Rory's Rock

Chapter 1-2

The ice storm came sooner than predicted. It had already begun when the men set off for the bunkhouse, Zane carrying a gallon of milk and Rory a Tupperware box containing their post-supper snack, Barry’s usual admonition to keep Zane out of the box until eight o’clock still ringing in their ears.

After taking off hats, gloves, and jackets, the men made their way into the main room.

“Not going to meet Mr. X.?” Liam asked.

Wayne rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Wayne disappeared every few evenings and didn’t return until late. No one knew where he went but Wayne had once confided he was meeting someone. Jake had then speculated Wayne was seeing a married woman and Wayne wasn’t as gay as he claimed. Wayne had snorted and admitted he was meeting a man, but no amount of questioning, threats, or offers to do his morning chores for him had made Wayne say more.

“Not with the storm,” Wayne said, getting out the checkers board. “Want a game?”

Liam agreed and they set up the board.

Zane turned on the TV and tuned into a basketball game. Rory curled up in one of the massive leather armchairs opposite the crackling log fire, threw an afghan over himself, and resumed reading a novel on his tablet about the adventures of knights in medieval England. And so what if he had a mental picture of Zane in shining armor astride a white charger.

Rory had just looked at the time—7:49—and thought it was close enough to snack time, when the lights flickered a couple of times before going out completely, taking the TV with them.

“f**k!” Liam said softly. “There’s flashlights and candles in the kitchen. Wayne, you keep your hands off my checkers. I know exactly how many I have and where they are.”

“f**k you,” Wayne responded.

Even though the fire still burned in the fireplace, Rory shivered, so he tucked the afghan more tightly around himself.

Liam soon returned with candles and flashlights. “Hope this outage doesn’t last as long as the last one.”

The previous winter they’d been without power for several days until the power company was able to reconnect them. Rory had hated the dark and more especially the cold.

Liam and Wayne resumed their seemingly endless rounds of games of checkers by candlelight, while Rory picked up the action in his novel. He’d learned from the previous year’s outage and had invested in a couple of high-capacity rechargeable battery packs. Although as the wireless modem wasn’t powered, he wouldn’t have access to the Internet. Zane merely stared at the blank TV screen, no doubt willing it to come back to life.

“Why don’t you read a book or something?” Liam eventually asked Zane.

“Not into reading much.”

Rory couldn’t ever remember seeing Zane read anything save the directions on a bottle of supplements for one of the animals.

A short while later, Wayne announced he was bored with playing checkers. “Wanna play cards?”

“You only wanna play cards ’cause I whooped your ass at checkers,” Liam responded.

“Yeah, right.”

Not that Rory had intended to keep score, but Liam had won about two thirds of the games.

“Rory will play Trivial Pursuit with you.” Wayne snickered.

Wayne scoffed. “He’ll beat my ass.”

“Beats everyone’s asses,” Liam grumbled.

Rory smiled from behind his tablet.

“Isn’t it snack time?” Wayne asked.

Zane perked up. “What snack did Barry give us tonight?”

“Peanut butter brownies,” Rory said. He put his tablet to sleep, unwrapped himself from the afghan, and started to get to his feet.

“I’ll get ’em.” Zane sprang to his feet. For a big man he was surprisingly agile.

Rory sat down again.

Zane walked to the door then turned around. “Is there any crackers and cheese left?”

“Should be,” Rory said, admiring how the man filled the doorframe.

“You ate all the cheese yesterday,” Wayne murmured.

“Oh, yeah.” Zane’s face fell.

“It’s okay. I’m not hungry. You can have my brownies,” Rory told him.

Rory was rewarded with a brilliant smile that warmed his insides. “Thanks, man.”

“You shouldn’t give him your food,” Liam said.

“You need it more than he does,” Wayne added.

Rory was comforted at how these men looked out for him. Plus he’d gotten a beautiful smile from Zane. It was worth it to forgo a couple of Barry’s brownies.

Liam’s cell rang. “Hello? Hello! Goddamnit!” The foreman repeatedly poked at the screen. Finally silencing the ringer, he asked, “Yeah? Hi, Jake…” He rolled his eyes. “No, you can tell Barry we’re barely coping…” He nodded. “We’ve drawn straws and we’ve decided we’ll eat Rory first.”

