Page 72 of Rebound

“What if you gave him an experience instead of a gift?”

“What?”

“An experience. Something that isn’t tangible.”

Ben sighed and drummed his fingers against her countertop. “That’s a good idea, but it doesn’t help. I don’t know what experience I would want to give him.”

“Why don’t you take him on vacation?” she asked. “Let him cut loose a little in a place that’s really far removed from here.”

“He’s not in the closet,” Ben said.

“But he’s not out-out, is he?”

He shook his head.

It didn’t bother him that Thomas wasn’t open with everyone in his life. He understood everyone had a different journey to acceptance and he wasn’t going to judge Thomas for his. As it was, they went on dates and they held hands and kissed in public. Thomas didn’thidehim, but Ben wondered if it would be nice to be away from home where they could just be with each other. Where Thomas could just be himself.

“What about the beach?” she asked.

“He’s more of a nature guy.”

“The beach is natural.” Lara hung up her white dish towel. God, everything was white and it was uncomfortably sterile.

“Like plants and dirt natural.”

“The mountains, then.”

He slow clapped her, rolling his eyes. “Great second guess, Sherlock.”

“You didn’t have a single idea when you showed up here with your iced coffee bribe.” She wagged a finger at him and leaned over the counter, snatching the aforementioned coffee.

“Fair, but now I have to find a good place to get away for the weekend that isn’t too far of a drive, but is far enough away to provide the experience.” He waved his fingers in the air like he was making magic, which in a way he was.

Lara came around the kitchen and sat down beside him on a stool at the island, sliding her laptop toward him. He flipped it open and started to type. Lara sipped her coffee while he browsed listings for campgrounds and hotels within a four hour radius of town.

“That one.” She leaned across him and pointed at one of the listings.

He clicked it, bringing up a sleek website about a small campground nestled at the base of the Evergreen Mountains.

“That’s a big tent,” she said.

“It’s a yurt.”

“A what?”

“Yurt.”

“How do you know what a yurt is?” Lara sucked the last of her coffee out of the cup, slurping the straw and rattling it around the ice.

“I saw it as a Jeopardy answer once and it’s never left my head.”

“As is the way of things.”

Ben scrolled the website, reviewing the offerings and the amenities. “This looks really nice.”

“Book it.”

He pulled his wallet and his phone out of his pocket, dialing Thomas before he did anything. His ever presumptuous best friend opened his wallet and withdrew his credit card, tapping the corner of it against the metal of her laptop while he waited for Thomas to pick up the phone.