Dust of Snow (12 page)

By the next morning I was so cold I couldn’t
stay warm under two duvet covers with all my clothes on, even with
the fireplace going. I hunted down Curly, manhandled my garage door
open, and drove us to Mother’s place. Because she’d deduce I’d been
there from the cat hair, I sent her a quick text.

No electricity at my house, am at yours for
a bit, no big deal :)

Five minutes later my cell phone rang.

“Darling, are you all right?”

“Yes. A couple of fuses blew or something,
but I can’t have them fixed until tomorrow. It’s nothing, really. I
was just getting a bit cold.”

“Are you sure? You know it’s not too late for
you to catch a flight down here. It’s wonderfully warm and
sunny.”

“I have plans, remember? It’s okay, Mother.
I’m fine.”

“You can always try calling your father—”

“No.” Oh hell no. I’d rather freeze to death.
I hadn’t spoken to him in years and I didn’t plan to start now.
He’d never tried to reach out to me either, so I figured he felt
quite happy pretending his unfortunately gay son didn’t exist.
“Really, it’s fine. I can’t back out on my work friends now for
Christmas dinner,” I lied. “I’m making the potatoes.”

“Oh, well of course,” Mother said, the relief
audible in her voice, and I relaxed. “In that case, Merry
Christmas, Gregory, and have fun with your friends. Stay over at my
place tonight, yes?”

“I will. You have fun too, and say hello to
Valerie and her daughters for me.”

“Will do, darling. I’ll see you soon.”

I hung up. My head still felt all cottony and
sore from my breakdown the day before. I ended up taking a long
bath with one of Mother’s murder mysteries for company, and I spent
the rest of the day watching movies with Curly in my lap. It wasn’t
bad, really.

At least that’s what I told myself.

The next morning I let an electrician into my
house, showed him into the basement, and left him to it. He
reappeared about half an hour later shaking his head. “You have
water coming into your fuse box,” the guy said. “You’re lucky you
didn’t kill yourself when you opened that thing up.”

“Water?” My eyes widened. “Where from?”

“I didn’t see any major water damage, so it’s
not from your plumbing. My best guess is, it’s coming in from the
meter outside. I’ll go take a look in a minute. I can fix it, but I
won’t get the parts until after Christmas. Did you try your lights
upstairs or in the garage?”

“No, I just assumed it all went.”

“Probably. It’s all shut off for now anyway.
I’ll repair what I can today, check the outside box while I’m at
it, and do the rest when I can get the parts.”

“It’s fixable, right?”

“Yup. It’s just bad timing with the holidays.
What do you need most? Your kitchen working or your heating? I’ll
only have time to fix one of them today.”

“Oh. The heating, I guess.” I didn’t want my
pipes to freeze.

“Sure. I’ll go buy some supplies, order those
parts, and come back to get your heating going.” The guy left and I
started the unpleasant task of emptying out the fridge and freezer.
Maybe the food wouldn’t have gone off since it was so cold, but I
wasn’t about to take the risk.

Two bags of ruined groceries and a cleaned
litter box later, he was back. Sitting in a cold house wasn’t very
appealing, so I grabbed my coat and went into the basement,
treading carefully with the flashlight on my phone. The electrician
had shoved David’s boxes aside and was currently screwing open some
panel by the furnace. “I have to go out for a while,” I told him.
“When you leave can you pull the front door shut behind you? It’ll
lock.”

“Sure thing. I should have the heating up and
running soon and I’ll let you know when I can fix the rest.”

“Thanks, uh…”

“Bill.” He grinned.

“Thanks Bill.” I left him to the mysteries of
electricity and drove to the mall, where I bought a giant bucket of
popcorn and settled in for the longest movie they were playing. I
may have fallen asleep halfway through, since I suddenly jerked up
with the echo of what sounded suspiciously like a snore in my ears.
The only other people there were an elderly couple sitting at the
front and they didn’t seem to care. After the movie I bought a
pizza and drove home.

The comforting hum of the furnace welcomed me
when I walked inside, and already the edge of the chill had been
taken off, but I still had no lights. I lit the candles I’d bought
in the mall and arranged them around the living room, well away
from anything that could catch fire. Curly folded up in my lap with
an unusual show of affection—maybe the dark unnerved him a
little—and I stroked him with one hand while I scrolled through my
phone with the other. What did people do in the evenings before
electricity and 4G networks? Go to bed and rise at the crack of
dawn, no doubt. I didn’t feel tired though; my nap in the theater
had done me a world of good.

“Well, merry Christmas, Curly.” He purred in
response.

When my phone buzzed and Ashley’s name
appeared on my screen, it made my heart flop around my chest like a
baby bird trying to take flight.

