, but did not argue. “My fiancé.”
Gardner’s mouth involuntarily dropped to the floor. His expression straddled between disappointment and shock. Shaking himself back to his senses, he said, “Seriously?" Dan flashed a plain, platinum engagement ring on his finger. "Well, er, sorry...Do you have any further proof? No, nevermind...Well. That’s just terrible to hear. I mean it. But…How is that we--I--couldn’t even catch that in my reports?”
“I'm not surprised. We were extremely careful about keeping it quiet. Not that it was difficult. He was volunteering at camps all across South America, perhaps following in the footsteps of a young el Che, while I was busy preparing for the police academy. We hardly saw each other save a few days out of a whole month.”
“What’s this about keeping quiet? In the closet, were you?”
Dan shrugged. “It is still difficult for me to accept this part of me. I know others never will. I feel like I am trapped in something much smaller than a closet.”
“And Nico?”
“I dare not speak for Nico. I know only that he often told people he was in love, but never any specifics.” “And how is it you two are engaged? Not to be insensitive, of course.”
Dan’s laughter held only a hint of humor and more shame. “Oh, I can tell you are not married.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means we should go for a drive. That will be the only way you are going to get anymore out of me.” Gardner stared at Dan with a skeptical brow. Dan, however, shrugged and stood, leaving the house behind him as he made his way towards the driveway.
Several minutes later, Gardner emerged forth from the house, defeated.
Sitting in the driveway was a gray pick-up truck. The trunk was littered with construction tools and wood, and these Dan discarded in his yard so as not to be bothered by their clunking during the drive. The engine soon roared to life with much eagerness, one of its passengers stiff and the other lax.
“Anyway,” began Dan as he pulled out of the driveway, “It is just like a man and religion. How do so many people stay faithful to God, though we have never known him personally? We think of him deeply, see him in the deepest recesses of the soul, speak to him from our hearts. So it was with Nico and me. I was devoted to him in my own ways, though I do not deny that you are right; I was hardly ever kind to Nico, yet I expected so much in return for so little.” Dan paused as he slowly made his way down the road, narrowly missing a pair of cats crossing the streets. There was a very long space of silence in which Dan stared at the window in head-splitting concentration. Only when the green exit signs signifying the outskirts of town appeared did he begin again.
“It is for times like these that I wish I knew how to recite poetry. Perhaps then I could better describe the love I felt for this man, but all I will ever have are these stupid phrases picked up from the streets. The absolute minimum it takes to get the job done.
“Look upon me, detective.” Dan turned to face Gardner for a second before returning his eyes to the road. “Search my face if you have not already; here sits one of the least handsome men in the world, his impossible ambitions even uglier than the sadness that creases his eyes. You own a picture of Nico thanks to that news article, but it captures only a shadow of him. I myself remember little of him, only feelings and snippets of what had been. Who was this swan gracing my world, anyway? Why me, the ugly duckling born out of poverty and desperation? Questions, more questions, but I could see only one answer. I would cry out to God, over and over and over, thank you for delivering me this angel, my salvation, my everything. You have answered my prayers!”
Dan halted suddenly before a school. A crowd of children had just run out from the school’s exit and began to cross the streets in groups of four or five. Some of them ran home. Others walked with fists jammed into their pockets, deep in a day’s reflection. When the children safely crossed the street, Dan resumed his path down the road. They continued to pass such scenes as these, and the little town Torrentes was suddenly, for a while, awake again. All this they left behind too soon, and they finally passed the rusty, worn sign that read Come back soon! Beside Dan, Gardner remained nonchalant.
“Do you have someone waiting for you at home, detective?” asked Dan suddenly.
“I know the feeling, but that‘s all in the past.”
