Caddie swirled around, her mouth hanging open and her face red with rage. Ben didn’t look at her as he continued speaking. “I will also have him fired from his job at the aquarium and contact his certifying agency to see that his personal c-card is revoked.” He looked at Caddie. “Now, do you still want to have this conversation?”

Caddie, speechless, shook her head. “You can’t do that,” she said.

“I can,” Ben said simply. “And I will. So, either I go with the two of you or you don’t go at all.”

Caddie swallowed hard. She seemed about to cry. “Fine,” she spat. “If you want to come, you can come.”

“Thank you,” Ben said. “Tell Brian to meet us there at one. The tide should be in then.”

Caddie left, and they could hear her feet on the stairs as she stormed up to her room. Ben half expected to hear the slam of a door, but none came.

“That was something,” said Hudson.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life,” Ben told him. He smiled. “Except maybe for last night.”

“You’re sure you’re still okay about that?” Hudson asked.

“More or less,” said Ben. He looked at Hudson. “Not about you,” he said quickly. “I just mean it’s a lot to take in all at once. Yesterday I was just confused. Now I’m ... gay,” he finished. “Or something.”

“You’re something, all right,” Hudson teased. “But I’m serious. You said this was something you never even considered. Are you sure you’re not just ...”

“Going through a phase?” Ben suggested.

Hudson shrugged. “Well, yeah. It must have occurred to you.”

“Sure it has,” said Ben. “And, no, I never had considered it before. But there are a lot of things about myself I ignored. Maybe this was one of them.”

He picked up a piece of bacon and bit the end from it. “When you first told me what Caddie said,” he told Hudson, “I tried to convince myself that I was just happy to have a friend. A real friend. I told myself she just didn’t recognize the difference.” He tipped the bacon strip toward Hudson. “I guess I was the one who didn’t recognize the difference.”

Hudson got up and poured himself another cup of coffee. When he sat down he said, “We should probably talk about what’s going to happen now.”

“No,” Ben said. “Not now.” He looked at Hudson. “Just let me enjoy this for a while, okay?”

“What makes you think I won’t?” Hudson asked him.

“I didn’t say you would,” said Ben. “But I don’t want to chance it.”

Hudson added sugar to his cup and stirred it. “All right,” he said. “No talking until you’re ready. What do we do in the meantime?”