Chapter 8 — Jack

“Calvin…” Jack smiled and held out his hand to shake, feeling way too formal and more than a little ridiculous as he stood there unannounced and clearly unexpected. “I, ah… I thought maybe…”

“You’re here,” Calvin said, reaching out tentatively to take Jack’s hand. “You’re here. But why? I mean, I’m glad. But… why?”

It was the question Jack had asked himself more than once on the long drive from Massachusetts to Ohio. He’d come up with plenty of reasonable excuses, plenty of plausible ways to answer—but they all boiled down to the same thing.

“Because of you,” Jack gave a sheepish grin. “You said you needed help, so… here I am, ready to help.”

“This is Jack?” Jack somehow hadn’t even noticed the mountain of muscle standing behind Calvin until he started speaking. “The Jack? From high sch—ow.” The man shot Calvin a hurt look and fell silent as he rubbed his side.

“Sorry,” Calvin said, though Jack wasn’t entirely sure which one of them he was talking to. “Jack, this is my friend, Gage Michaels. Gage owns the gym next door. Gage, this is my, um… this is Jack Roberts. I’m sure you’ve met his mother, Bea.”

“Of course,” Gage said, vigorously shaking Jack’s hand and seeming to forget all about his hurt side. “I adore your mother. And I’ve heard so much about you. It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Jack.”

“Likewise,” Jack said, furrowing his brow as he looked from Gage to Calvin. “Good to meet you, too.”

“Okay, thanks for stopping by, Gage,” Calvin said a little too loudly, interrupting and physically nudging Gage toward the door. “Why don’t you call me later and we can, um, talk about that stuff from before… okay?”

“Right, sure.” Gage smiled and stood there for another few seconds before belatedly moving toward the door—maybe with another not-so-subtle poke in the ribs from Calvin. “Okay, right, I’ll talk to you later.” He gave a little wave and then ducked out the door, but didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was staring through the shop windows as he walked back to the gym.

“He seems like a nice guy,” Jack said, grinning as Calvin’s face flushed a light shade of pink. “Maybe a little, uh…”

“A little much,” Calvin finished for him, rolling his eyes. “He’s definitely that. But he really is a good friend, and a good guy in general. It’s always easy to know where you stand with him, at least.”

“I can see that,” Jack said, laughing. “But anyway… how are you? I wasn’t sure if I should come or not, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.”

Jack hoped he sounded more confident than he felt about the decision. In spite of what he’d just said, he still wasn’t sure it made much sense, but it felt like the right thing to do.

It had certainly made his mother happy, so that was a plus. And he had been overdue for a visit, in any case.

“I never expected that you’d actually come here,” Calvin said. “I’m grateful, though. I know it sounds sort of dramatic, but the town needs your help. All of us here on Main Street do, anyway. Once word gets out that we have an actual consultant on our side, people are going to be lining up at your door.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I really do want to help however I can. I know it’s been…” Jack looked away for a moment, trying to find the right words. “It’s been a while since we’ve really talked—I mean, really talked—but I want you to know that I’m invested in making things better here. I think you’re fighting a good fight.”

“We’re all really serious about it,” Calvin said. “I just hope we’re able to show the city council—and the rest of the people in town—that we really can make Silver Lake better without sacrificing the look and feel of the place.”

Just hearing Calvin speak so passionately about what he believed brought a genuine smile to Jack’s face. Calvin had always been a quiet, unassuming, bookish guy—another reason why his current business was such a good fit—but he had never been shy about his beliefs, and what he thought was right and wrong, even if it meant sticking his neck on the line for something that might not be so popular.

It had been that way when he came out of the closet as a teenager, and Jack had been in awe—still was, honestly—of the amount of guts it must have taken to follow through with that decision.

That was Calvin, though, and it was good to see that was a part of him that hadn’t changed. Jack hoped it never would.

“I’m on your side one hundred percent,” Jack said. “I need to go soon—I promised my mom I’d join her for a late lunch—but I’ll be here for the next couple of weeks, maybe a little longer. If we could, I’d like to come in early tomorrow morning with you and we can get started planning.”

Jack watched as Calvin’s eyes lit up. “That sounds fantastic. I never dreamed you’d actually be in town for a full two weeks. It’s almost too good to be true.”

“Well, I have a lot of vacation time saved up—almost four weeks all together—and it’s not like I’ve got much of a life outside of work to actually spend that time on, so…” he shrugged. “You’ve got me. We’ll see where everything stands after the first two weeks are up and then we can go from there.”

“Perfect,” Calvin clasped his hands together. “Jack, I still don’t know what exactly pushed you over the edge to come here, but I’m really glad you did. Truly. Thank you.”

“I’m just happy to be in a place where I can help,” Jack said, meaning it. “And we both know my mom never would have let me get by with staying in Boston this whole time, so I think it’ll all work out for the best.”

“I think you’re absolutely right,” Calvin said. “And I won’t keep you for now, or we’ll both have to answer to your mom, but here,” Calvin walked over to the front counter and picked up one of his business cards before bringing it back to Jack. “This has my cell phone number on it, so if you want to call or text in the morning or whenever, we can coordinate our schedules.”

Jack reached for the card and took it, his hand grazing Calvin’s for just a split-second. It was barely a touch—nothing, really—but it was enough to feel the heat coming from Calvin, and more than enough to bring all the memories from the last time they’d been this close come flooding back.

“Th-thanks,” Jack said, taking the card and tucking it away as he stumbled over his words. Now he was the one who was blushing, if the burning sensation in his cheeks was any indication. Why did his mind always have to go back to that night? Why couldn’t he just put it behind him? They had both been young and dumb then, just kids.

But no matter how Jack tried to justify it, he couldn’t shake that memory, couldn’t pretend like it hadn’t stirred up a bunch of confusing, conflicted feelings back then that still lingered all these years later.

Calvin frowned. “Is everything okay? We don’t have to meet up in the morning if you’ve got other stuff going on. I’m sure you’ll probably be spread pretty thin between all of this and family obligations while you’re here, but I just thought—”

“No,” Jack shook his head, swallowing hard. “I mean, yes, everything is good. Great. Tomorrow is great. I’ll call you, okay?”

He stumbled back toward the door, leaving Calvin with another puzzled look on his face. “O-kay…” Calvin said. “I’ll talk to you then. Thanks again for coming, Jack. You’ve really made my day.”

“I’m glad,” Jack said, pausing at the door to smile and try to get himself together. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

He turned and hurried out the door with a little wave and didn’t look back until he was standing in front of his parked car.

So much for getting himself together.

If this was what he was going to feel like every time he was around Calvin from now on, it might not have been such a great idea to come back after all.

Jack opened the car door and sank down into the seat, putting both hands on the steering wheel and taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

No.

It was a good idea to come back. This was a good cause and a good use of his time.

As far as the rest of it? His feelings and thoughts and confusion whenever Calvin was around?

Well… Jack would just have to deal with it. It was clearly a problem within himself, so he should be able to close it off and shut it down.

That would be the easiest option.

The best option.

The only option, really.