Alex & Clayton by John Simpson Page A

sit outside to enjoy it. Across from that was the bookstore, which Clayton decided to rename Clayton’s Rainbow.
    As he entered the store and flipped the light switch, he was reminded that he still needed to open an account with the utility companies so that he could have electricity, water, and heat. The shop had been closed up since the sale, and it had a slightly “bookish” smell. The ink and paper upon which it rested created that distinctive smell that Clay was very familiar with from the library where he’d worked for twenty years.
    As he walked up and down the seven aisles, he looked at the various books that he now owned and that made up the stock of the store for the time being. The magazines had all been sold or sent back as returns, as they would be outdated by the time Clay opened the store. Lying next to the open cash register, he found a list of vendors that the old owner dealt with. Inside the register was a single one-dollar bill. He smiled at the meaning of that one-dollar bill. The first dollar made when a new store opened was usually framed and hung on the wall.
    The key for the register was in the keyhole, and he took it out and closed the drawer. He looked in the back of the shop and found about another two dozen books in his inventory. While staring at them, Clay had an odd feeling overtake him right there in the back of his bookstore. It was a combination of fear, joy, and excitement. His fears centered on whether or not he could make a go at his own business, his joy was at starting a new chapter in his life and being really free for the first time, and he felt the excitement of owning his own business. Clayton’s Rainbow was the only gay bookstore in the resort town, and so he felt fairly confident that he could make a living out of it. Of course, being in a resort town meant sales would drop way off in the winter months, which meant he had to have very successful summer sales.
    As he stood there thinking about the difference in seasons, he decided that he would run an aggressive virtual bookstore on the Internet so that people from all over the country could buy books from him no matter the time of the year. He made a quick count in his mind of the on-hand inventory and locked up as he walked out of the store. He planned to open by October first.
    He got in his car, which he’d need to get back and forth from the bookstore to the condo as they were not within walking distance. He stopped off to pick up some groceries to make dinner for himself. He had a lot of things to do the next day in order to open by his goal, and he went to bed early.
     
     
    A FTER Alex settled into his new beach house enough to be comfortable, he went out and picked up food, buying a full week’s worth. In the frozen vegetable aisle, he noticed a man around his age, good-looking and seemingly lost. Alex didn’t think shopping was something the man was used to doing by himself and wondered where his other half was. They smiled at each other as they passed and went on with their business.
    Alex went home, put away the food, and decided to go up to the boardwalk and take a walk just to admire the ocean. It was quite a change from his old view out on the congestion of the streets of Washington.
    He made the quick walk to the pier and found it nearly deserted. He saw maybe twenty people strolling casually past the closed seasonal businesses. He stopped and gazed out at the ocean, took a deep breath, and smiled.
    This was going to be his life from now on: beach, ocean, sun, and cute men, hopefully!
    After maybe thirty minutes, he left the boardwalk and walked through the business center of the resort where little shops were located alongside a couple of bars. Like the boardwalk, many of the shops were closed for the season, such as the one that carried only male underwear and swimming suits, along with various odds and ends that would appeal to gay men. As he walked by the specialty shop, he looked across the street and