"Hello."

"Hi, Bill, it's Bobby."

"Hi Bobby. What can I do for you?"

"Are you free tonight for dinner? I, um, I could use some advise."

"Bobby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so but I need to talk a little. It's pasta night at the Honey Bear."

"Pasta night, huh. Well in that case, what time should we meet?"

"About seven?"

"Sounds good to me. See you then."



*****



"Hey kid, I ordered you a beer."

"Thanks. I'm liking this Indian summer but it was hot today and I'm so too old to be a kid."

"I worked up a sweat at the Farm and you haven't changed since we first met. You'll always be a kid to me. Bobby, what's wrong? Is this thing with Hunter getting to you?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Something he said a few days ago. Said he had a talk with you and he was able to get a few things off his chest. Hunter got a lesson in skipping stones and I think we made a little progress."

"I remember the day you taught me how to skip stones. I thought it was the most useless thing I ever learned until I realized that I had learned something and I didn't hurt quite as much as I did early that day. Bill, I never told Steve that I was there that night. I never told anyone but you. I wasn't allowed to go to the funeral. I never even went to Jimmy's grave. I still feel guilty about that night."

"Bobby, you were a kid, only fourteen. What makes you think you could have made any difference?"

"But I should have told someone."

"Maybe. But what would you have said? A guy you knew was going driving with a bunch of kids. Yeah, so what? Bobby, it was Jimmy's choice. He was planning that for a long time. I spoke to some of the other kids back then. They had a dare going on. It was stupid, reckless and fatal."

"But Steve, he didn't deserve that. He's a good man."

"And Hunter didn't deserve a mother who pimped him out as a child. And you don't deserve to feel guilty about something you had no control over. Bobby, I promise you Hunter will get through this. It won't be easy and it will take time but with you to support him and guide him, Hunter will be okay. Bobby, do you want to meet with me on a weekly basis? We can have dinner and talk about old times. How does that sound?"

"I think I'd like that, Bill. Maybe for a few weeks, you know? I need to take control. I feel like I lost it somewhere along the way."

"Good boy, and besides, I've always liked pasta night."

"How is Gary?"

"Good. We've just celebrated our fifteenth anniversary."

"Wow. That's longer than some het couples I know. Bill, I want the same for me and John. He wants to marry me and we've been talking about kids."

"Bobby, I can't think of two better parents than you and John. We'll get through this, kid. I promise."

"Yeah, we will. And I'm not a kid."

"Sure, kid. I know."



*****



"Bobby?"

"It's me. Did I wake you?"

"No, I was waiting up for you. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, but could we go outside to the barn? I need to talk to you."

"And you can't talk here? In our room?"

"Please John, I need this."

"Okay, let's go."

John and Bobby left the house and walked to the barn. Bobby indicated to John that he wanted to go up to the loft space. John climbed up the ladder as Bobby opened the storage closet and took out the sleeping bags that Brian had purchased for the treehouse. Bobby tossed them up to John before he climbed up. In silence they spread one out over the soft straw. The other lay close by. John laid down and Bobby snuggled up next to him.

"John, I have to tell you something but I need you not to say a word until I'm done. I'm afraid if you ask me anything I'll chicken out."

"Okay, but you have to answer a question for me first then I promise not to say anything."

"Go ahead, ask."

"Are you leaving me?"

"Leaving you? Oh god, no John! NO!..I love you so much, you're my life."

"Shit. I've been so scared. I thought things were better after the dinner with your parents but..."

"I know, that's what I want to talk to you about."

The lovers snuggled close and Bobby told John about the night Jimmy died. He told him about the pent up guilt he felt all those years and how ashamed he felt for not telling Steve he was with Jimmy just before he was killed. Bobby told him that he wasn't allowed to go to the funeral, how he never got to say goodbye. Bobby began to sob into John's chest; all his guilt and sorrow came pouring out. John tightened his grip on his lover and as promised stayed quiet except for whispering his words of love into Bobby's hair. After a while Bobby became calm.

"John, I need you...I need to take...I..."

"Baby, whatever you need, whatever you want. I'm here."

Bobby quickly stripped off his clothes and John's. He rolled John onto his belly then prepared John. Quickly, almost roughly Bobby entered John, hesitating at John's gasp.

"Bobby, I'm tough. Do it baby, take what you need."

Bobby began thrusting into John's heat. Tears of sadness and joy began to flow down Bobby's face. After some time, Bobby withdrew then rolled John onto his back. Lifting John's legs over his shoulders, Bobby began thrusting again into his lover. John met Bobby thrust for thrust. They held each other's gaze.