“Yes, all in the past. You know the song that goes, catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away…Watching Nico wake up at dawn beside me was just like catching a falling star right before it flickers into nothing. I woke very late at night just to capture that moment. So simple a gesture, yet the soul feels raw with passion. How can I describe it to you so that you might understand? I cannot; my words, my knowledge of them, is far too limited. We would leave each other again as the next week arrived. The falling star, the wholeness of the soul, would return to its place, as you say, ‘in the past’.”
“Such are the beautiful things in life,” said Gardner with a slight arch of his brow. Obviously, something in Dan seemed different, though the man still seemed rough around the edges. Gardner sniffed, leaning an elbow against the window. “In the past.”
“You know, there were many, many parties where I used to live. Private parties for people who look to be treated special. At these parties, time is as small as the watch on your wrist. My close friends would introduce me to these very beautiful girls, sometimes one at a time, sometimes three. We chatted without thinking, we moved without grace; our lips drawled on, our tongues reacted with diligence, but I do not think our minds were ever on the same things. Her eyes said I wanted this, mine said I wanted that…
“Suddenly, I feel all these swiveling eyes watching me closely. Shoving me into a stuffy corner until I could no longer breathe. As my mother’s words from boyhood resurfaces, so too does this fear that overflows into my consciousness.
“‘If you value love, then you must work to keep it valuable.’
“But they will figure me out. I am not like them. I am not normal.
“‘C’mon, man. These girls are just begging for it!’ Such were the words that open the flooded gates. It is a battle zone of the mind; do not think, just do. When the deed is done, I would sit with my head buried in my hands like this, wishing I could tear apart this mask I wore. All I can see is a red blur as I wiped at the tears. The fear dissipates; now horror begins to eat away at me, a horror that someday this guilt will fade into routine and I will no longer heed it at all. I could not help but imagine the disgust on Nico’s face when I admitted the things I done. I have defiled our love so many times.”
The truck came to a sudden halt. Gardner blinked several times in wonder, asking what was wrong. Dan muttered a swift apology, stepped out of the driver’s seat, and walked to the side of the road. He left the keys in the ignition on purpose. Not once did he glance behind him to check for the detective. After a forced waterfall of urine had passed, Dan returned to the car, turned on the radio to a Johnny Cash song, and apologized once more to the detective still sitting in the same place. Beginning to doze off, but still there.
A moment later, the truck was on its path to the unknown again. Dan passed Gardner a piece of chewing gum for him to stay awake, and the detective took it into his mouth with much gratitude. Outside, desert and distant rocky mountains matted against the azure sky began to grow more and more numerous, an infamous scenario often associated with buried corpses. There were the occasional rows of shrubs and the cacophony of cactus, but invading civilization had made its mark in strange ways in the form of abandoned construction sites or telephone poles.
Glancing over at Gardner, Dan suddenly realized that he did not want their drive to end. If anything, he wanted to say much, much more. He had never spoken to anyone about Nico until now.
“So you told Nico all about your escapades?” Gardner asked softly, to Dan’s slight surprise. He had long assumed the man deadened with boredom.
“I did not need to. Several times, he found me laying with a woman in our bed. We’d be in the midst of kissing, exposed to the skin, so careless and sloppy. Perhaps pretending to be a roommate, Nico would shout something witty, laugh, and simply walk away. Long after the women leave, he would ask me the same thing each time, as if nothing had ever happened, Darling, what would you like for dinner?
“My wailing was very embarrassing. I did not realize it in the moment, of course. I clung to him very hard without wondering whether he would take me in his arms or not. It was as if a hostile creature angry from being locked up for so long was unleashed inside of me, and it ate its way up through my torso until it finally reached the core of my heart. Me, the instigator, the inflicter of pain, stealing the victim‘s tears right from his eyes! I promised Nico I would confess to everyone I was in love with him, a man. He needed only endure me a little longer!”
“And did you?” Gardner asked when Dan said nothing. Dan opened his mouth, breathing a single word, but he closed it again. His thoughts were suddenly a mess.
“How long did you stay in Torrentes?” Dan asked.
“About three days. Why?”
