Page 110 of Something Like Forever

Ben shook his head. “Thisis one weird little world we live in.”

“It is,” Nathaniel said.He pushed away from the house and whistled.

Zero raced over, and aftera few false starts, sat obediently as Nathaniel dried him off. Benwatched him work, wishing that Jace could be here because he wouldhave stories about Victor to share. Maybe even photos and othersouvenirs from the past too.

“Hey!”Ben said, an idea occurring to him. “Would you mind coming upstairswith me for a second? There’s something I’d like to showyou.”

Nathaniel shrugged andagreed. After making sure Zero’s paws wouldn’t track mud on thecarpet, they went inside. The dog was distracted by children on theway, so when they reached the upstairs hallway, he and Nathanielwere alone.

“It’s in the attic,” Bensaid, hopping in an attempt to reach the rope that hung from theceiling door. “Do you mind? I’m too short.”

Nathaniel didn’t sharethis problem. He easily grabbed the rope and pulled, revealing aladder of wooden steps that reached the floor.

“Afteryou,” Ben said. “I’m pretty sure I have a photo or two of Victor.If you want to see.”

“Yeah!”Nathaniel said.

He might have more thanthat, but he didn’t want to make promises he couldn’t keep. Benclimbed up the ladder, grateful that Tim had organized it all acouple of years back. All of Jace’s things were in a neat stack ofboxes, and he didn’t have to dig far to find what he wanted. An oldshoe box, worn down and droopy around the edges. The contents werestill pristine. He found the stack of photos, feeling a littlestrange when flipping through them because many were of Jace. JustnothisJace.This person was younger, a teenager with shoulder-length hair andfeatures that weren’t yet as masculine as Benremembered.

“Jacelooked a lot different back then,” Ben said, handing over a photo.“I’ll show you a newer one of him when we’re downstairs again.Anyway, that’s my man! One of them.”

Nathaniel was moreinterested than he expected, staring at the photo intently beforelooking hungrily at the stack. “Are some of them private? Because Iwouldn’t mind seeing them all.”

“Goright ahead,” Ben said, handing him the photos and moving closer sohe could see them too.

Nathaniel skipped pastmany, but any with Jace interested him. He paused at a photo of agirl who shared a strong family resemblance. “I know her. Ithink.”

“Michelle?” Ben said.“That’s Jace’s sister.”

“Thesame Michelle who was here earlier? The socialworker?”

Ben nodded.“Yeah.”

Nathaniel looked up inshock. “I knew she went to school with Victor. She helped me beforewhen my brother... I never made the connection. Had I known thatshe was Jace’s sister, I would have pestered her fordetails.”

“Maybe that can still bearranged.”

“I’dappreciate that.” Nathaniel resumed digging through the box andstruck gold, because a sequence of photos—possibly an entireroll—were of Victor. Many were similar. Victor smoking, the anglechanging only slightly as Jace must have captured image after imagewith infatuation-fueled obsession. Then he reached an image of Jaceand Victor together, side by side, their arms draped over eachother’s shoulders. He paused the longest on this one, consideringit in silence. Then Nathaniel looked over at him.

“I need these. Name yourprice.”

“You canhave most of them,” Ben said. “Jace would want you to have the onesof Victor. I’m sure of it. The others we can make copies of.” Hemoved back to the shoe box. “There’s more here. Not much,but…”

He pulled out an old Zippolighter, handing it to Nathaniel, who took it with reverence. Thenhe looked at Ben for confirmation.

He nodded. “I know that’snot Jace’s. He didn’t smoke. I think you can see it in one of thephotos where Victor is lighting up. There’s also this.” He took thewooden lion from the box. The carving was primitive, but notwithout talent. “I wish I remembered the details better. I knowthis was special to Jace. We had it sitting on the mantle of ourhouse. Before then, it was in this box for the longest time. WhenJace died, it seemed right to return it to the box.” He stoppedtalking long enough to hand it over.

Nathaniel took the lion,fingers moving along the rough edges. “This lookshomemade.”

“Victor made it,” Benconfirmed. “I don’t know if he was into carving things, just thatit was a gift for Jace.”

Nathaniel continuedcaressing it with awe, like he hoped it would reveal its secrets.Ben understood how he felt. At times he would discover somethingJace had left behind, a special Christmas ornament or a forgottenvideo recording, and it always felt like Jace had reached acrossthe void to communicate with him. Nathaniel seemed to remember hewas there and tried handing it back.

“Keepit,” Ben said, but not without hesitation. “Actually, hold on.” Hepulled out his phone and took photos of the lion from differentangles. “Just in case I miss it. Or maybe, if I ever needed to seeit in person again…”

“Ofcourse!” Nathaniel said. “Just call. We’ll have you and Tim overfor dinner. We meant to ages ago.”

“Thatwould be nice.” Ben put away his phone and dug through the box.There was more, but much of it related only to Jace. The rest hesimply wasn’t sure about. “Sorry,” he said.