“Strawberries,” Jason filled in. “Candied fruit, you said. Sweetness.”
“Clearly I had fruit on my mind.” Colby ate another berry when Jason fed it to him. “And I’m going to feel it, I suspect, walking round a museum later. Did you plan that? Me noticing it with every step, thinking about you and your hands?”
Jason had to laugh. “I’d say yeah, I planned it, but I really didn’t. I wasn’t sure you’d be up for this. But I like thinking about you thinking about that. Oh, hey.”
“Hmm?”
“Happy birthday?”
“Yes!” Colby pounced on him. Kissed him, fiercely and with delight. “Perfectly happy!”
“If you want a hint about your third present…it has to do with, um, this. Sort of. Well, it does.”
“I’m intrigued, and confused?”
“There’re two parts to it. An illustration…a couple centuries old, let’s
