Page 8 of Ice Around the Edges

“You’re getting comfortable,” I teased him, “you planning to stay all day?”

“Yep,” he told me. “I talked to your doctor; he said you could go home tomorrow. I already stocked the fridge and––”

“What?” I nearly choked on a piece of chicken.

“What?” He looked confused.

Home?

“Evan?”

“Home?” I finally got the word out.

He squinted at me. “I missed something.”

“You’re taking me home?”

“Yeah,” he said, glancing around the room. “I don’t see anybody else waiting to do it.”

“Dixon, you––”

“I took your keys and your wallet and went to your place. I like your apartment. It’s small, but that’s to be expected on your salary. You own it?”

“On my salary?” I was indignant.

“Pull the stick out of your ass, Evan. We both know you don’t make shit; you don’t have to be a dick about it. You can fit three of your place into my loft in Manhattan.”

“Okay.” I put down my fork. “I will have you know that that apartment is in a historic building and––”

“Yeah, I already knew it was small. But I don’t care if you own it, either way it can be sold, whatever… let’s just worry about tomorrow. Now, I already got––”

“What are you talking about?” I yelled.

His scowl was dark. “Tomorrow when I take you home I need to make sure that your place is stocked until you’re okay enough to fly to New York with me for Christmas.”

“You hate Christmas!” Which was not what I meant to say, but was what came out.

“Yes, I do,” he said, reaching for my hand, which, for whatever reason, I let him have. It was an automatic response: if Dixon wanted something, I gave it to him. It was ingrained deep inside me, too deep to try and reason with. “But when I was with you I missed my family, and when I was with my family I missed you. Maybe if I take you to New York, maybe this year it will be different.” He sighed deeply. “Maybe this year I’ll finally have what I never knew I always wanted.”

He had lost his mind and I hadn’t noticed.

“I have someone I would like you to meet.”

I watched as he got up and walked out of the room. I took that opportunity to make sure I was awake. I felt awake, everything looked normal; there were no clowns anywhere that I could see… it all felt real.

And then the fear hit me.

Someone I would like you to meet.

That’s what he was trying to tell me. He had finally told his father to go to hell, and now there was a man he loved in his life who he wanted me to meet. Oh dear God in heaven, I was not quite ready for that. You closed the door forever on possibilities in your secret heart when you met the significant others of old lovers.

“Evan.”

I looked up, and there at the door was a very beautiful, very elegantly dressed woman wearing a white fur coat. When she took off her gloves, the diamond on her left hand caught my eye. It was as big as an ice cube.

“Oh,” she said, crossing the room to me, “from the way Dixon always went on, I thought he was exaggerating, but your eyes really are the loveliest shade of brown, and those cheekbones— if I’d been so blessed I would have married better.”

“Mother,” Dixon gasped.