Page 63 of The Secrets We Keep

Their first day had been memorable. Jasper had taken his dad up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and the views from up there, plus the much cooler mountain air, impressed his father mightily. He was childlike in his wonder at the soaring cliffs and the stunning views of the valley, and Jasper was touched that he could give him this experience.

Jasper dressed hurriedly in the dark. He thought he could make it through the week Dad was here staying at the small apartment, but he missed sleeping next to Rob in the California king.

It was his place. The warmth of Rob’s body next to Jasper’s own was a comfort beyond measure. More home to him than anywhere else he’d known.

Outside, he unlocked his Trek and mounted the bicycle. Rob had offered to buy him a car, and when he’d balked at the idea of such a big gift, Rob said he would cosign for a loan and lend him money for the down payment. Jasper didn’t want either.

When he bought a car—ifhe bought a car—it would be with his own money.

He set off into the warm night air, thinking that the bike served his needs just fine. Rob was only a half hour away and work about the same.

And right now, even though it was still in the nineties, the air felt delicious, almost cool. Maybe he was only imagining….

But he wasn’t imagining the stars. One thing about living here in the desert that city planners got right was that they kept streetlights to a minimum, so the often-clear night skies could be admired without the imposition of “light noise” like back in Chicago. There, the city lights blocked out the stars and gave the night sky a sickly yellow hue.

Even after a few months here, Jasper still marveled at the stars and could now pick out the more obvious constellations—the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion. He could now even identify the cloudy mass for what it was: the Milky Way.

As he pedaled through the silent streets of Palm Springs, he suddenly had a feeling he wasn’t alone. It wasn’t a creepy feeling, like someone was watching him in secret or stalking him, but the easy sensation of someone being there with him, riding alongside him. Contented and free.

He smiled as a light breeze caressed his face. To his left, San Jacinto rose up, and the single light at the top of the tramway shone out like a planetary body itself. He’d point out the light to Dad tomorrow night.

Was his midnight company Lacy? His mom? His sister? Louise?

It struck him that most of the people who’d loved him were women. He didn’t know quite what to make of that. Perhaps women were just more nurturing. Maybe it was mere coincidence.

He rolled up to Rob’s house and another realization hit him as he let his bike fall on the desert-landscaped front lawn’s rocks—the two people who loved him most in the world now were men.

Did that matter?

Maybe their love, and not their gender, was the important thing.

He fished his house key from the pocket of his shorts and then repeated the alarm code to himself as he approached the front door. He let himself in silently, then stood in the entryway, which had a direct line of sight out to the pool. The moon shone down brightly, giving a silvery glow to everything, and in that light, he saw a coyote. It was standing near the pool, its head tilted slightly upward as though it were about to bay at the moon.

Jasper didn’t move. He watched the animal nearly breathlessly. Its dark silhouette at last moved away from the water’s edge and toward the fence. For a moment it paused and looked back. Jasper would swear their gazes met. And then it leaped, quite gracefully, over the privacy fence.

Jasper knew he’d wonder in the morning if the vision of the coyote was just a figment of his imagination.

He turned away and crept to the bedroom, where he hoped to slide into bed next to Rob without waking him.

He’d be a nice surprise in the morning.