Frost

Frequently Asked Questions

Jack sat on frigid bench under the bare oak tree in the backyard rolling a new cigarette between his fingers and across his knuckles. Zach had given it to him after Jack had caught him smoking out the rear emergency door of the Beanery. The big man was trying to quit, apparently, and the reason for his fall off the band wagon was his wife, currently in the late stages of pregnancy. Jack remembered a different time and place, and a very different female with her belly extended.

In short, Zach was nervous and Jack was beginning to better understand that certain memories better left alone never stayed sufficiently buried.

Footsteps crunched through the crusted snow and Jack looked up to see Drew without a coat on, hands buried deep in his jean pockets.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing out here?” Drew asked, pointing to the cigarette. “And where the hell did you get that?”

“Zach.” He blew out a breath and looked at the second floor windows alight with bright yellow color in the quickly fading twilight. “How’s it – they doing okay?”

“Your sister is terrifying with a glass of wine and a blender,” he said dryly. “Mari and Leanna have figured out that you left but I think Matthias is a little clueless.” He shrugged. “He’s also on his second beer and he’s got a tolerance about like you did when you first started drinking.”

Jack ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair. “Leanna’s always been curious about machinery. Just be careful she doesn’t try to dismantle it and rebuild it.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

“What are you hiding from?” Drew shivered. A jacket probably would have been a good idea.

“I’m hiding?”

Drew crossed the rest of the distance between them and eased on the bench next to him, wincing at the cold through his jeans. “You might be a blonde but dumb isn’t a good look on you.”

He straightened abruptly. “Am I human?”

“You’re getting better at it,” Drew said slowly. “It’s a bit more like a process than waking up one morning and deciding ‘Hey, I’m fully human.’ You’re getting there.”

Jack twisted the cigarette between his fingers until he snapped it in half with a growl. “I have been happy, I have been sad. I have been apprehensive, irritated, irked, terrified, mortified, horrified, and downright giddy on occasion. I have covered the entire spectrum and yet I feel like I’m missing something crucial.”

He took his hands out of his pockets, blew on them, and weighed how well his next words would go over. “That’s because you are.”

“Enlighten me. Please.”

Drew relaxed back, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Love.”

“Seriously?” Jack’s eyebrows were nearly to his hairline.

“Love, man. You gotta tackle love.”

Jack rocked to his feet, took a few steps, and turned to look incredulously at Drew. “How do – what does it feel like?”

He shrugged. “Can’t tell you.”

“You’ve been alive for twenty-something years and you can’t tell me what love feels like?” Jack threw his arms up. “What the hell kind of human are you?”

Smiling, he said, “I can’t tell you because love is different for each person. How you feel it is different than anybody else.” He stood, invaded Jack’s personal space, and tapped him on the chest. “You have to figure it out. Who that word means to you.”