Frowning at the idea, he looked once more at his object of desire and the way the poor man’s face was screwed up in obvious prayer, and his errant thoughts turned to…not pity, exactly. They were more like an overwhelming desire to do something, anything, more to make him at least put aside his worries for a little while. This church visit was comforting, sure, but Alun was at least as wound up as he’d been before. He needed diversion.
When the man finally got to his feet and made his last genuflection, Craig escorted him outside. The sun had set and the temperature had dropped a little more. He was glad he’d insisted on Alun putting on a jacket.
“Thank you again for this. It was just what I needed.”
“Find any answers in there?”
Alun gave him a wan smile. “No, not really. It helped, anyway. Sometimes you have to wait for God to answer your prayers.”
“Yeah, that’s what my mama says.” He also almost added that she’d said that sometimes the answer was ‘no’. Alun didn’t need that pessimistic reminder.
They got back into his SUV and he turned to say, “Do you like ice cream?” It might be a cliché to bury ones feelings in the stuff, but if so, it was for a good reason.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had any. There weren’t a lot of treats back in the castle—not for the sluts, anyway.”
Craig clenched his fists with a sudden fury. He had to work to keep his expression and tone of voice easy. “Can you please do me a favor and not refer to yourself like that?”
Alun dropped his chin. “Sorry. Force of habit, like.”
“Hey?” He used the side of one finger to bring Alun’s face back up. “It’s not for me. I don’t like that you’re thinking of yourself that way, and words have power. Try using better terms to describe what you were back there, like ‘victim’.”
“That would be wallowing.”
“It would be if that was where it ends. How about you were a victim and through your strength and courage, you’ve survived. Now you’re a strong person putting his life back together again.” Craig dropped his hand and turned to start the SUV. “Having ice cream for the first time is a good way to do that. You’re going to love it.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alun smile. “I expect I will. You’ve been right about everything else so far.”
“Let’s hope my streak holds. The only real problem with the idea is you have to choose. There are a lot of flavors, and even if you get a big cone with three scoops, it can still be hard, narrowing the choices.”
“What’s your favorite, then?”
“Coffee Heath Bar and vanilla cream. I’ve tried adding a third scoop, but nothing else adds to that perfect party.”
“I’ll have that, then.”
“You sure?”
“As I’ve said before, I trust you.”
They were such simple words, and yet they made Craig’s chest puff with pride. It also scared the shit out of him, because he didn’t see himself as some kind of hero. Quite the contrary. He felt like the proverbial man with clay feet. He was terrified that he was going to fuck this whole thing up. Alun’s difficult past was only part of the reason for his concern, too. Craig’s track record for fucking up relationships, for self-sabotage, was the bigger issue. Trey Duncan was Exhibit A on that score. It seemed that the more Craig cared about someone, the more likely he was to make a hash out of it. Somehow the idea that he might do something to push Alun away scared him more than anything in his past had.
He drove to his favorite mom-and-pop ice cream parlor, a real throw-back to the fifties, complete with jukeboxes at every table. It was blessedly uncrowded. That should help Alun feel more comfortable. Craig assumed that being around a lot of strangers would be unnerving for someone who’d spent so much time locked away. He guided the man in with a hand at the small of his back, a gesture that he hadn’t given much thought to. It seemed right and natural. Unlike Craig’s usual type of man, Alun brought out the instinct to protect, and the guy didn’t seem to mind the gesture, so he kept his hand in place until they’d reached a booth way in the back.
“Have a seat. I’ll be back with our ice cream. Do you want a dish or a cone?”
As he slid into the seat, Alun blinked at him in obvious distress. “I don’t know, like. What do you suggest?”
“Hmm-m. Cones are great but they’re also tricky. I’ve had more than one scoop land on the ground in my time. Let’s make it a dish tonight, and if you like it, we can try a cone later in the summer.”
Alun beamed at him. “That sounds grand. Thank you.”
As he walked away, Craig couldn’t help smiling. Alun hadn’t balked at the idea that there would a next time. Maybe that was merely his usual reticence. Craig decided to take it as something more promising. “Hey, Tish.” He grinned like a madman at the girl behind the counter. He’d gone to school with her mom.
The girl smiled broadly. “Hey, Sergeant Jefferson. Who’s the new guy?”
“A friend who’s never had the pleasure of eating ice cream before.” He wasn’t sure why he’d shared that information, but he was riding some kind of high at the moment and couldn’t resist. “I’m treating him to my usual. In cups, please.”
Tish got to work on the order. “He hasn’t eaten ice cream before?” She glanced over to where Alun was sitting. “He looks exotic, though. Guess they don’t have it where he comes from.”
Craig took a moment to look at his companion, as well. He could see what Tish meant. On the face of it, Alun’s pale skin and dark hair were nothing unusual. His almost-ethereal beauty did make him stand out, except there was more to his looks than that. Something about him seemed out of place—out of time, maybe—as if his face was different because he had been born so very long ago. Even though he sat quietly, staring out of the window, doing nothing to attract attention, Craig realized that everyone in the room was glancing in his direction. It wasn’t menacing, merely curiosity getting the better of folks.
“Here you are.” Tish put the two dishes on the counter.
“Thanks.” He paid and tipped generously in a bucket labelled ‘college fund’, because he always did for people on low wages. Plus, if he didn’t, word would reach his mama and he’d get an earful about helping the community.
He returned to the table with the ice cream, spoons and napkins and placed Alun’s dish in front of him with a bit of flair. “Prepare to have your taste buds and your mind blown.”
Alun smiled. “It smells wonderful.”
“Really?” Craig slid into the booth to sit opposite him, even though he had a strong impulse to be next to him. “Ice cream has a scent?”
Alun looked surprised. “Sure it does. Can you not detect it?”
Craig stuck his nose close to his dish. “Nope.”
“Oh well, it doesn’t matter.” His tone indicated he was uncomfortable for some reason. He toyed with his spoon but didn’t dig in.
Understanding hit Craig. “Your senses are better than mine, huh? Enhanced?”
Alun stared at the table. “Yes. I don’t seem to have lost the changes that had occurred back in Wales.”