A Haunted Love-7
949 Words
The rest of the day passes in a blur of faces but not one of them is his, not one. I buy Jeremy a sandwich at the inn for lunch and we sit on a small grassy slope by the forge to eat, keeping an eye on the glasshouse. The other apprentice comes back—Jeremy calls him Ralph but that can’t be his name. No parent would be that cruel. From where we sit, we see the Redcoat walk him to the door. They almost kiss goodbye but the Redcoat thinks better of it and settles for ruffling Ralph’s tousled hair instead. We don’t see David. Jeremy suggests maybe he’s off today. All I know is I want to see him again.
By five o’clock the tourists start to thin out and it’s time to wipe the horses down and go home. I’m worried about catching the bus—I like to sit out in the square and unwind a bit first, enjoy the colony without all the hustle and bustle of visitors, and I’d be lying if I said part of me doesn’t hope David will be there again tonight.
Call me superstitious, but I even lay down beneath the same tree, staring up at the same sky beneath the same branches. Only tonight there isn’t much fog and it isn’t too dark out yet. Around me the colony falls silent, the sounds of tourists fading into the dusk. The sky deepens from a pale blue to dark indigo, and when I hear Greg’s steady step on the cobblestones, I wonder if I should ask him about David. Of course Greg would know him, he has to—he walks every inch of this damn site each night. Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I hug my knees to my chest and wait for him to appear.
Finally I hear my name called out in the dark. “Nicholas!”
Only it isn’t Greg, it’s David. I’d recognize it anywhere. Standing, I brush the grass off my ass and look around as David runs up beside me, materializing out of nowhere.
“Nicholas, hey,” he says, breathless. He flashes me a quick grin that lights up his eyes. “I hoped we would meet again.”
With a laugh I touch his arm to prove he’s here. He covers my hand with his and ducks his head when I smile at him.
“I don’t mean to sound presumptuous,” he whispers quickly. “But I thought of you all day. I could think of nothing else.”
I lean down to claim a kiss but he turns his face before our lips meet.
“David,” I murmur against his cheek. He smells like wild wind and fresh hay. I press my mouth against his ear and sigh. “I looked for you at lunch and Jeremy thought I was talking about the other apprentice. He said you were seeing someone else—”
“I’m not seeing anyone.”
David tries to step away from me but my arm snakes around his waist to hug him close.
“Nicholas, not here.”
I take his earlobe between my teeth and bite down gently. He shivers in my arms. “I thought maybe I wouldn’t get to see you today.” My words are muffled as I kiss down his neck. “Are you busy tonight? ‘Cause I’m thinking we can go back to my place if you want. The last bus hasn’t left yet. Maybe we can get something to eat? Or go to the movies, or watch some TV, whatever you want to do. Tell me you’ll come home with me, please tell me that.”
David laughs and extracts himself from my embrace. “Nicholas,” he sighs. He runs a hand across his forehead and for the first time I notice how tired he is. “I can’t—I’m exhausted.” He forces a smile. “I had to deliver stemware to the plantation. You should see the goblets. It took hours to shape the glass so it’ll catch the light. They’re beautiful.”
“You did that?” The glasshouse is always a huge tourist draw—it’s hard to believe all those gorgeous designs started out as nothing more than dirt.
But David shakes his head. “Not me. I’m only an apprentice, remember? I’ve never even blown before.”
Jeremy’s nasty joke comes to mind and I bite it back before I say it out loud. “Never?” I purr.
David blushes at that, like I hoped he would. I like the color in his cheeks. I grab his wrist and pull him to me, enveloping him in my arms, and this time I kiss him quick, before he can turn away. When he moans against my mouth, my tongue licks his lips and tries to part them to find a way inside.
I pull him to me but he pushes against my chest, hands strong, holding me back. “David,” I sigh. “Please.”
“Not here,” he says again, looking around as if someone might see us, but there’s no one at all. Breaking away from me, he steps back. “I had hoped…”
“Hoped what?” I still hold onto his wrist and I want him close to me again so I move toward him.
He steps back, off the grass and onto the cobblestones, and I follow.
“Maybe?” he asks, and I nod to show I’m listening. “If there’s no one waiting for you at home—”
“There isn’t.” My heart thuds against my ribs and I hope he’s going to ask me what I want him to ask. I hope he wants the same thing I want. I can see in his eyes he does and I hope I’m right.
He takes a deep breath. “Then maybe you’d like to…I’ve never asked someone this before, you’ll have to forgive me, but maybe you’d want to…”
He falters and I squeeze his wrist, encouraging.
“I don’t know,” he whispers. Then, in a breathless rush, he asks, “Maybe you’d like to stay with me again? I know I said it was one night and it was, so I’ll understand if you don’t want to, feel free to say no—”
“Yes.”
He looks up at me, surprised, and I laugh. “God, I’d love to.”
A slow smile spreads across his face. “Truly?”
I take another step, closing the distance between us, and nuzzle my nose against his neck because I love his scent. “Yes, truly.”
- Writer
