Page 20 of Tumbling Hearts

But they can’t run away forever. Despite his nerves, Gene keeps his eyes steady on the road, thinking of more hopeful things. The rest of the band will be home, and even though it’s only been a few days, he’s missed Santiago’s happy-go-lucky laughter. He’s missed Pat’s snarky banter, and hell, he’s even missed Stefan’s quiet presence reading books in the corner of their living room. And no matter what, Ray is still his best friend. That will never change. They’ll still be close, just in… other ways.

There’ll always be music. He and Ray wrote five new songs on this trip, and they’re bound to write more at home. Then there’s teaching those songs to the band, recording them, and even the possibility of performing them on their next tour, which Gene thinks will be happening sometime in early fall. It all makes him excited, happy that at least that aspect of his life is going smoothly.

During the drive, he and Ray don’t speak much, merely enjoying each other’s presence and the music blasting from the speakers. They hear a couple songs by the Dusty Brooms, sparking them to sing along again like they did on the way there.

Maybe now during the drive would be a good time to talk over things, but what would they say? Gene can’t just ask Ray to break up with Carol—no, as much as he wants to, that’d be unrealistic. Ray hasn’t brought anything like that up either, so he must be thinking the same thing. And even if Ray was single, someway or somehow, they can’t be lovers anyway. They’re in the Dusty Brooms—a popular rock band that’s taking the US by storm. If it ever got out that the two lead men are queers, it’d be over for them.

Eventually, in the late afternoon, Gene pulls into the long driveway of their Lake Orion farmhouse. There’s quite a few cars parked here, seeing as everyone who lives here (except Carol) has their own vehicle. But they have plenty of room for them, being surrounded by cornfields, and Gene parks where he’s not blocking anyone else from leaving if they need to.

They both exit the car and Gene pops the trunk, grabbing his guitar case and Ray grabs their suitcase. After shutting the trunk again, Gene asks, “You ready to head in?”

Ray looks toward the house, then back to Gene, giving him a subtle shrug. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Ray’s blue eyes shimmer, and an expression paints his face that Gene can’t quite place. It makes his heart ache. If only he could reach out and kiss him again—but what if someone saw them through the window? He can’t risk that. So instead, he gives Ray a sweet smile. Ray smiles back, and Gene readies his keys, finally about to head inside.

After walking up the short set of stairs to the side door, Gene unlocks it, opening it up to the foyer that connects with the kitchen. He doesn’t announce their presence, but that doesn’t mean they come in unnoticed.

“Ray! You’re back!” Carol calls from off in the living room. In merely an instant, she rushes from there through the kitchen, stopping in the doorway to the foyer before Gene and Ray can even get their shoes off.

“Oh, uh… hey Carrie,” Ray says, giving her a sheepish smile, but not holding her gaze for long as he looks down, shimmying off his shoes.

“Finally, you’re back from your trip.” She frowns. “Did you have a good time with Gene?”

The accusing way she says it sends an uncomfortable chill down Gene’s spine. He doesn’t look at her, kicking off his shoes.

“Yeah, we had a good time,” Ray says. “Could you let us through? I wanna set this down somewhere.” He lifts up the suitcase quickly to acknowledge it, then sets it down again.

“Oh, sure.” She nods, moving out of the way to let Ray and Gene through.

They make their way through the kitchen and into the living room, where Pat and Stefan are sitting down on the couch, watching TV. Gene sets his guitar down on the shag carpeted floor, on its side against the wall by their record rack, and Ray places their suitcase next to it.

“Hey, welcome back,” Pat says with a smile.

“Hey guys,” Stefan says, face neutral.

“Hey,” Gene replies, but he can’t say more when Carol butts in again⁠—

“So, what all did you do on your trip? Without me?” she asks, crossing her arms.

“Well, we did everything I told you we were gonna do,” Ray says, itching the back of his neck. Gene feels the same nerves Ray is feeling, as sweat starts to pool on his temples, under his bangs. “We watched fireworks and wrote songs. We also checked out some of the tourist spots in St. Ignace, like Castle Rock.”

“That sounds like fun,” Pat says from the couch.

“Yeah,” Carol stretches the word out. “What other kind of fun did you have, huh? Did you go to any bars? Meet any new chicks?”

“What the hell? No!” Ray says.

“No way!” Gene says almost in unison with Ray.

“Woah, okay.” Carol throws her hands out in a defensive gesture. “Just asking. You’re not lying to me about this, are you?”

“No, I’m not lying,” Ray says, huffing out a short breath. “Gene was with me, y’know. He can vouch for me.”

I can definitely vouch that you weren’t with any women, yeah.

Carol lets out a long, deep sigh, and she drops her hands to her sides. “Well, okay,” she says. “If you say so. I’m glad it was just you two guys, then.”

She… she only suspects that Ray would cheat on her with another woman?