Rory rolled his eyes.

Zane reappeared in the main room, open Tupperware box in hand, brownie smeared over his mouth and stuck in his goatee. “The microwave won’t work. I like my brownies warm.”

“You’re right, we’d better pick Zane instead,” Liam said into the phone. “He’d definitely see us through the winter.”

“Huh?” Zane’s face creased in confusion.

“Never mind,” Rory told him, casting off the afghan once again and getting to his feet. Quietly, he said, “The power outage means the microwave won’t work.”

“Oh, yeah.” Zane treated Rory to another smile which was soon hidden by a whole brownie being pushed into his mouth.

“Tell him it isn’t necessary,” Liam said, still talking on the phone. He sighed. “Yeah, I know, you can’t tell Barry anything once he gets an idea in his head…Okay, see you in a few.” He hung up the phone and addressed the hands. “That was Jake. He’ll be here with thermoses of hot chocolate and anything else Barry thinks we’ll need, just as soon as Barry’s heated up the milk.”

“Is the microwave working in the main house?” Zane asked.

“They have bottled gas to the stove,” Rory explained.

Zane nodded before cramming another brownie into his mouth.

“Hey, leave some for us,” Wayne protested, getting to his feet and taking the box from Zane.

“I’ll call Barry and ask if he can bring over some cheese,” Zane said, patting his pockets.

“Cheese’ll give you bad dreams,” Liam told him.

“Naw, always sleep like a baby.”

“Never heard a baby snore before,” Wayne muttered.

Rory didn’t need cheese to give him bad dreams but he never ate it before bed, just in case.

* * * *

Barry’s care package contained items more interesting to Zane than cheese.

“Been years since I made s’mores,” the big guy said, squishing his third marshmallow, chocolate, and Graham cracker sandwich together.

“And you’re making up for lost time,” Wayne said, taking the improvised toasting fork made from a straightened wire coat hanger from Zane.

Rory wanted to tell Wayne to lay off Zane, the man was forever getting on Zane’s case about how much he ate. However, as usual, Rory chickened out and stayed mum. Not that Wayne’s words seemed to bother Zane; it was like water off a duck’s back.

Once Wayne had toasted his marshmallow, he offered the coat hanger to Liam.

The foreman shook his head. “Had enough sugar this evening to keep me wired all night.”

Zane took charge of the toasting stick once again and spiked another marshmallow. Expertly toasting the confection on all sides, he prepared the s’more. “Here. You’ve only had one,” he said, handing the sandwich to Rory.

“Not that hungry, but thanks.” Rory took the treat, his insides melting at Zane’s thoughtfulness.

“Gotta look after my little buddy, ’specially as he looked after us when Barry was in England.”

Liam announced he was going to bed and Wayne offered to bunk with him to share body heat.

“Sure Mr. X. won’t mind?”

Wayne flipped him the bird. “Just keep your cold feet off my legs.”

Liam scoffed but accepted a hand up from his position kneeling in front of the fireplace. “Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping my distance. With the beans you had at supper, you’ll be passing gas all night.”

They started for the door.

“Listen to Mr. Silent But Deadly.”

“At least I don’t rattle the timbers,” Liam retorted.

Rory was left in the main room with Zane, who was toasting the last of the marshmallows.

Shortly after Zane finished his snack, he uttered the words Rory had both dreaded and longed for in equal measure. “You and me should bunk together, too.”

Rory swallowed, and pulled the afghan closer around himself. “Thought I might try sleeping in here where it’s warm.”

Zane looked around. “Can’t stretch out, except on the floor.”

Rory shrugged. He didn’t sleep well at the best of times—bad dreams, unpleasant memories, imagined noises…

“There’s room in my bed for two. I’ll keep you warm.”

A mixture of emotions washed over Rory, leaving him slightly light-headed. He managed to nod and croak out an okay.

Zane’s face—thick lips, crooked teeth, and too big nose—transformed into something…magical when he smiled. And Rory’s insides melted whenever one of those smiles was aimed at him.

With pounding heart, dry mouth, and shaking legs, Rory followed Zane out of the main room.