...Ed rounded the corner out of the loading dock and confidently strode into the main shop. It was a huge square room, as tall as it was broad. He placed his things on the mixing table in the paint area and walked into the minuscule changing room to put on his work clothes. Still the same old carpet remnant lay on the floor. The shower rod was still askew but the curtain had considerably more calcium stuck to it. And, of course, the room’s light was still burnt out. He flicked the other switch on the wall and, as he had regularly done years before, changed by the light of the shower stall. The memories distracted him until he heard the toilet flush next door. He stopped and listened. Water ran in the sink. Paper towels were pulled from the dispenser. The door handle turned and the silhouette of a man stepped into the corridor between the changing room and the shop.

It was Jase. Ed could tell by the way he stood, by the broad round shoulders.

Jase’s dark shape stepped forward and he spoke a long, drawn out, “Well.”

Ed, standing only in socks and underwear, tried not to let his eyes wander over the rugged shadow standing before him. “Well,” was all he could muster.

“It’s been a long time,” Jase said with another step forward. “Too long.”

He couldn’t see Jase’s eyes, but felt them looking him up and down. “Has it?”

“You know it has.”

“I do?”

“You do.” He laughed and the sound sent tingles of excitement over Ed’s skin.

Ed continued to get dressed. “So when did you become head carpenter here?”

“Right to business, eh?” Jase laughed lightly again. “You know exactly when I became head. This business ain’t that big, and you know that, too.”

Ed couldn’t deny it. Word got around fast when people moved jobs. “Thanks for calling me in.”

“You’re welcome.” Jase stepped into the changing room and the light from the shower skimmed his handsome, square face. “But it ain’t just about the job. I can’t admit that me getting you here doesn’t have another side to it.”

“There is a head scenic painter position open here, isn’t there?”

“Oh, yeah, the head job is up for grabs, sure. But that isn’t really the main reason I convinced them to call you.”

“It isn’t?”

Jase stepped up to within inches of Ed’s face. “Are you going to put your pants on? Or is this how you paint now, in your Calvin Kleins?”

“They’re Marks”

“In your Marks, then.”

Ed could feel Jase’s breath on his mouth. The space was small, dark, and dirty. Jase’s nearness made Ed’s cock twist itself straight as blood rushed into it. He felt it push upward and poke out the top of his underwear as the elastic made one smooth, clean stroke along the underside of the head.

Jase looked down. “Looks like someone’s all ready for work.” He placed a hand on Ed’s cheek. “Welcome back.”

His hand smelled of the candy-scented soap from the bathroom but the skin was firm and coarse and so very, very warm. Before he realized what he was doing, Ed leaned into it. He didn’t want this, he didn’t want to go back so far into the past. It wasn’t the same anymore.