him
honey baby
suggested she was flirting.
Austin couldn’t blame her. Zach had baby blue eyes and thick black hair, with
high cheekbones and large lips that, coupled with his almost permanent dark
stubble, made him look both pretty and masculine. Zach quirked his eyebrow as the
manager chatted, something he did whenever he was offended, but he hid it politely
with a laugh. He glanced at Austin.
Austin dropped their bags in the backseat and went back into the room to
avoid talking with the woman.
After a minute the door opened, and Zach came in, looking nervous. “Hey.”
Austin shut the door behind Zach and grabbed him. He kissed him deeply,
loving the shock of surprise that bolted through Zach’s body, the heat of his mouth,
the softness of his lips, and the roughness of his cheeks and chin. He embraced him
tightly, then let go.
“I didn’t mean what I said,” Austin said.
Relief broke across Zach’s face. “Oh good. Because if you want to go back, we
can. I’ll just fly out and—”
Austin kissed him again. He felt Zach’s groin press hard against his thigh.
Zach was so easily riled.
“I didn’t mean it,” Austin repeated. “Let’s keep going.”
Zach pushed his cock against Austin.
“Want me to fuck you again?” Austin whispered hotly.
Zach’s eyes closed as he smiled, but he shook his head. “Yeah, but we have to
hit the road.” He held Austin’s shoulder, and he reached down and adjusted his
Love Ahead: Expect Delays
19
jeans. Then, with a blazing smile, he left the room, and just like that, any conflict
was over.
Austin was grateful. Zach was sensitive, but he never blew things out of
proportion. He seemed to accept the fact that Austin had a short temper, and rolled
with it.
“You want me to drive first shift?” Austin offered, but Zach shook his head.
“Nah, I’ll go first. Let’s get some breakfast before we hit the highway.”
They got takeout at a fast-food restaurant and large cups of coffee, which made
Austin feel like a new man. It was below freezing outside, and even with the
window taped up, wind leaked in through a crack in the repair and so it felt like ten
below inside the car as well.
Given the shittiness of the car they traveled in and the way the morning had
started off, Austin was surprised to find himself relaxed and in a good mood. He’d
spent entire years engrossed in bad moods. But Zach’s company had changed
something about him. As they chatted about the dull landscape, discussed mutual
friends, and reviewed the relentlessly cheerful and monotonous songs coming from
one of Zach’s grandmother’s uniformly polka offerings, Austin felt strangely at
peace with where he was and what he was doing. He felt…happy. Happier than he
could ever remember feeling.
After a while even Zach could no longer stand the spritely overtures of polka,
and they searched the AM radio stations for something to listen to. In between the
Tejano stations, classic-rock offerings, and country music were large swaths of
static, but for some reason the evangelical stations came across clearly regardless of
where they were. Austin did a good impression of an evangelical preacher, thanks to
his upbringing, but Zach eventually complained he was losing his Hanukkah mojo
and switched back to static.
Austin fiddled with the window gasket, pleased with its condition. “Next time
we pass through a big city, let’s stop at an auto-supply store. If they have this
window size in stock, I can replace it easily.”
20
Astrid Amara
“Yeah?” Zach smiled.
Austin nodded. “I brought a few tools. It’ll take me half an hour.” He tapped
the plastic window cover.
He couldn’t see much out of it, but that wasn’t a loss. The view from the
windshield was mind-numbingly repetitive, an endless vista of nothing, surrounded
by flattened scrub whipped ferociously by winter winds. Austin reclined the seat all
the way back, out of the wind. Zach asked him about his picks for the upcoming
football game, and Austin launched into an enthusiastic review of the Seattle
Seahawks’ entire season to date and their odds against others in the NFC West
division. Austin knew Zach didn’t really care about football, but he was a polite
listener, and Austin couldn’t help himself. His passion for the sport had a tendency
to appropriate conversations.
They stopped for lunch outside Spokane, and Austin took over driving. His
knees framed the steering wheel, and he felt like he cradled the dashboard in his
lap. He didn’t like how the clutch seemed to struggle to get into first gear or how
hard it was to shift into second, and he suspected the vehicle might have a defective
master or slave cylinder, but he didn’t say anything. It would last until they got to
Boulder. He hoped to make it to Billings, Montana, by that evening, because it
would position them well to complete the journey the following day. Zach harbored a
crazy fantasy of showing up on Friday in time for Sabbath dinner with his
parents—which Austin thought was a long shot, but he wasn’t going to say so out
loud. He let Zach take a nap on that weak hope.
Less than an hour into his shift, however, Austin glanced at the console and
saw the temperature gauge had risen into the red. The good mood he’d fostered all
afternoon vanished quickly.
“Damn!” He cranked the heat to high and turned the fans on full blast.
Zach sat up, blinking. “What’s wrong?”
“The engine’s overheating.” Austin tapped the dashboard.
“Where are we?” Zach yawned.
Love Ahead: Expect Delays
21
“We’re about to cross the Idaho border. Shit!” Smoke began to pour from under
the hood. Austin pulled the Spectrum onto the shoulder of the highway. He popped
the hood and looked inside.
The engine was pristine, no doubt thanks to Zach’s grandmother’s regularly
scheduled maintenance. But he noticed the hoses were brittle and close to breaking.
He measured the oil, which was full, but when he tipped back the cap, water
condensation dripped out.
“Damn.” He shook his head. What the hell had he been thinking? He should
have given the car a full checkup before they left Seattle.
He slammed the hood shut and sat back down in the car.
Zach looked grim. “Bad news?”
“I think our head gasket’s blown.”
“Is that an easy fix?” Zach asked cheerfully.