Holding tight onto John's thighs Bobby began to scream out his love. John fisted his own cock and the lovers came together. Bobby collapsed onto John's chest, their sweat mingling with John's cum. Neither spoke for a long time.

"You okay?"

"Yes, you? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, baby, you didn't. I swear."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being so rough."

"Bobby, remember that evening when I thought you and Brian fucked in the churchyard?"

"Yeah."

"I was kind of rough on you. I thought I had to take back what I thought was mine. That wasn't very nice of me. Sometimes we need to take back control."

"But at what cost?"

"I would pay anything, do anything to keep you from hurting, to keep you with me and happy. A little rough sex now and then is a very small price to pay."

"John Anderson, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Bobby Morrison, I will marry you. Now that that's settled, are we sleeping here tonight? If we are, I'll set the alarm on my watch. I have a client to see in the morning."

"John, I don't think I can move. Besides, I think we're glued together." The lovers chuckled as John set his watch. Then he reached for the other sleeping bag and settled it over the two of them.

"I love you Bobby," John whispered.

"Love you," Bobby answered as he drifted off to sleep, secure in John's arms.



*****



Hunter mucked out the last stall and wiped the sweat from his brow. He never in his wildest dreams thought he would be cleaning up horse crap … and enjoying it. Making the barn fresh and clean was somehow therapeutic, almost like cleaning up his own fucked up life. He threw the shovel on the heap of manure and wheeled it out to the pile behind the barn. He tipped the wheelbarrow emptying the contents against the stinking mass, then used the shovel to scrape the rest out of the barrow.

"You done?" Steve asked coming up behind him.

"Yeah," Hunter answered. "Just finished."

"Good. Bill's rustling us up some lunch. Should be ready in a few minutes."

"Steve, can I ask you something? Am I doing a good job around here?"

"Yeah, you make a fine farmhand." Steve smiled and lit a cigarette. He motioned for Hunter to join him on a bale of hay away from the stinking manure.

"Thanks. I … I kinda like how I feel when I complete a job," Hunter admitted.

"That's what happens to a lot of kids who come here. They finally find out that they can be good at something, no matter how shitty and disgusting that something may be." Steve chuckled as he indicated the manure pile.

"I can see why the farm is a success with a lot of those kids."

"Kids just like you?"

"Have you had other positive kids here?"

"No actually, you're the first."

Hunter grimaced. "I guess at the age of the kids who come here not many are sexually active."

"You might be surprised at that."

"Really? I guess I always feel like I'm the only one who has to face these things, like I'm the fucking most unlucky shit on the face of the Earth."

"You've had some rough deals in your life, but lots of other people do too."

"Like your son?" Hunter asked. He had wanted to talk to Steve ever since Bobby had told him about Steve's son.

"You know about my son?"

"A bit. Bobby told me that Jimmy was a friend of his."

"Jimmy … he was … he was a wild kid. I wish I had known then what I know now. I might have been able to help him, to save him." Steve stared at the ground as he took a puff of his cigarette. He shook his head.

"But look what you have learned from it, how many kids you've helped. Maybe that was how things were supposed to turn out."

"When did you become the fucking counselor?" Steve asked but there was no anger in his voice, just a touch of amusement.

"I'm thinking of getting my degree next week," Hunter joked.

"You might be good at it, you know."

"You think?" Hunter chuckled. He frowned thinking and then he had to say it. "Do you know what my full name is?"

"You're name's Hunter, isn't it?"

"My full name is James Hunter Montgomery. I was always Jimmy until I hit the streets and changed it to Hunter. It sounded more grown up, more dangerous."

"Jimmy … like my son," Steve said staring off into space.

"Yeah, I guess that's part of why I feel a connection to this place, to you … and Bill."

"It is an interesting coincidence."

"I think it's more than that. I think I was meant to come here. I'm not entirely sure why, but everything since I left Pittsburgh seemed to be steering me here. It has to be more than just a coincidence."

"Maybe so."

"Wasn't your son about my age when he died?"

"Pretty close."

"I … I'm pretty well healed. My ribs don't hurt anymore. I can work hard. Do you think I could work here for a while?"

"That's Bill's decision."

"But you could put a good word in for me, couldn't you?"

"The Andersons aren't about to kick you out. You can work here as much as you want."

"I know … I mean … I guess I understand that. But … I'd really like it to be a job, to be something that I earned, something that I had accomplished."

"I'll make that recommendation right after lunch," Steve grinned standing and wrapping an arm around Hunter's shoulder. They started walking towards the office.

"Thanks, I hope Bill will agree."

"I can't see why he wouldn't," Steve replied pulling Hunter a little closer. Maybe this was a second chance for them all.