10. Nico
NICO
Maybe I was making excuses so I could linger a bit longer, but the windows covered in paper snowflakes that looked like they’d been colored with crayons drew me back in. I turned and pushed my way inside.
“Who decorated the snowflakes?”
Cameron looked startled when he turned from where he’d been wiping the counter, but he schooled his expression quickly.
“I do a summer reading program for the kids in partnership with the local library. When they read five books, they get to color in a snowflake, and when they read twenty, they get a free cone.”
“Wow, that’s…” I took in the sheer amount of snowflakes covering the windows.
“Quaint?” Cameron chuckled.
“Amazing. I would have been motivated by coloring and ice cream when I was a kid.”
Now Cameron laughed, a full, deep sound. “I think you would still be motivated by coloring and ice cream.”
“True.”
“Alright, when you finish the mural, you can color in a snowflake.” Cameron leaned back against the counter with his hands bracketing his hips.
“Steep price.” I sauntered right up to him, letting my fingers drag across his stomach. “What do I have to do for the free cone?”
He leaned into my touch for a moment, like he’d forgotten he was supposed to be keeping me at arm’s length. His voice was husky when he finally spoke.
“Stick around long enough, and you’ll find out.”
I wanted to devour him, but the bell jingled behind me, and Cameron scooted away to help the small family that had walked in.
I was supposed to be napping, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I’d sleep when I was back in Boston.
Planting myself at one of the small tables with a pad of paper and pencils, I started doodling a menagerie of cartoonish Christmas elves, and soon I had an audience of three small kids with their soft serve cones peering curiously over my shoulder.
“Would you like me to draw you?”
The oldest kid jumped into the seat across from me. They looked to be about eight years old, with bright brown eyes, dark bangs that fell into their eyes, and a toothy smile. “Yes, please. Like that.”
They gestured to the elves on the paper.
“What’s your name?”
“Elliot,” they said.
I smiled and got to work. I really had no idea how to talk to children, but soon my subject was squirming in their seat and chattering away about how a reindeer would be a terrible ballerina because its antlers would be too heavy to spin fast, but a narwhal would be an excellent ballerina if only it had feet.
As they spoke, I gave their cartoon elf bright brown eyes, dark bangs that fell into their eyes, and a toothy smile.
“Would your elf like a ballerina skirt?” I said.
They smiled happily and nodded, so I added a fluffy tulle skirt over their elf costume, and little ballerina shoes with Christmas bells on the toes.
As soon as I was finished, the other two siblings were clamoring for their own drawings, and I’m pretty sure I had soft serve down the sleeve of my shirt from where they had been watching over my shoulder.
Not that it mattered. All my clothes were covered in paint and stains at this point.
I was working on the last portrait when their parents appeared at the table.
“It’s time to go, kiddos,” their dad said, ruffling the hair of the kid with braided pigtails who was my current subject. “We’ve monopolized this kind man’s—”
“Nico,” I filled in for him. “But I don’t mind. This has been fun. And you are…”
“Steve.”
Steve scooped up kid number three and looked at the drawing I’d done. This elf, with braided pigtails and long eyelashes, was riding a long-necked dinosaur. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out a twenty.
“I can’t take this,” I said when he handed it to me. “I was just playing around.”
“You did three drawings, and they’re wonderful.” He pushed the money into my hand. “Plus, you entertained this pack of elves while my wife and I enjoyed our milkshakes. It’s the least I can do.”
I blushed. “It was a pleasure.”
When I caught Cameron watching from behind the register, his expression was unreadable.
Inspired, I headed to the hardware store to pick up a few more supplies.
Staring at the paint swatches, I didn’t notice Guadalupe Soto coming up behind me until her hand landed on my wrist. I spun quickly, sending all the paint sample cards spilling.
“Oh! I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said. “I’d help with that, but my knees aren’t what they used to be, and you’d be picking me up off the floor next.”
Guadalupe had been a history teacher at the high school years ago; did she still teach there?
She had to be in her mid-sixties by now.
Her curly, short hair was graying at the top, and she was dressed in a magenta maxi dress that looked stunning against her tan skin.
She held some gardening tools in her hand.
If I remembered correctly, she was also captain of the town’s gossip brigade.
I chuckled. “No worries. I’m a bit jumpy.”
Guadalupe tsked and shook her head. “That city life isn’t for me, always having to be on your toes.”
“It’s not so bad,” I smiled at her, having retrieved all the samples from the floor. “How can I help you?”
“I just wanted to say hello, sweetie. What brings you to town?”
“I’m painting a mural over at Frosty’s.”
“Lovely! Cameron is doing such an excellent job with that place. We’re all so proud.
