-Avery-

Today was an exciting day for me. The first culvert for the culvert improvement project was going into the ground. Better yet, this culvert wasn't far from the forestry camp. Some of my former coworkers were coming to help, and then Devin and I were going to stay overnight at the camp. It would be just like before. I couldn't help smiling as I looked out the window and watched the trees go by.

Devin squeezed my knee. "You excited?"

I turned and nodded enthusiastically. "About everything. It'll be good to see Sam and Marc and Amanda and Peter and Mitch. And for us to share a bed in one of the cabins again, like we used to. And to see the first culvert go into the ground."

Devin smiled back at me. It was a real smile and not one of his characteristic smirks. "I'm happy that you're happy."

"Are you happy to be going back?" I asked.

"On some level, yeah. It's where I met you, so there are a lot of good memories there. But there are a lot of bad ones too. It was kind of a rough time for me, and I got my heart broken, and I'm not sure how the others are going to feel about seeing me again. I know they don't like me."

I put my hand on top of his. "They feel differently about you after you rebuilt my project. And I know they'll give you a second chance. You don't need to worry about that."

He lifted our hands, pressing his lips to the back of my hand. "I just want to focus on you and remember how I felt when I fell for you. I'm lucky I got to know you and that you saw past my bad qualities. I'm lucky you're in my life, and I love you."

There were those words again. I love you. They were so sweet coming from Devin, but sometimes I wished he wouldn't say them.

"I really care about you," I replied. I felt guilty that I still couldn't say the words he wanted to hear. "And I'm lucky that you decided having a boyfriend didn't sound like a bad idea after all."

Devin chuckled and turned his attention back to the road. "It definitely hasn't been a bad idea. Things are better with you beside me. You make work more tolerable. You make everything more tolerable."

"I'm sorry your dad puts so much pressure on you. Have you thought any more about whether you want to stick with engineering? Or if you want to do something else?"

"What else would I do? When I'm not working, I travel, go clubbing, go to the gym or do rich people stuff with Carter."

I hesitated. I really wanted to help Devin, but I didn't want to push too hard either. "What about the gym? Do you want to be a personal trainer?"

He snorted. "That'd go over well with my dad. I don't think they make much money and it's not a prestigious job or anything. And I only work out so I look good. It's not like a passion or something I'm excited about."

"There's nothing else? No other hobbies or even something you're interested in?"

I expected Devin to get annoyed and change the subject, but instead he started chewing on his bottom lip. "Um, there might be something. But I'm not sure if it's worth pursuing and I haven't told anyone about it. No one knows."

Instantly, I was curious. Devin actually seemed nervous, and it wasn't like him to not be confident and straightforward about something. I squeezed his hand, letting him take his time.

He was quiet for another minute, and then he said softly, "I like to sing. When I was younger, I practiced when my dad wasn't home, and now I practice in my condo. I think I'm decent, but maybe the whole thing is just stupid. It's not like I can do anything with it."

"Will you sing for me? If you don't want to, I won't push, but I'd like to hear it."

Devin glanced over at me, then quickly shifted his gaze back to the road. "I trust you. More than anyone. But I don't want you to laugh."

"I won't laugh."

He nodded, and then he must have decided, because he took a deep breath and began to sing as he stared ahead at the road. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. I didn't expect the beautiful voice that filled the car, the soft tones or the controlled vibrato that reminded me of classically trained singers. I felt my mouth drop as I turned and looked at him.

He finished the chorus of the song, and then glanced at me.

"Dev, that was beautiful," I said, staring at him. "Where did you learn to sing like that? You said no one knows, but did you take lessons?"

He shook his head. "The closest I got to lessons was watching videos online from vocal coaches. I just kept practicing."

"You're amazing! You sound like you've been training for years. Why haven't you told anyone or sung in front of someone?"

"I dunno," he said, shrugging. "I didn't know if I was good enough and it's not the type of music my friends listen to. It's not what's on the radio or in the clubs."

"Why does that matter?"

He shrugged again.

"Have you always liked classical music?"

"Since I was younger, yeah. I remember my mom playing it. Classical, opera, jazz, new age. She sang too. Not professionally or anything, but she had a pretty voice."

"That's nice that you share that with her. And I'm glad you told me." I reached over and took his hand. "I think this is something you could pursue instead of engineering. You're talented."

"I don't think my dad would approve."

"You should sing for him. I bet he'd support you once he hears you."

"Maybe. But I'm not ready for that."

"And that's okay. Take your time. But, I hope you'll sing for me again. I'd really like that."

Devin glanced at me, and I saw the softness in his eyes that I'd only seen a handful of times before. "Thanks. Of course I'll sing for you. Whatever you want."