“No. The engine has to come out.” Austin glanced east to the nearby freeway
exit. “How big a town is Coeur d’Alene?”
Zach shrugged. “It’s a tourist destination. I’m sure they have an auto-parts
store.”
“We need more than just a part, Zach. We need a garage for this. I can’t take
the engine out in some parking lot.” Austin squeezed the wheel, pissed at himself. “I
should have checked under the hood before we left.”
“You didn’t know we’d be taking the Spectrum,” Zach said.
“Yeah, because if I did, I wouldn’t have agreed to come.” Austin slammed his
hand on the dashboard. Zach flinched beside him.
Austin breathed out deeply. He had to stay calm.
He got the car back on the freeway and crawled it to the first garage he found
in downtown Coeur d’Alene, a place called Lou’s Automotive that had enough cars
in the lot to suggest people trusted the mechanic. By the time he stopped, the
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Astrid Amara
engine was spewing white smoke, which whisked in a frenzied pattern from the
sharp wind off the lake.
It was late afternoon, and the sky threatened snow. Austin stepped from the
car and was hit with a bitter blast of cold air. He reached in the backseat for his
coat, then walked straight into the garage, where a man in a navy blue jumpsuit
was busy running diagnostics on a Toyota.
The mechanic was much shorter than Austin, with a balding head and a beard.
He clearly shared Austin’s sentiments as he stared distastefully at the fuming car.
As they discussed it, Austin watched Zach wander down the road. By the time he
and Lou had settled on a schedule and a price, including fixing the window, Zach
had returned.
Zach approached the garage with an eager expression. Austin felt crushed. He
hated breaking bad news to anyone, but for some reason it was worse with Zach
because of his natural optimism. He loved that about Zach, loved the way he could
take a positive message from even the saddest movie, but it always fell on Austin to
crush the dreams of the hopeful when it came to cars. And this would be no
exception.
“How’s it going?” Zach asked with a smile. His lips, along with his cheeks, were
flushed from the cold, and Austin wanted to kiss him. However, he was in Idaho.
And Lou was standing nearby. The last thing they needed was for Lou to sabotage
the engine because he was a bigoted prick.
“It isn’t great,” Austin said carefully. He clenched his jaw, trying to force back
his anger. He disliked leaving cars in someone else’s care, especially when the part
being replaced cost thirty-five dollars and would have been easy for him to install
himself at home.
But he didn’t have a lift, so they were out of luck. “The part has to be express-
mailed,” Austin told Zach. “It won’t get here until tomorrow morning, possibly the
afternoon. We can’t leave until the day after.”
Love Ahead: Expect Delays
23
Zach took the news in stride. “All right. So we’ve got almost two days to kill in
this town.”
“Shit. Yeah. Sorry.” Austin sighed.
Zach looked puzzled. “Why are you sorry?”
“I should have checked the car.”
Zach shrugged. “It isn’t a big deal. We’ll still have several days to be with my
family. I have an idea.” He grinned and pointed to a large resort complex on the
lakefront. “Let’s stay there.”
Austin looked at Zach’s rosy cheeks and shook his head. How could nothing
faze this guy? Tell Zach he would drop dead tomorrow of some agonizing injury, he’d
shrug, promise to make the most of the night, and carry on optimistically. Austin
had never known anyone so damned
cheerful.
“I thought you liked cheap motels,” Austin commented.
“I do, when I know I can leave first thing in the morning. If we have to hang
around tomorrow as well, let’s get a nice room. We’ll make it a mini vacation within
the vacation.”
“In this town?” Austin glanced skeptically up Sherman Avenue. The collection
of boutiques and restaurants hinted that the city was home to many tourists during
the summer, but on a cold December day, the place looked like a ghost town.
That said, Lake Coeur d’Alene was beautiful, and the resort commanded an
impressive view over the choppy blue water and surrounding peninsula of
evergreens. In the distance, misty hints of rolling hills colored the otherwise gray-
tinted landscape.
Zach pointed to one store, fancifully entitled Beachy Fantasies. “You’ll love
that store,” Zach said.
Austin scowled. “No, I won’t.”
“I saw you eyeing driftwood art once. You love knickknack stores.”
“I do not.”
24
Astrid Amara
“You do. You even love feathered seagulls pasted onto driftwood art. You love
T-shirts with wolves, and you love wind chimes in the shape of coho salmon.”
Austin fought a smile. He crossed his arms. “I hate everything about this
town.”
“There’s a spaghetti restaurant.”
“Great.”
“A magnet shop.”
“Fuck.”
“And according to this brochure I just picked up, the best cowboy supper show
is here!” He waved the brochure triumphantly.
Austin laughed. “What the hell is a cowboy supper show?”
“Want to find out?”
“Not particularly. Are there any gay bars?”
Zach flapped the brochure. “Not advertised here, surprise, surprise. But there
has to be one.”
“We’re in Idaho,” Austin reminded him.
“Come on. Let’s go check in.” Zach grabbed his backpack and suitcase out of
the car, and Austin followed suit.
They walked to the grandiose lobby entrance of the resort, and Austin at once
felt underdressed and out of place in the environment. The men in the hotel wore
polo shirts and pressed slacks, and he was in old jeans, work boots, and a beer T-
shirt over long-sleeved underwear.
Zach wasn’t any better dressed, but he blended in with the crowd effortlessly.
He had confidence that allowed him to belong in any environment, impoverished or
high-class, and with such an attitude, he genuinely fit in regardless of where they
were. One night they’d gone to dinner at an expensive French restaurant, Zach’s
treat, and then walked directly to one of the dicier bars Austin knew in the Pioneer
Square neighborhood. Zach never missed a beat. He apparently liked skanky places
Love Ahead: Expect Delays
25