Free Take Me Always by Ryan Field Page A

directly into his eyes again and lowered his voice. “Not really. But I
     
do remember the important things.”
     
Gregory looked away, as if staring into Kadin’s eyes had suddenly become too
     
painful to tolerate. He opened his mouth and hesitated for a moment, then said, “Is it
     
okay that I came here? I was worried it might be inappropriate or weird.”
     
Kadin knew what he was thinking: men didn’t go after other men like this in the
     
1950s. It just wasn’t done. “I’m glad you came,” he said. “But how did you know I’d still
     
be here?”
     
Gregory shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t know,” he said. “I saw you on TV the
     
other night and I just guessed.”
     
Kadin smiled. “You’re all grown up now,” he said. It wasn’t just the way Gregory
     
looked. When he spoke, his voice was calm and even. When he moved his arms, he lifted
     
them with slow, graceful movements. He’d developed an edge that suited him well.
     
“Five years does a lot to someone,” Gregory said. “But it’s amazing how you look
     
the same as you did five years ago.” He tilted his head and looked him up and down a
     
couple of times. “To be honest, I was worried I might find a bald guy with a paunch.”
     
Kadin was thirty-five. He’d been noticing flecks of white near his temples and a
     
few lines at the corners of his eyes. But he wasn’t going to ruin a compliment from the
     
most attractive twenty-five-year-old he’d seen in a long time. So he smiled and said,
     
“Thank you.” Gregory looked at the house again and asked, “Do you live in this huge place all
     
by yourself?”
     
Kadin knew he was asking this for a reason. He was trying to find out if there was
     
someone in his life now. “No,” he said. “I live here with my family. They’re all in Florida
     
for the week visiting grandparents.”
     
“I see,” he said. “Did you reconcile with your wife?” He didn’t look him in the
     
eye this time. He twisted his lips, turned to the right, and stared up and down at the trunk
     
of an oak tree, waiting for him to answer.
     
Kadin frowned. It wasn’t an extraordinary assumption. He sighed and said, “A
     
few years ago, my ex-wife was killed in an automobile accident, and now I’m raising the
     
children alone. They live here with me. I have a housekeeper. I’m not married or
     
involved with anyone.” He wanted to tell him there hadn’t been anyone serious since the
     
summer he’d met him, but it was too soon for that. He still wasn’t sure why Gregory had
     
come to see him.
     
“I’m sorry about your ex-wife,” he said. “It must have been awful for the
     
children.” Gregory had only met her once, the morning they’d taken the kids to The
     
Valdosta Snake and Wild Animal Farm.
     
“It hasn’t been easy,” Kadin said, “but we’re doing okay now.” Then he bent
     
down to pick up a bicycle lying on its side next to the front walk. He laughed and said, “It
     
gets a little crazy sometimes, but we get by.”
     
Gregory looked into his eyes again and said, “They’re very lucky to have you for
     
their father.” Kadin didn’t take compliments like that well. He was doing what he was
     
supposed to do as a father, and even though it was difficult, he was enjoying every
     
minute of it. So he changed the subject and asked, “How long will you be in town?”
     
“I’m not sure,” Gregory said. “A couple of days, maybe.”
     
Kadin knew Miles had moved away, and that Gregory didn’t have any ties to
     
Savannah. So the next question he asked was the one he’d been thinking from the minute
     
Gregory stepped out of the car. “Why are you here?”
     
Gregory shrugged his shoulders and stared down at his shoes. “Ah, well,” he said,
     
“I wanted to see you again is all. I’m engaged to be married this June and I’m starting a
     
new job in Atlanta, and I just wanted to touch base with you again.” He