“You must have seen all the family-gatherings on your visit, perhaps lost sleep because of how loud they can be. They spring up like mushrooms, happen like wedding parties, and nature is so pleased by such happiness that you can taste the stuffed jalapeños and hot mate in the air. The winds invite you to share in this bliss, calling you with these thrills and scents, but you softly decline because you are a stranger. Well, we are both strangers, really.” Dan paused, his eyes glossing over with the bittersweet tang of reminiscence.
“I always wanted to bring him to these family gatherings. Even he hinted he wanted to meet my family. Instead, I take him far out of town to rent two nights at a motel in the middle of nowhere. It was a crappy place with terrible service, the sort of place where filth is caked on the walls and rats scurry raucously in the roof. But no eyes to watch, no ears to listen. Feeling bad, I drove him around the state to go sight-seeing, stopped at a nice restaurant in a tourist city for a lunch break. That was where I asked him to marry me, and that was where he said okay. Hah! Not ‘yes’, but just ‘okay’…”
Dan shrugged. The big day never came. “I dropped him off at one of his friend’s house where they would catch a plane to Peru together. They were to go to a medical camp treating laborers for free. I did not get a chance to say a proper goodbye because we had a fight only moments before, but I watched his plane fly off from the tops of a cliff. I spent a night there in solitude, wishing so badly I could be on that plane with him.
“A few days later, with this heavy weight pressing down on me so hard that I was close to fainting, I confessed everything to my siblings. I was crying a lot, a part of me still denying everything, a bigger part screaming finally!” Dan paused. A smile stretched from eye to eye, and he laughed softly. Gardner smiled, perhaps feeling his relief as well.
“They were very open about it. I could see that in my brother’s eyes he was regretting all the homophobic things he had ever said. He even cried and gave me a hug, either because he felt he had lost someone very close or because he felt as relieved as I was. I still do not know. But I needed only to remember Nico’s plane gliding across the sky, remember that he would leave me forever like this if I did not do what needed to be done, and the words rushed out of my mouth like buried diamonds tossed out into the open air for the first time...”
“And your parents?”
“They kicked me out of the house. In their eyes, I was the lowest of the sinners. No, I was a sodomite, a devil who has stolen their beloved son from them. How they screamed: give Daniel back, you damn devil of Satan!”
“Their words sort of deflected off of me; I kissed the tiny cross hanging around my neck, shouted that wasn’t true at all. I was born from love, knew it as well as anyone else around me. No devil possesses me; I love as love has been taught to me by my family, my friends, my God. So I shall give it as you and God has taught me to do, and I willingly give it all to this one man!"
Gardner gave a sharp whistle. "And here you got me thinking you were terrible with words!"
Dan gave a small smile. “I drove away and lived in my car someplace until it was time for the police academy. There I lived and studied for many endless months. The night before graduation, I found out about Nico’s abduction from a friend who happened to be a great admirer of Nico's philanthropy. My jaw must have literally dropped to the floor in such shock. I had never felt so much anxiety, so much dread! Graduation day came soon enough, and everyone wore toothy smiles and clapped each other on the back. Congratulations, everybody, congratulations! But me? I tried very hard not to ruin such a good day, yet all I could think of was Nico. I must find him! If only I had not waited for so long, I might have been there for him.
“I purposely moved from department to department, following Nico’s footsteps until I found myself in Torrentes. It was much smaller before I moved there, you know. Much more poverty and hostility among the people. I knew this was the very thing Nico traveled across borders for; to fight these injustices. But then what about this one time when he needed their help? Even a small whisper of reassurance, a tear of sympathy…I asked the people living there for information, and all the answer I got was that they had simply watched and done nothing to help. But I found him nonetheless. I found him and I held him very close.” Dan’s voice slowly began to wane. He swallowed hard to clear the log that stopped his throat, to no avail. His tears, at least, had long dried out.
