Page 70 of Ring Rust

For the first hour Jasper waited, he’d been worried Ryan was hurt. There was no reply to a casual text he’d sent checking in, but Ryan read it thirty minutes later, which at least confirmed he was alive. The excitement bubbling in Jasper’s chest all day had gradually flattened into the vapid stillness of their old normal, and when he finally heard the tires of Ryan’s Land Rover in the driveway, his gut soured instead of fluttered. He almost found himself wishing for a short, final goodbye.

Was he being hasty again? He imagined Stevie would say yes. That’s why he wasn’t going to kick Ryan out immediately. But if being two hours late was all it took to thrust Jasper back to feelings of uncertainty, that was something he probably shouldn’t ignore.

“I’m so sorry,” Ryan said, bursting through the door. He was wearing work clothes covered with sawdust, not unusual these days.

“I’m sure.”

“No, possum, I’m serious, I?—”

Jasper felt his face scrunch up.

“I just wanted to get a few things done at the park and by the time I looked up, it was later than I thought.” Ryan slid a bottle of wine across the counter. “I picked up your favorite wine on the way home so we can celebrate.”

“You said you’d be home at five.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Jas.”

Jasper sighed.

“I get the feeling you don’t believe me,” Ryan said.

Jasper shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“It matters to me, yes. I need you to know this was…” He waved his hands around, grasping for words. “It’s not something I was treating as more important than you. I was doing itforyou.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

Ryan’s shoulders slumped, likely understanding the subtext—they owed each other nothing because they were nothing.

“Jasper, come on.” He moved closer. “I do owe you communication, at least. I really am sorry. I know you don’t believe me right now, but I need you to at least… try.”

“I believe you’re sorry, I just don’t know if that’s enough.”

Ryan grabbed the food, somehow knowing it was waiting in the fridge, and put it in a dish to warm in the oven. “Can we just have dinner? You can tell me about your day. You had that school board visitation, right?”

Jasper nodded.

“Did it go okay?”

“It went fine. They like the new science lab.”

“The Jasper Sanborn science lab.”

Jasper smiled despite himself—he was proud of the new lab he’d campaigned for. It was completed over winter break and he’d finally been able to show the board, validating his efforts.

He was also secretly pleased Ryan had remembered.

“Sure.”

“I think it has a nice ring to it.”

“Well, it’ll be outdated before you know it, but that’s okay. It’s better than it was.”

Ryan opened the bottle of wine, leaving the beer on the counter. He poured two glasses. “We should toast to that.”

Jasper stood, raised his glass to Ryan’s, and took a quick sip. “Sure. Cheers.”

They were quiet for a few minutes.