Aside from the festival vendors, Main Street was lined with shops, businesses, and art galleries, and Rhys steered Thomas into the Chocolate Bear, claiming it was for Thomas’s benefit, but he didn’t think Thomas was fooled.
“Let me guess. This is your favorite place in town?” Thomas asked as he peered into a glass case featuring a display of handmade dark chocolate truffles.
Rhys smiled sheepishly. “Mama’s too.”
But Thomas exited the store with a bag almost as full of different flavors of truffles as Rhys did, so Rhys didn’t feel guilty about the detour.
As they strolled along, Rhys noticed Scott kept trying to get Thomas’s attention by engaging him in conversation and touching his shoulder or arm, but Rhys preferred to call what he felt “annoyance” rather than “jealousy.” He was tempted to step in and snap at Scott to back off, but Thomas resolved the issue himself by putting Rhys between himself and Scott. Any obligation Rhys might have felt to let their outing last closer to three hours than two evaporated, and as soon as two hours had passed, he made a show of looking at the time on his phone.
“Sorry, Scott,” he said, although he doubted he looked or sounded genuinely regretful. “We need to head out.”
“So soon?” Scott tried to turn a mournful look on Thomas, but he didn’t have the big blue eyes to pull it off like Thomas did. “It seems like we just got here.”
“Feel free to stay and enjoy the rest of the festival without us,” Rhys said, draping his arm across Thomas’s shoulders and steering him back toward where they’d parked.
Thomas called out a goodbye to Scott, but he relaxed under Rhys’s arm. “That was fun, but I was ready to go.”
“Me too,” Rhys said. “We can head over to Maggie Valley now and check out the museum and maybe get some gear for you.”
“You’ll have to advise me about which gear to get,” Thomas said. “I’d go for what looked the coolest, and that’s probably not the best way to choose my gear.”
“Well, coolness can be a factor,” Rhys said, chuckling. “But yeah, there are other things to consider first.”
He was already thinking about what he might suggest once they got to the shop. He hadn’t looked at gear in far too long, so he might end up finding something for himself as well. He was struck by the realization that he was looking forward to the shopping excursion, and he felt eager to help introduce Thomas to this new world. His memories of shopping with Andy were there, of course, but they weren’t rising to the forefront like they usually did. Instead, they lingered in the back of his mind, infused with wistful nostalgia rather than grief.
Rhys didn’t know what had caused the change, but he wasn’t going to question it. For now, he was content to focus on Thomas and vintage motorcycles and the rest of their Scott-free day.
