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Jovian indeed lived in one of the closed cabins…for a month. In that month, he stayed with Cherokee five nights of every seven.

So, they decided it was time. Jovian moved in with Cherokee and got a crash course in gardening that first day.

Cherokee made him harvest three huge baskets of vegetables, then he had to help can some, dry some and even learned to make tinctures. It was a very long day.

“You’re the one that picked the time of year you moved in. Not my fault.”

Jovian lay on the bed, exhausted, but smiling. “There are three grocery stores within ten miles of us, Cherokee. Just once, maybe, can we go shopping?”

“My vegetables taste better, aren’t covered in pesticides, and they’re cheaper. A packet of seeds is still under five bucks, and you just helped pick what amounted to a third of a bag of seeds.”

“I hate your logic. Did I ever tell you that?”

“Every time I put you to work,” he said as he crawled onto the bed next to Jovian. “Wait until spring, when you’re helping me transplant seedlings. Or, in about a month and a half, hunting seasons start.”

“I am not hunting! I refuse to kill poor defenseless animals!”

“Okay, you can stay back here and just gut and skin them for me.”

“I may have gotten over most of my ways, but I will never, ever, do that. I’m still a…”

“Princess?”

“Yes. I am. And you fell for me this way.”

He laughed and kissed the side of Jovian’s mouth. “Yeah, I did. Okay, will you at least learn to cook?”

“Not a chance,” he answered with a giggle.

“Clean?”

“Do I look like a maid?”

“So, you’re just gonna make me do all the hard and yucky jobs?”

“Mmmhmm,” he hummed, laughing at Cherokee’s consternation. “You know, I could have kept looking for that rich guy with a pool and Mercedes.”

“And I could have found a couple of twinks with a slave fetish that would do all the work around here and beg for more.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“And why?”

“How utterly boring would that be? You can’t get enough of my sweet ass and terribly cute self. Even if you try your best to make me un-cute, with all these chores!”

“You’re right. You’re pretty un-cute right now. Your face is dirty and,” he leaned in and gave a loud sniff. “You stink.”

Jovian cracked up and accused, “You’re lying!”

“Even a bear wouldn’t want you smelling like this.”

“You are a horrible liar, Cherokee Dixon!”

Someone hollered from outside the cabin and they both rushed to the windows to see who was visiting. It was Alan and his husband, Clayton.

They rushed outside to distribute hugs and greet their friends. “Alan, why didn’t you call?”

“Jovian, you knew I was coming to the first winter camp with Clayton.”

“You’re two days early!”

Clayton explained, “I was eager to get here. It’s been a rough month at work.”

“And…for a winter camp, where is the snow?” Alan asked as he took off his light coat and stared up at the cloudless sky.

“It’s snowing tomorrow, actually,” Cherokee told them. “All day, if my mended broken leg is telling me right.”

After Jovian rolled his eyes, he informed them, “He acts like he’s a hundred. It’s really annoying.”

“Jovian, don’t make me send you to the corner.”

Alan pled, “Please, do! I’ve been wanting to see that since I first met him.”

“Cads, all of you.”

“I’ll take you to the camp and get you settled in the cabin. We’ve got fourteen coming for the winter camp, and True and Bernie should be there already.”

“Great. Jovian, we’ll see you soon?”

“I’ll be down after I shower. This brute says I stink.”

“Oh, it that was that smell was?”

“I officially hate you and Cherokee. Clayton, you’re the only one I won’t despise.”

“Well, thank you, Jovian.”

After he showered and readied, he went to the camp to greet those trickling in for the first winter camp.

Kathy was there, but Mike had to work and couldn’t make it.

It was almost complete for him, but that evening, around the campfire, Mike face timed them, and the reception was perfect for them all to talk to him.

As Cherokee held him in front of the fire, with his friends singing old songs as Bernie played the guitar, Jovian remembered his old life, and how lonely it had been.

Ci never called him anymore, as she had found her rich man in Naples and didn’t have time for Jovian any longer. His mother fussed constantly that she didn’t see enough of him, but she came at least once every two weeks.

When she came, she brought him clothes he could no longer use, and tried to stuff money into his hand, but he politely refused it. They had to learn to connect in ways that had nothing to do with money, and his mother, well, she didn’t quite know how to do that yet.

But she was trying.

His father rarely came. It was a bridge too far him living with a man instead of just dating them. But that was okay, too. They’d never been close.

Cherokee’s life was his life, and he couldn’t be happier. That fire, those faces shining in the light of it, the breeze that brought the scent of the lake and the pine trees. That was his life, and he was happy, finally happy.

Cherokee’s strong arms held him every night, letting him know he was loved, protected and accepted as he was.

Oh, the old Jovian came back sometimes, and he found himself judging people or being meaner than he should.

But with time, he knew that would stop, and he’d finally be the guy that he wanted to be.

A guy like Alan, Cherokee, True, Bernie, Mike, and even a bit of a girl, like Kathy.

Good, sweet, loyal and, most of all, at peace.

The End