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm looking forward to it."

-

It wasn't too much longer before we arrived at the site where we were going to install the culvert. Some of the construction team we'd contracted for the project was already there, and I spotted Sam standing near a familiar truck. As soon as Devin parked, I was out of the SUV and jogging over to Sam.

Her face lit up when she saw me and her bright smile drew the attention of everyone standing near her. I noticed Peter among the group of people. When I reached them, I hugged Sam tightly.

"It's so good to see you!" she said. "And not only do we get to work together again, but I get to see you in your new job. I'm so impressed you're managing this project!"

"I made sure our first installation was here so I could see you all again. And I'm not gonna lie, I feel less nervous knowing you're here to help."

Sam waved me off. "You'll be amazing. I bet the whole thing goes off without a hitch."

"Thanks. Is it just you and Peter?"

"Yeah, Mitch could only spare two of us today." As she answered, her eyes drifted behind me.

"Hey," Devin said, joining me.

Sam nodded back at him, but her smile was only polite now. I hoped they'd be able to get along.

-

I spent the first half hour talking with the construction team, making sure we had everything we needed and they knew the plan. Then, I left them to prepare while me, Devin, Sam, and Peter started the process of clearing fish from the work area. Jess and a few other employees from the firm were there to watch how it was done, since it was new to them and they'd be doing it on future projects.

It was new to Devin too. "So, this is called defishing?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sam and Peter are setting up a net upstream of the work area. This will keep the fish from entering while we're replacing the culvert. Once that net is in place, you and I will start walking down the stream with a weighted net to encourage any remaining fish to swim downstream. Then we'll set up another net downstream of the work area, mostly as a precaution."

Devin glanced at the stream. "I never thought about what happened to the fish during a project like this. But it makes a lot of sense." He picked up the weighted net near our feet. "Let's do it."

We walked up to meet Sam and Peter where they'd placed the first net. I put on a pair of waders, crossed the stream and instructed Devin to keep the net as close to the bottom of the stream as possible. As we carefully made our way downstream, I couldn't help but smile at how focused Devin was and how seriously he seemed to be taking it.

"I see one!" he called out. "It's swimming ahead of the net."

The stream was shallow enough in places that I caught sight of a few more fish as we walked along. When we reached the mouth of the old culvert, Sam joined us and helped Devin hold the net in place.

"I'm going to walk through the culvert to flush any stragglers out," I said. "When I say it's all clear, you two can meet me on the other side."

Devin leaned down and glanced into the culvert. "It's a good thing you're not big. I'd have to crawl through there."

I entered the culvert, walking while bent over, and kept an eye out for any remaining fish. Fortunately, there weren't any in the culvert, so I gave Sam and Devin the all clear and they crossed the road to the other side.

"You two can finish heading downstream. Jess and Peter are waiting to set up the other net."

Trusting they'd cooperate with one another, I headed back up towards the road to check on the construction team. They were ready to go, and once all the nets were set up, I gave them the go ahead to start digging out the old culvert. The removal took several hours, and after a lunch break, the new culvert was lifted and set into place. I monitored everything as the construction team filled dirt and rocks back in around the culvert. While they focused on smoothing out the gravel road, I took pictures for our files. I couldn't help feeling proud once the installation was complete. I smiled widely as I shook the hands of everyone on the construction team.

"Hey, Avery!" Devin called. "We're about to remove the last net. You want the honors?"

I jogged upstream where the initial net had been placed to hold back the fish.

"Look how many there are," Devin said, smiling and pointing at the fish hovering near the net. "I figured you would want to set them free."

"You did a great job," Peter told me. "This new culvert will make it a lot easier for the fish to pass through under the road."

"I couldn't have done it without you all," I replied.

As Peter untied the net on his side of the stream, I worked on untying my side. At my signal, we both lowered the net into the water so the fish could swim over it. Their barrier gone, they took off downstream towards the culvert. I noticed Devin had wandered that way and was crouched by the mouth of the culvert with his phone out.

"I'll pull the net out of the water," Peter said. "You go and check on Devin."

When I approached, Devin turned. "I got a video of the fish going through the culvert. They seem happy." He leaned in close and played the video for me.

I put my arm around his waist. "Thank you. I'm glad you were here today."

He smiled down at me. "Me too. I'm proud of you. I know how much you care about the fish."

Reaching up, I kissed him. "I appreciate you caring about them with me. And sticking around to celebrate at the camp."

"I'm looking forward to it. Well, maybe mostly to what we're going to do once we're in one of the cabins for the night." He grinned and wiggled an eyebrow.

I laughed. "Some things will never change."