“You don’t need to say anymore,” Gardner said at last. He gave Dan a pat on the shoulder, noticing for the first time the cross hanging from his neck. How very small and unassuming a symbol, and yet its meaning stretched beyond the known universe. It has helped Dan, and yet it brought him to his knees.
Hours of silence passed before they finally decided to stop at an open restaurant. The light gray and blue towers of the next city could be seen looming in the far distance ahead of them, some planes making their way across the sky. The sun was just turning a dark shade of orange, draping the surrounding tufts of cloud in dusty salmon. As the two men stepped onto the boarded platform, the crackle of a radio greeted them, though the strumming of an acoustic guitar barely made it past the cacophony of static. A haggard young woman emerged forth, slapped the radio off and nodded at the two men.
“Sprite,” Gardner said a little grumpily. It was obvious such a place did not do well on his conscience. The waitress asked, “That‘s it? And what about you?”
“Beer.”
“You shouldn’t drink if you’re going to drive,” cut in Gardner, albeit very weakly.
“A ribeye, too. Medium rare.” The waitress nodded and disappeared behind the counter, emerging once more to serve them their drinks before returning to her kitchen. A bang of pots and pans could be heard, followed quickly by sizzling of hot oil. The smell of smoke and barbecue filled the men’s nostrils. Dan drowned his sorrows in the golden liquid, his mind neither thinking or empty. When the steak arrived, still no words were exchanged between them.
The sun had long settled behind a row of purple mountain. With bellies full, for Gardner had ordered something hearty to eat after all, Dan said, “I know the reason you came to Torrentes, detective. The real reason you came, and I know you know why too. It is too bad that you never got to know him as profoundly as I did, and never will get the chance, but the world continues on. So do not get stuck like me. You have more people who need your help out there.”
“You’re not making much sense, Dan,” chuckled Gardner.
“I don’t know how to. Look, I am going to do something that could get me killed; I am going to save your life. I will drive you to the heart of that city and help you get a taxi that will take you to the airport. Go back home. Don’t look back.”
“You really expect me to just do what you say?”
Dan narrowed his eyes, leaned forward slightly on his forearms. “You’re a good man, detective Gardner. Dedicated. Driven. You did a good job, but you’re just too late. So go home. Ask for your job back. There‘s nothing left for you here.”
The detective sat very still. Eventually, he asked softly, “But what about you? It might hurt, but surely you can walk away just the same.”
“My job here is not yet done.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am a broken man, detective. I have seen and done things that I cannot walk away from, things that will haunt me for as long as I live. My soul is filthy. My heart is weak, and I have paid for it with Nico’s life. No, I do not dare walk away from that.”
Gardner sniffed. “In other words, you’re going to do something reckless.”
Dan smiled. “Perhaps. You won‘t be here to find out.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is a mercy. Perhaps you will hear from me soon, I don‘t know. Just remember to be content, for you tried, but in the end, you would have not only failed but killed yourself as well.”
Gardner said nothing. Dan tried to read the words behind the detective’s pale visage but found only the bitter pang of resignation. He stood, feeling neither defeated or victorious, and made his way to the truck. Gardner followed close behind, but he paused just outside the door. “Dan,” he called out softly, his eyes on the ground.
“What is it?”
“I know you‘re forever his fiancé, but…C‘mon, man to man. Do you think I would have had a chance?” Dan laughed. “I don’t think so. You‘re too clean for his taste.”
“Oh, right. The cute ones are always into bad boys.”
With a laugh, they entered the truck at once, just in time to miss the torrential downpour that enveloped the countryside. Unaffected, they drove on and did not stop until they reached the city. Dan ended up having to turn around and head back to Torrentes, so he left Gardner to his own devices at a bus station. Of course, doubt still loomed ominously in the back of the men’s minds. If they found a window of silence to contemplate, it was a moment full of anxiety and hesitation. What is he plotting, one of them would whisper. Then in the next moment, but he has suffered through much already.
What more could they do but leave each other to the past and move on?
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