Allison shook her head, but looked away as she did so. Ben wondered if she was being honest, but knew that he would probably never know, not now. People had a funny way of forgiving the dead.

The following day Ben tackled the long list of affairs to be set in order, starting with the funeral home. Allison decided to have the body cremated and not hold a memorial service. Allison and Ben were the only ones likely to attend anyway, since they had so few relatives and Mr. Cross never socialized.

Next they dug through piles of paperwork in Mr. Cross’s office, searching for a will. They found a house mortgage that was almost paid off, and a life insurance policy that would cover the rest while leaving Allison with money to spare. They still weren’t sure how much money was in the bank or if he left any credit card debt, but Ben planned on searching the computer for this information the next day. What little they had accomplished had already taken them well into the evening. The process was especially tiring for Allison.

Ben waited until she was asleep before pulling Jace’s number from his wallet. He felt slightly guilty about dating in the midst of Allison’s loss, but those feelings were soon replaced by nervousness as he punched in the number. A woman answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Uh, hi. Is Jace there?”

The woman paused before sternly asking, “Who’s this?”

Not another married guy! Ben came close to hanging up when a rustling sound preceded the woman’s laughter.

“Idiot!” Jace’s voice said through a hand on the receiver. “Sorry, this is Jace,” he said in a much clearer tone.

“Hey, it’s Ben. Look, did I call at a bad time?”

“Ben! Hey! No, not a bad time at all. That was just my sister. She enjoys destroying my social life.”

“I know what you mean,” Ben said sympathetically. “I have one of those, too.”

“Yeah, they’re a pain. She was just leaving anyway,” he added pointedly. “Hold on.”

Ben listened to a hurried goodbye between the siblings, wondering what in the world he was going to say when Jace was free again. How about that flight? Did everything go okay with handing out the peanuts? Any trouble with the overhead bins? Usually he met guys at a bar where he was able to converse in person. Over the phone it felt much more awkward.

“So, what did Santa bring you for Christmas?” Jace asked suddenly.

“What?” Ben laughed.

“For Christmas. What did you get?”

“Uh, actually I haven’t even opened my presents yet. I’ve been with my friend almost the whole time since landing. My parents are probably dying to see me, actually.”

“They’ll have to wait,” Jace said. “Do you want to meet tonight?”

“It’s almost midnight!”

“Is it already?” He sounded genuinely puzzled. “You see what flying so much does to you? I have no concept of time anymore.”

“Tomorrow would be good,” Ben suggested.

“Can you ice skate?” Jace asked.

“No.”

“Excellent! Why don’t we meet at the Galleria Ice Rink? Do you know where that is?”

“Of course,” Ben answered, his head spinning. This was all going too fast!

“Next to the skate rental booth. Around dinner time?”

Ben didn’t answer right away.

“I’m not a serial killer or anything,” Jace said, noticing Ben’s hesitance. “It’s just that I would prefer to stare into those lovely brown eyes of yours when we talk.”

“My eyes are green,” Ben lied, trying to throw him for a loop.

“No, they aren’t. I’ll prove it to you tomorrow. Seven o’clock?”

“Yeah, all right,” Ben said, smiling into the receiver. “Central time zone. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t, promise. Go see your parents tomorrow!”

“All right, all right!” Ben mocked irritation. “Geez. You’d think we were married already.”

“Now who’s rushing things? Goodnight, Ben.”

“Goodnight.”

__________

Chapter 17

Houston’s Galleria might be one of the largest malls in America, but the three million square feet could have easily fit inside the pit in Ben’s stomach. The amount of butterflies there contended with those of his first day in kindergarten. Dates never made him nervous, but usually Ben would meet a guy at a bar or on campus, where conversation would flow naturally until they reached some level of comfort. Instead there had been a brief and groggy flight, from which remained only a fuzzy impression of a handsome flight attendant. Hopefully his memory didn’t cheat, because his evening was now committed to this mystery date.

The mall’s layout was fairly typical— rows of stores on each floor separated by an empty gap that allowed a shopper to see the floors above or below. Ben peered over one of the railings to the lowest floor, which was an ice rink. People of all ages glided by below, as comfortable in their ice skates as in shoes. This wasn’t going to work.

There was no sign of Jace, but then they were supposed to meet by the skate rentals. Gathering his courage, Ben pushed his way through the swarms of people. Two days after Christmas meant the mall was a nightmare of after-holiday sales and gift returns. Once the elevator that Ben squeezed into dinged open, he spotted Jace immediately.

Ben’s date was handsome, which did little to dispel his anxiety. Jace was dressed sharply in a black, knee-length, winter jacket, the sort a classy New Yorker might wear. This was tempered with a casual pair of jeans and a well-worn pair of tennis shoes. His hair was styled to perfection, which made Ben wish for a mirror to check his own, but Jace had already seen him.

They greeted each other clumsily, unsure whether to shake hands or hug. Waiting in line for their skates was awkward, Jace trying to make small talk and Ben trying to find a part of himself that wasn’t feeling bashful. Now Ben was eager to get out on the rink, just so they would have an activity to distract themselves with.

“Are you any good at this?” Ben asked as they were pulling on their ice skates.

“Oh, I do all right.” Jace finished tying his laces and looked to Ben’s. “Wait. You missed a rung and the tongue is stuffed in. Here.”

Like a father helping his child, he stooped, untied Ben’s skates, and then laced them up correctly. When finished, he smiled and offered his hand. Ben accepted it and hobbled with him to the edge of the rink.

“I really can’t ice skate at all,” he said. “I did once when I was eight, and all I remember is falling on my ass until I finally gave up.”

“You didn’t have me then.”

Jace’s eyes twinkled as he led Ben out onto the ice. Ben started slow, keeping a white-knuckled grip on Jace’s elbow. Less than a minute later his legs were slipping out from under him. Jace caught the back of his jacket before he could fall and allowed Ben to steady himself on the wall of the rink.

“You have to move your legs like this,” Jace explained, showing him the odd diagonal movement needed to propel forward.

Over the next twenty minutes, Jace patiently coached him. Ben began to get the hang of it. The ice skates weren’t so different from his old Rollerblades, really. Another twenty minutes later and he was really enjoying himself. He still wasn’t confident enough to let go of Jace, but then he didn’t want to. Ben released his death grip on Jace’s elbow and took his hand instead. He noticed that while Jace was slender, there was a lot more muscle than it appeared. His hands weren’t boney and cold. They were strong and warm.

“This is nice,” Ben said as they made their way around, hand in hand. “Anywhere else and people would be staring at us, but here we have a reason to hold on to each other.”

Jace smiled at him. “I have to admit that was part of the plan,” he confessed, “but I don’t need a pretense to hold another guy’s hand in public. Let people stare if they want.”