Daybreak in Sandbridge

Chapter 1-2

“After Ma died, it was a while before I was able to come back here,” Scooter said. Andy had been listening attentively, hands clasped behind his back to keep from interrupting. “After she passed, everything just…fell apart. Dad fell apart. He was never the same after she was gone. By the end of that first summer after she was gone, I was pretty much running the place on my own. Came up here a year after she died. I…don’t know. I feel closer to Ma here than anywhere else. Even Dockside. At Dockside, she belonged to everyone. Here…here she was just mine.”

Scooter tugged gently, leading them off the gravel-strewn path they’d been walking on, and across the grass toward an enormous tree. Andy looked up at it, and simultaneously saw why a child would feel a deep and urgent need to climb this tree, and also a nonsensical spurt of terror that Scooter had been all the way up there with no one to catch him when he fell. He shivered, and held Scooter’s hand tighter. But it was a magnificent tree, no doubt about that. “I’m glad you came back,” Andy said. “That would’ve been a shame. It’s gorgeous.”

Scooter dropped to one knee and cupped his hands. “Wanna go up with me?”

Andy hesitated. He’d never climbed a tree before. He could only imagine the furor it would have caused when he was a child. But Scooter was looking at him with that hopeful smile, and Andy was pretty much defenseless against that. He set a foot in Scooter’s cupped hands and reached up for the closest branch. It had to be easier than the climbing wall at the park, right? “Not too high?” he hedged anyway. “I’ve…never done this before.”

“Okay,” Scooter said. “Not too far. There’s a good set of branches about four up from here.” Scooter stood, lifting, and Andy found himself halfway over the first branch without any effort on his part. Scooter took a few steps over and leaped, getting one hand on Andy’s branch and another on the one next to it and shoved himself through the fork with a grunt. “Used to be easier, before they took the picnic table away. I was shorter then, too, though, so maybe I’m just remembering it being easier.”

“Well, you weigh more now,” Andy pointed out reasonably. He was half-sitting, half-kneeling on his branch, and looking around for the next decent handhold. There, that one wasn’t too far away. He pulled himself up onto his knees and grabbed it before putting his feet under him. Easier than the climbing wall at the park, but not nearly as stable. Every time Scooter moved, it seemed to shake the whole tree. Or at least Andy’s whole branch. He managed to pull himself up—ug, how long had it been since he’d had to do pullups in gym class?

Scooter went up quick, his body flexing as he swung himself from branch to branch with the ease of practice. His shirt rucked up and he hissed as he scraped a bit of skin on the branch, but he got himself settled, back against the trunk, legs spread wide over on a particularly huge branch. He hooked his foot under it on one side and offered Andy a hand. “We can sit here, yeah?” The branch had a fork about three feet away from the trunk, thick enough to rest against. If Andy looked up and not down.

He took Scooter’s hand, and that felt safer. Andy’s balance had been getting better by the time they’d put their surfboards away for the winter, but they’d gone out again in wetsuits as soon as the spring storms hit, and he’d felt as wobbly as a newborn kitten. Scooter would never let him fall, though. Scooter tugged, and Andy threw his leg over the branch, and they were settled. He looked up—the sky was only visible in tiny spots between the still-pale spring green of the leaves. “Nice.”

“I always liked it,” Scooter said. He rested his head against the trunk. “Sometimes I think I can still hear her. The firepit used to be over there.” He pointed to a spot maybe twenty feet from the base of the tree. Andy guessed. He didn’t really feel like looking down. “Remember one time, someone wanted me to powder monkey for the cannon crew. ‘Hey, Lori, where’s that boy o’ yours?’ ‘Up the tree,’ she said. ‘Think he’s got a crush.’” Scooter smiled, fond. “I did, too, but I didn’t know really know, you know? I didn’t think it was possible, I wouldn’t have believed anyone if they’d told me. That I could…that I could love a person as much as I love you, Andy.”

Same here, Andy thought. He’d thought he loved Nick once, but that had really just been lust, mixed with gratitude for the man who’d helped him escape his father. Nick hadn’t loved him back, either, not really. Not the way Scooter did, the way Scooter was looking at him now, like Andy was some kind of miracle. He couldn’t stand the space between them, suddenly, and let go of the branch to curl his hand around the side of Scooter’s neck, brushing Scooter’s jaw with his thumb. “Love you, too.”

