“Steve! I don’t believe my eyes. It’s been too long!” Mike shouted, wiping grease off his hands and pulling Steve into a bear hug. He peered into the packed SUV, asking if Steve was planning to stay for the whole season. When Steve mentioned he might be around for a month or more, Mike insisted they celebrate with a proper dinner.
Mike promised to fire up the grill for some steaks and heat up the old cedar sauna out back. Steve smiled; the thought of that wood-fired sauna brought back a flood of memories. It was the best cure for stress he knew. As Mike turned to head back to his own house, Steve called him back to hand over the gift.
Steve thanked him for keeping the property in such good shape and handed him the long tube. Mike tried to wave it off, saying looking after the place was the neighborly thing to do and the gifts made him feel guilty. “So, you’re saying you don’t want the best rod on the market?” Steve teased.
When Mike saw the label, he practically choked up. He handled the rod as gently as if it were made of glass, genuinely touched. He thanked Steve profusely, his voice a little thick with emotion, and headed home to prep the grill, leaving Steve to unpack with a lighter heart.
An hour later, Mike’s wife, Brenda, showed up at the door with a casserole dish and a pitcher of iced tea. She figured Steve would be too busy dusting and unpacking to cook. He tried to be polite and decline, but the smell of home cooking and his growling stomach betrayed him.
Brenda laughed and told him to dig in. Before leaving, she paused and thanked Steve seriously. She told him that his friendship meant the world to Mike. While a lot of the guys in town spent their downtime at the dive bar, Mike was always eager to go fishing or work on projects, largely thanks to the encouragement and gear Steve provided.
It turned out that after the local auto plant downsized, Mike had hit a rough patch and started drinking too much. But reconnecting with Steve and having responsibilities at the farmhouse gave him a sense of purpose. He’d even built a custom landscaping rig from spare parts and was starting to make good money hauling and plowing. Steve told Brenda not to give him too much credit; they were just old friends looking out for each other.
