“I love you, my boy.”
“Listen to me. You cannot just give my number out to people! Who even is this Trevor?”
“He’s alovelyboy, Hendrix, he really is, Martin showed me a picture and he’s got beautiful eyes. Gentle eyes that you could really gaze into. I love you.”
Beauchamp held the mobile against his ear for two full seconds after his father had rung off, on the principle that if he lowered it immediately Vidal would take it as an invitation to start jabbering away.
When he’d braced himself sufficiently, he lowered it, slid it back into his jacket pocket, and resumed walking with Mercè adjusted against his shoulder. He kept his eyes fixed on a point eight feet in front of his own shoes.
Vidal walked beside him in perfect silence for all of five seconds before his curiosity exploded out of him.
“Major. Your name isHendrix.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hendrix Beauchamp.” Vidal said the name slowly, like he was tasting it against his tongue. “HendrixBeauchamp. I must sit with this. I must give it the reflection it deserves. Your father, I take it, is a musical man?”
“He had a career in music, sir.”
“Hada career.” Vidal’s expression warmed. “You must tell me everything. But not now: we have more pressing matters. Trevor!”
“Sir, I am not going to discuss —”
“Major.Major.” Vidal caught his elbow and slowed him in the middle of the pavement, quite serene about the pedestrians obliged to step around them. “Listen very carefully, because I am about to do you the great kindness that no one in your chilly island nation will do, which is to give you myopinion. You are going to receive a telephone call today from a man namedTrevor, and you are going to have to decide how to respond to him. I am going to help you.”
“I’d prefer if you —”
“First question. Are you free on Saturday?”
“Sir.”
“Are you free on Saturday, Beauchamp? This is a logistical enquiry. It is not a trap.”
“I am on duty, sir.”
“You are onlightduty on Saturday evening, because I have told the Private Secretary’s office that I intend to be in for the night and require no security presence past eight, as I shall be washing my hair. You may take Saturday evening. Consider it a gift.”
“Sir, with respect, I’ve not agreed to —”
“Second question, and this is the important one.Wherewill you take him? Because Trevor, you understand, has been on these apps, which is a sign of a man of modest standards and greatpatience. He is expecting you to put in an effort, Beauchamp. He is a man with a decent salary and a tragic recent history. He has been let down by the world, Beauchamp! He must be treatedgently.”
“Sir, I am not —”
“You must fight against your natural British inclination and must not take him to a gastropub, Beauchamp. I want to be very clear with you on this point. Under no circumstances is a first meeting with Trevor to occur in a gastropub. They are rooms full of bad art and loud couples on their third bottle, and they do not allow a man to hear the soft noises of another man falling in love with him across a table. Second rule. Not a sushi restaurant. Sushi is sexy if you know how to handle it and a minefield if you do not. You do not want to be concentrating on chopsticks when you should be concentrating on his eyes. Third rule — ”
“Sir, please.”
“Third rule, and I cannot stress this enough, Beauchamp: no Italian. Not for the first meeting. If you take this young man for Italian, he will assume you have taken every previous young man for Italian, and he will be correct, because the British default for a slightly better-than-average first date is a candle-lit room with a checked tablecloth and a waiter who calls youboss. He has been let down by a man. He does not need to also bebored. Do I make myself clear?”
Beauchamp nodded numbly.
“I am thinking,” Vidal went on, clearly enjoying himself, “of a Lebanese place in Fitzrovia which I have been to once, in the company of a Saudi diplomat whose name I will not mention because he is now married. It is warm. The lighting is flattering. The mezze can be shared, which is important, Beauchamp, because you want to bebuilding intimacy, not competing at separate plates. They will send you home with a bag of leftovers without being asked, which is a sign of a good restaurant. I will send you the address.”
“That won’t be necessary, sir.”
“I will send you the address, Beauchamp, and I will also send you a short briefing on the political situation in Lebanon for the last six months, because Trevor works in cybersecurity and will have opinions. You’ll want to be prepared. Nothing is more attractive to a modern gay man than a military officer who canconverse, Beauchamp, this is known, I have conducted my own research on the subject. A soldier who can only discuss ordnance and the weather is a soldier who goes home alone.”
“Sir, I —”
