Page 16 of Smoky Mountain Dreams

Because kids? Kids he could do. A wife? Out of the question.

“Over there okay?” Jesse indicated a table far away from thecash register and Darla’s potential snooping, and with a view of the orange andpurple Halloween lights, strung around the various buildings along StarlightWay, and sparkling off the small man-made lake.

As they settled, Christopher caught the scent of spicy, warmcologne, and he checked Jesse’s hand again. Still no ring, and no tan linewhere a ring might have been removed.

“I grew up in Knoxville,” Christopher said softly enoughthat Darla wouldn’t hear him. “It’s not as small as Gatlinburg, but it’s smallenough. I know what it’s like to run into people who knew you ‘when’ every timeyou go out.”

That was a bit of an exaggeration. He didn’t run into peoplefrom his high schooleverytime he went out— justevery time he was feeling especially shitty about himself or he had a massivezit on his face. It was like clockwork.

“Yeah. It’s got its pluses and minuses,” Jesse said. “On theplus side, I just got a free meal.”

Christopher grinned and nodded, digging into the bakedbeans. He was always too nervous to eat before a show, and afterward he stuffedhis face in relief that everything had gone okay.

“On the minus side…” Jesse shrugged. “Well, the minus sideisn’t worth talking about.”

“How’s the turkey?” Christopher asked.

“Not bad.”

Christopher smiled again, taking in Jesse’s warm brown eyesand the light sprinkle of chest hair that peeked from the top of his button-upshirt. Even if Jesse wasn’t gay and nothing came of it, sitting with him wasn’ta bad way to spend some time. He sure was good to look at.

“How’d you end up here?” Jesse asked.

“Where? Gatlinburg? Or SMD?”

“I take it SMD is short for Smoky Mountain Dreams?”

“Yeah. SMD’s just easier, especially during long meetingswhere they want to review changes to rules and regulations. You know how itgoes.” Christopher mimed a little yawn. “Anything to get out of there even afew seconds earlier.”

“Understood.” Jesse took another bite of turkey.

“Well, it’s a long story,” Christopher said, not wanting togo into his failures and humiliations so soon. Not on the first…not on whateverthis was. Friend or maybe more than friend, Jesse was successful,well-traveled, and handsome. Christopher didn’t want to admit he’d nevermanaged to really leave Tennessee. A few vacations at the beach didn’tcount—not when he was sitting across the table from a man who had, according tothe pictures in his studio, gone all over the world.

Then again, he wasn’t sure what was worse—a story whereSmoky Mountain Dreams was the pinnacle of his ambition, or one where he’d triedfor something bigger only to fall hard on his ass and have to return home. Atleast failing in Nashville wasn’t really failing.Everyonefailed in Nashville at least once. Just because he didn’t want to go for a secondround, didn’t mean he was a complete loser, right?

“My mom’s family’s from Gatlinburg. Her mom is my Gran. Sheand I have always been really close. Which you probably guessed.”

“The locket,” Jesse said, nodding.

“Yeah. There was this time in my life when things were bad.And my Gran suggested I move up here to live with her for a while. But before Icould, she fell and broke both her hips. I ended up living in her house anywaywhen I got the job at SMD. She’s in an assisted living facility down in Knoxvillenow.”

“Is the house the thing you can’t ever repay her for?”

“That and so much more, really. She always protected me,”Christopher said, looking down, not wanting to see Jesse’s face when he saidit. “From my stepfather. From my mom. I mean, they didn’t hurt me. Physically.But you know how it can be in the South.”

“They’re conservative Christians?”

“That’s a polite way to put it. Given their beliefs, I tendto call them motherfucking lunatics.”

“Ah,” Jesse said, softly. “That sucks. A lot.”

Christopher wondered if Jesse knew exactly what he wastalking about, or if he was just assuming it was a difference in religiousbeliefs that had been irresolvable and nothing more than that.

“Anyway, when I got back from Nashville—”

“You went to Nashville?”

“What kid doesn’t try Nashville?”