Page 11 of Every Chance to Stay

“Besides, you’re busy too! When are you heading over to Tesoro to look for turtle nests?” The topic change was comforting.

“You always say the right things.” He poked Jack’s nose gently. “I wanted to go this week, but with the boat repairs I might have to wait.”

“You know, dad and I can take care of the boat.” Jack volunteered, “Why don’t you just worry about mom’s turtles, yeah?”

“It’s been twelve years since we released that clutch of Paradise Leatherbacks with mom. It could be any year now. Assuming even one female survived, we should see a clutch laid in Tesoro.” The clutch their mother carefully cultivated, the one they helped mom monitor when she was too sick to sit in the sun…

Lucky buried his face in Jack’s chest.

“It’ll happen, Lucky. I know it will.” Jack whispered into his hair, rubbing his back. “Like dad says, animals move at their own pace, all we can do is protect their environments and create the opportunities for change.”

“Nature has been doing her thing since before humans and she’ll keep flowing after humans are gone.” Lucky continued, their father’s familiar speeches burned into their brains. He gave the same one to every field trip and guided tour group. “I’m gonna get these turtles to fuck even if it makes me go grey.”

Jack cackled at the grumpy words. “I know you will.”

Conversation lulled. Laying down, listening to Jack’s breathing, and watching his brother’s eyes droop was almost enough to drag Lucky down. Until his phone chirped. The device vibrated insistently in his pocket, prompting him to free it much to Jack’s dismay.

A smile stretched across his face. “When we, ah, were…”

“Fucking?” Jack supplied.

Lucky didn’t know why he felt shy now, but he nodded, “He told me I sang like a canary for him. I told him canaries are yellow.”

Jack’s fingers immediately sank into his hair. “And you’re anything but yellow. Not a blond, and bold as they come.” Lucky butted his head into Jack’s hand affectionately.

“Look what he sent.” Turning the phone to his brother, he clicked on the video. A large cage with a small flock of bright red canaries, their sweet singing floating from the speaker. The birds flitted about and someone laughed in the background before the video cut off.

Jack whistled, “Wow. Well, you said he likes animal facts, right?”

“No, I said he listened to me ramble for several hours.” He corrected.

“And then he took you home and fucked your brains out.” The blunt words made Lucky flush.

“Okay yes. Your point?” He elbowed Jack in the side for good measure.

“My point, dear twin, is that you should invite him to look for turtle nests with you. Pack a picnic.” The suggestion wasn’t bad…

“Jackie… You’re my favorite brother.” Lucky rolled over to press a smacking kiss to his brother’s cheek.

“I’m your only brother!” Jack complained, nose wrinkling in disgust.

Lucky ignored him, holding his phone up. It took several deep breaths to organize his thoughts. “If you’re free sometime during the day this week, would you like to see first hand how turtle conservation is done?” He mumbled the words as he typed, earning an amused hum from Jack.

“You should use some emojis at least!” Lucky had to roll away from Jack to stop him from tapping the screen but for good measure, he added a turtle emoji. “See? That wasn’t so hard.”

He pinned his phone to his chest so he wouldn’t stare at it. He wasn’t even sure five minutes had gone by when the phone chirped again. Jack stared at him expectantly. His heart thundered as he opened the conversation. He smiled so wide his cheeks hurt.

“He said yes!”

8

Antonio

Working three overnight shifts and two morning shifts had him dazed and exhausted. Time blended into indistinguishable soup. If it weren’t for his endless list of alarms, he wouldn’t remember the day of the week. As he stood in front of the mirror, trying to shave four days of stubble from his jaw without cutting himself, his phone buzzed with a reminder to leave in fifteen minutes. The turtle emoji tied to the notification made him smile.

Lucky’s invitation was a welcome surprise. He thought it was some hallucination at first, something conjured up after a few hours spent combing the trails for a child. Even after he sent the video of the red canaries, he’d assumed they would just text back and forth for a time.

Now, he had a date.