Scooter turned his head and kissed Andy’s palm. “Good,” he said. “I um…” Scooter let go of the tree, rummaging through his pockets, then…”Close your eyes for, like, ten seconds, okay?”

Andy stared at him, but then took hold of the branch again and shut his eyes.

“Okay,” he said, and Scooter sounded nervous. “I was…you know, I kinda rehearsed this, even, but…Andy, I’d…Be honored if you’d agree to marry me.”

Andy’s eyes flew open. Scooter had a small box in one hand, the sort that everyone who’d ever watched a cheesy rom-com was familiar with, black velvet and square. Scooter turned the box to face Andy and cracked the lid. His offering was simple; a gold band with a square sapphire, flanked by smaller, rectangular diamonds.

Andy couldn’t talk. He couldn’t even breathe. He hadn’t…They hadn’t been together for a whole year yet, and Andy already loved Scooter more than anything he’d ever felt before and oh God, he was tearing up, and if he did that he wouldn’t be able to see and he’d never be able to get down from this tree, he was just…”Oh my God,” he managed to squeak. “Are you—you really mean that?”

“I really do,” Scooter said. “You’re the one for me, Andy. I…can’t even, I mean, if you’re…it could be a long engagement, or, you know—”

“Oh, God, stop it, yes, of course, and also no we’re not waiting. Well, you know, a little bit of waiting so we can do plans and have some ideas and did you have any particular time frame in mind but oh God I can’t shut up please make me shut up now—”

Scooter leaned forward and very gently brushed his mouth over Andy’s lips. “Give me your hand, baby.”

Andy shuffled closer and then let Scooter take his hand. He waited until Scooter had taken the ring out of its padding and said, “If you drop that and we lose it in the grass, I’m going to laugh so hard.”

“You said yes,” Scooter said, balancing the ring between his thumb and forefinger. “Can’t get out of it now, even if we lose the ring forever.” But he didn’t drop it, merely slid it onto Andy’s left ring finger where it fit snug in place. “Ah, good job,” Scooter said, holding Andy’s hand up to admire it.

“Wouldn’t want out of it,” Andy said. He leaned in cautiously to kiss Scooter, slow and then hot. “That’s why I said yes.” He glanced up at the leaves. “Hope she approves.”

“She’d adore you,” Scooter said. “Even if it was just because you make me so happy. But I think she’d see the same things in you that I do. Bravery, kindness, intelligence. Great sense of humor. You’re a fine catch, Andy. Thank you.”

Andy kissed Scooter again. Then, because if they kept being sappy he was going to tear up and seriously not be able to climb back down, he wiggled his eyebrows ridiculously and said, “Well, I’m happy you’re the one who caught me. Ready to take me home and stuff me properly?”

Scooter laughed, soft and a little wicked. “Oh, I’ll nail you up against the wall any time you want, baby doll.”

Andy started laughing helplessly. “That’s…that’s just terrible. That’s a terrible pun. I can’t live with this. The wedding’s off until the pun-tax has been paid!”

“Yeah?” Scooter shifted, preparing to climb down. “What sort of currency is acceptable? I’m sure I can come up with a suitable bribe.” He gave Andy a haughty look, “But I’ll have you know, I’m a faithful sort of man. I only have s*x with my fiancé.”

“Oh, yeah?” Andy let Scooter help him down a level of branches. Going down was harder than going up. What even the hell. “I’m pretty sure I could talk to him, make a deal with him to get you on loan.”

“I wouldn’t,” Scooter said. “The interest rates are insane. Probably better just to buy outright.”

“Hmm, I dunno. I’m not sure I could afford you. Maybe I’ll ask my boss for a raise.”

Scooter swung down and touched the ground lightly, holding out his arms for Andy. “He’ll probably say no; he’s a little strapped. Got a wedding to pay for and a husband to support. Maybe you should just marry me, sounds like it’ll be easier.”

Andy could have dropped to the ground easily from the lowest branch, but he jumped into Scooter’s arms anyway, and wrapped his arms around Scooter’s neck. “You make a compelling argument,” he admitted, grinning.

“That’s good,” Scooter said. “Pretty sure Sam would turn me down flat. And then I’d have this ring and nothing to do with it.” He grinned back, then threw his head back and whooped. Scooter picked Andy up and swung him around in a circle before kissing him soundly. “You said yes!” he crowed. “God, baby, I was so scared. That you’d say it was too soon, or…”

Andy wrapped his arms around his fiancé’s waist and held on tight. “Good thing your Ma taught you to be brave, then.”