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas. I hope
you’re doing well. I’m only a block away if you need anything.
Ashley x

I agonized over my reply. What did the ‘x’
mean? Just a Christmas thing? Did he send kisses to everyone? It
hadn’t appeared in any of his other texts to me. What was he doing
right now? Was he with his family? Would they all stay at someone’s
house so they could open presents early in the morning and have
breakfast together? Maybe they’d hang out and watch movies all day
before a big turkey dinner.

The pang of longing had me reaching for the
antacids.

In the end I sent,
Merry Christmas to you
too, Ashley. I’m doing fine. How are you?

The hour I waited for a reply was agony. My
pulse raced when my phone finally chimed.

Sorry, no phones allowed at the dinner
table. I’m all right.

It seemed an abrupt text, and it left me
staring at my screen at a loss. Was I supposed to reply? Or was
that a cutoff? I nearly dropped my phone when it chimed again.

Been thinking of you.

Me too
, I replied before I could
change my mind, my thumbs flying. The screen was bright in the
candlelight, and I stared at it, willing a response. Again an
agonizing five minutes without a reply, and then three texts came
so fast they all flooded my phone together.

Hello, are you Uncle Ash’s boyfriend?

God, I’m so sorry, my niece got hold of my
phone
.

I’m so embarrassed
.

I laughed, the sound odd in the silence.

How rude
, I sent back.

Very
.

Try and steal hers, see how she likes
it
.

No reply, but I was relaxed this time. I sat
back on the couch, grinning like a fool while Curly eyed me
suspiciously.

Done
, the next text said.
She threw
an almond at me. It hit me right between the eyebrows
.

Before I could reply he sent another one.

Can we meet up soon?

I held my breath and typed,
Yes. Are you
busy tonight?
Chewing my lip, I stared at the message screen.
It remained blank for a long, long minute. Of course he was
freaking busy tonight! It was Christmas Eve, and he was with his
family like every other normal person. Well, not that everyone
celebrated Christmas, but whatever.

Then the reply bubble popped up. Disappeared.
Popped up again.

I can get away for a bit. What did you have
in mind?

My heart did an almighty swoop, bounced off
my stomach, and hit my chest cavity at a canter.

Not much. I’m pretty bored. Don’t have
electricity
.

Seriously? No heating either? You should
come over to my parents’ place. Why didn’t you say something?

I froze. That hadn’t been my intention. I
didn’t want him to think I’d been trying to wheedle an invite out
of him and intrude on his family time.

Want to go for a drink somewhere?
I
hit send before I really thought it through, and realized that
might sound like I was asking him on a date.

Ashley’s reply came swiftly.
Sure, meet at
the Mill in half an hour?

There weren’t any gay bars on our side of
town, but I knew the Mill was pretty mellow.
See you there
,
I texted back, before the pause went on for too long. A bit dazed,
I blinked at my darkening screen, and not until Curly dug his nails
into my thighs did I figure out I had approximately ten minutes to
get out of my comfy clothes and into something decent if I wanted
to make it to the Mill on time.

“Move your furry ass, Curly. Daddy’s got a
date. Well, maybe. Probably? Shut up.”

“Mrrw.”

I made it to the Mill on time, and still
Ashley was already waiting. It was surprisingly busy in the bar for
Christmas Eve. Even the beer garden was open; the tables had been
cleared of snow, and large patio heaters created small bursts of
warmth in the cold evening air.

“I figured you’d prefer to sit inside,”
Ashley said when I joined him in his booth. I didn’t know whether
to shake his hand or what, so it took me a bit by surprise when he
rose to his feet and half hugged me over the table before I had a
chance to sit down.

“You figured correctly,” I told him, busying
myself with removing several layers of clothing. “How have you
been?”

“Not bad. It’s nice that the office is closed
for a few days. And nice to get away from the fam for a few
hours.”

“I hear you,” I lied, evading his gaze by
pulling the menu closer. “What’s that you’re drinking?”

“A Belgian white. Want to try?” He slid the
glass in my direction, and while I wasn’t a beer lover, I lifted it
to my mouth and sipped. He laughed at the face I made.

“I’ll have a mojito,” I said to our waitress
when she appeared at my elbow. “And can we have the artichoke
spinach dip to share?” My stomach might regret that later, but I’d
deal with it.

“Hungry?” Ashley asked.

“More like perpetually cold. It makes me
hungry.” I finally lifted my eyes to meet his, and Ashley was
gazing steadily at me. He wore a dark burgundy sweater with a large
diagonal collar and a black shirt underneath. The sweater was made
of really thick wool and still managed to cling to his chest like
it was molded to his shape. My mouth went a little dry and I
focused on the little frown line that appeared between his
eyebrows.

“What happened with your power?”

“Apparently there was water in the fuse
box.”

“Jesus.” Ashley sat back. “That could’ve been
messy.”

“Yeah, it’s going to take some time to sort
out, but at least I got a guy to come out on short notice, and he’s
got my heating working.”