Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,36
and a little bit of pure luck. Daniel was also just as easy to talk to as he’d been when they were kids on the cusp of young adulthood, and even though Micah hated giving his homophobic parents too much airtime in his conversations, Daniel had been as sympathetic as Micah figured he’d be.
The beach was busier than he’d thought for a midday in November, but Micah grabbed a spot and deposited the boards and towels while waiting for Daniel to join him. He started the process of slathering himself in sunscreen, as he’d learned his lesson early about applying and reapplying the sunscreen if he didn’t want to burn to cinders. Even with that in mind, he’d felt like he had a perpetual sunburn his entire childhood—the casualty of being an outdoor-loving ginger in Miami.
Daniel was easy to spot, and Micah threw a wave when he appeared at the top of the dune to alert him. Micah tried not to stare too obviously as Daniel made his way down the walkway toward their spot. He was wearing swim trunks and a tank top, sunglasses perched on his mop of dark curls, and what looked for all the world like an X-Men beach towel slung over his shoulder. He had a water bottle in one hand, and for a second, Micah was a kid again and they had boogie boards instead of surf boards, a cooler full of what would quickly become warm Capri Suns and a box of Cheez-Its. Daniel would read a hockey magazine and Micah would scan the horizon with some well-loved binoculars, looking for fins in the distance. Their Cheez-Its would be liberally encrusted with sand and the ice in the small cooler a warm water soup by the time they left, drowsy from spending hours in the sun and the waves.
“You know, the first winter I lived in Chicago when we moved, I didn’t own a single winter coat. I had like, a hundred hoodies and that was it.” He shook his head, dropped his towel and water bottle, and flashed a devastatingly adorable grin at Micah. “You’re still as easy to spot on a beach as you were when we were kids.”
“The hair, or the blinding pale skin?” Micah asked, smiling back.
“Both.” Daniel rubbed his hands together. “I’m excited about this—can you believe I grew up here and never went surfing?”
“I had an ex-boyfriend who grew up in Memphis, and said he never went to Graceland,” Micah offered. “But we could boogie board like champs, remember?”
“Yeah, I taught Nathaniel how to do that last year when we were in Cabo. Me, the hockey player who takes his family to tropical locales while my teammates took selfies with Instagram models.” Daniel winced. “Wow, that sounded...pretty absurd, huh.”
“Hey, you forget, I manage the Instagram account for some prime aquatic influencers,” Micah said. He held out the sunscreen to Daniel. “You need some?”
“I put some on before I left, but thanks.”
Micah tried not to be disappointed at that information, then told himself to stop being so thirsty and just concentrate on teaching Daniel to surf. “I spent a lot of time on the beach hanging out with surfers in high school. Mostly because they were hot, hey, I was sixteen. But I loved learning, even though I have to admit I’d probably never want to do it in Hawaii or whatever.”
“Why?” Daniel asked.
“The waves, man.” Micah laughed. “They’re better, or so they say, because they’re bigger in Hawaii. But look, I’m super content to surf the ones here. They’re the perfect size. Micah-size, you might say. Is that—did you bring a Colossus from X-Men towel?”
“Okay, look,” Daniel said, laughing. “It’s one of the kids’. I realized when I went to grab one this morning that they all have cartoon characters on them. Gretchen loves Colossus. She calls him the nice metal man.”
Micah snorted. “I see. Getting your kids to like your favorite superheroes, are you? I thought you were a DC guy, what changed?”
“Their terrible movies?” Daniel gestured to the surfboards. “Those are way bigger than boogie boards. If I drown, you’re going to both explain what happened to my kids, and also pay for their college.”
“I took out shark insurance on you,” Micah said, and broke into laughter. “Remember when I told you that was a thing?”
“Yes, you asshole.” Daniel snorted. “I believed you, too. Okay, let’s do this thing. I’m ready to get in the water.” He pulled off his tank top, revealing his well-defined