” She leaned in conspiratorially. “Now if we could just find him a lovely lady to keep him company… or a man, you know. Plenty of eligible folks, and he’s been single as a slice of cheese for far too long, if you know what I mean. ”
Guadalupe winked, and I cleared my throat.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that, ma’am. I’m just helping with an art project.”
“Of course, of course.” She tutted. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone in that big fancy city of yours who might be looking for a good small-town lover? That’s always how it goes in the movies.”
“Uh, no.” My ears heated, and I fought to keep my hands from clenching. I was the only city boy who would get his hands on Cameron Frost if I had anything to do with it. “But I’ll keep an ear to the ground.”
She nodded, appeased for now. “Good, good. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”
I tilted my head in confusion. She couldn’t be talking about…
“The mural,” she clarified with a knowing twinkle in her eye. “I’m sure it will be beautiful.”
Nodding sheepishly, I ran my hand through my hair. “Speaking of, I should get to it.”
After one more surprisingly strong squeeze of my forearm, Guadalupe was gone. I let out a big breath, leaning against the display.
“Melvin, I’m ready to check out,” she called from the front of the store.
Melvin, a burly Canadian man with a thick dark beard and forearms the size of my thighs, popped out from the next aisle and shook his head at me as he walked up to the register. “Forgot how to hold your own in this town, eh?”
I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. I had forgotten. No one paid attention in Boston, but here, it was impossible to get anywhere without someone stopping you for a chat. I missed it more than I expected.
When I returned to Frosty’s, the place was packed with customers.
Each time I stood up, intending to head back to the farmhouse, another person was there, peppering me with questions about how long I’d be in town and how life was back in Boston.
Was I lonely? Did I celebrate Christmas properly?
When they made their way to the counter, I heard Cameron repeat the same practiced phrase.
“Gossip’s not on the menu today. Would you like to sample the soft serve instead?”
When we finally had a break in Curious Cathies disguised as customers, I watched him collapse against the back counter.
“What the hell was that?” he said.
“Was that not normal?”
“Mid-afternoon on a weekday? Not unless it’s eggnog season. Damn.”
“I ran into Guadalupe at the hardware store.” I shrugged. “She’s pretty chatty, if I remember correctly.”
I watched Cameron’s face pale like he’d seen a ghost. “Guadalupe Soto?”
“Yeah,” I said, tilting my head and scrunching my forehead. “How many Guadalupes live in Sleighbell Springs?”
Cameron was taking shallow, gasping breaths, and his knuckles were white on the counter behind him. “What did you tell her?”
“All I said was that I was in town to paint a mural in your store.” I approached him slowly, like he was a spooked horse. “Are you ok?”
“God, it’s happening all over again, isn’t it?”
“What’s happening? Cameron, talk to me.”
“Remember that night at the party? Guadalupe’s daughter, Esperanza, was there.
She saw us go upstairs together.” Cameron started pacing back and forth, the counter still separating us.
“The next day, it was all over town that you and I hooked up. Every time anyone saw me, they’d ask about you.
How you were doing in Boston, when you’d be back.
I have no idea how Mark managed to stay in the dark about it.
And it’s not like I was in the closet or anything, but I also wasn’t public about being bi back then. It was… a lot.”
I’d had no idea, of course, because I’d left the next day. And my pride hadn’t let me call him.
There was no greater regret in my life at this moment than realizing I’d been so caught up in my own bullshit that I hadn’t thought about what it must have been like for him.
Cameron turned his back on me; his muscles coiled like he was struggling to keep himself in the room. “We had just… it was my first…”
“Fuck.” I rushed around the counter, grabbing his arm and turning him to face me. “First what, Cam?”
He glared at me, ignoring my question. “…and then you dismissed me as if I were nothing. A source of summer entertainment to cure your boredom while you were waiting to get back to your real life.”
“Just because I didn’t like being stuck in Sleighbell Springs doesn’t mean I didn’t like you.”
“You don’t have to lie to me.” The muscle in his jaw clenched. “There’s nothing for me here. I heard you say it.”
I staggered back, leaning against the counter, as I realized what an asshole I’d been, even if it had been unintentional.
Especially because it sounded like that had been his first time bottoming, and I left him alone in bed before our cum had dried.
I felt truly awful, but he hadn’t told me. How was I supposed to know?
He’d seemed so confident. Irresistibly so.
Cameron backed away toward the kitchen, his body sagging in resignation.
“And it’s happening again. You’re going to leave, and I’m going to be the one fielding all the questions about your big, fancy life in the city. Facing all the gossip and the rumors. Alone.”
The back door slammed behind him.