Chapter 22

“I wonder what we’d be doing if we had done this sooner. Like a few weeks ago, when you asked who I was. If this was our third or fourth meeting, instead of our first.”

“With my emotional scars, my literal ones…my insecurities about my body…” Geoffrey shook his head and rose partway, to sit back on his heels. “I was closed off anyway.”

“‘Was,’ right?” Tag got to his knees. “Not is…am…Are?”

Geoffrey smiled. “Feels like ‘was.’“

They linked fingers, and Tag leaned forward. Geoffrey thought he was going to kiss him. “And those insecurities are completely unfounded,” Tag reassured. “He stood, and tugged on Geoffrey, until he did the same. Tag turned toward the rock, and steered Geoffrey into following. “So, what if…What if we had met weeks ago?” Tag asked. “I think we certainly would be far enough along to…” He leaned Geoffrey against what had become nature’s chalkboard. He stepped up onto its lower ledge, and offered a quick kiss. “To do something like that?”