13. Dominic

My dreams were interrupted by the abrupt shrill of what sounded like school bells. Mumbling to myself, I tried to find the test paper I’d been diligently working on. Only, my fingers found the thick cloth of a blanket instead of paper, and the hard surface beneath it was my knee, not the desk.

My eyes opened and adjusted to the low light filtering through the window. Bleary and confused, I gazed around to get my bearings. The last of the odd dream I’d been having filtered away and I remembered where I was.

To my left, a small lump lay beneath the blankets. A shock of bleached blond hair stuck out in several directions from the top of the mound. I smiled, leaning over Cielo’s sleeping form to kiss the top of his head. His hair smelled of apples and leaves, and I nuzzled his soft locks for a moment, appreciating the warmth coming off him.

The sound of the bells shrilled through the house again, bringing me up and reminding me what had woken me in the first place. Sighing, I heaved myself out of bed and went rummaging for my clothes. Finding pants and a shirt that would be serviceable, I padded out in the hallway yawning. I reached for the light switch, stopping when I remembered the power was out.

When I opened the door, it was to reveal a slightly impatient Aldo. The morning light shone on his close-cropped dark brown hair and he smiled when he caught sight of my expression.

“Woke you up, huh?” he asked.

I grunted. “Too much light out, so I’m guessing I needed to get up a while ago.”

“Not like you to sleep in.”

I shrugged. “Need somethin’ Aldo?”

He smiled. “You’re not much of a morning person, huh? You called me last night, left a voicemail.”

I took a minute, blinking owlishly until I remembered. “Oh, right. Yeah, the power lines were knocked out of the tool shed juncture last night.”

Aldo whistled. “Good way to get yourself electrocuted, thought I told you to watch out for that.”

“Accidents happen, couldn’t be helped.”

A thump drew our attention behind me. Cielo had stumbled out into the hallway, looking disheveled and confused. Before I could say anything, he walked toward me and Aldo, trying to peer curiously around my body. I glanced at Aldo, my heart sinking as I caught the man’s raised brow.

“Woof, are all the men in this town good-looking?” Cielo asked in a sleep-thickened voice.

I didn’t know what was more shocking, his blunt words or the fact that Aldo chuckled at it in good humor. Worse was the roil of angry jealousy which burned hot in my gut as I saw what looked like Aldo sizing Cielo up speculatively. My face burned with my annoyance as I glanced between the two of them, trying to decide what I should say.

The only thing I could think to say was to remind Cielo of what we were. The problem was, I didn’t actually know what to call us. Before, our relationship had been simple, me as the host and supervisor, with him as the guest and temporary employee. That a friendship had cropped up between might have been unlikely at first, but I had been comfortable with it. I didn’t know what had changed last night, if anything at all.

Cielo shrugged, standing on the tips of his toes to kiss my cheek. “Doesn’t matter, I’ve got what I need.”

I stood stock still as he walked away, humming another of his songs as he made his way down the hallway. Aldo was watching us both, his amused expression aggravating me further.

“Don’t say anything,” I warned.

He held up his hands, still smirking. “Wasn’t going to.”

The worst part was that the gesture had been enough to calm the flare of annoying jealousy that had bothered me so much. With that one simple gesture in front of Aldo, Cielo had managed to assuage my absurd jealousy. It wasn’t helping that Aldo was still smirking at me, and for some reason, I didn’t care that he’d seen.

Just so long as Cielo didn’t try to sleep with anyone else.

“Alright, well, I’ll take a look at the power box,” Aldo said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

I sighed. “Yeah. Thanks, Aldo.”

I watched him go, still feeling troubled by the sudden change in my attitude. The irritation lasted as long as it took for me to close the door and hear Cielo busying himself in the kitchen. Sighing, I walked down the hallway, prepared to continue with our day after we ate and made a trip to the store.

Hopefully without incident.

* * *

As I had done on every other trip into town, I parked the truck in the lot of the bar at the far end of town. I liked walking the streets, soaking in the familiar sights and greeting the people I knew. As much as I enjoyed my solitude in the middle of the forest, I still liked connecting with the people of Hilsbury. I told myself it was a way to stay connected to everything that represented home, not just the orchard and my house.

Most of the people I waved to in greeting were quick to return the gesture. The first to not do so, was an elderly man who’d known my father when they’d worked at the mill together. Gregor outright refused to raise his hand in greeting to me, choosing instead to stare icily in my direction. Considering the older man had always been a little on the cranky side, I tried to pass it off as just one of his bad days.

The second was Eloise, who had always greeted me exuberantly when she saw me on the street. When she didn’t return my greeting, my hesitant good mood began to wilt. Turning down the sidewalk, I tried to push back the sneaking suspicion that something was wrong. It would be all too easy to think something was wrong after the incident with Steven, and then Aldo having seen more than I would have been comfortable with. Even after the third person had refused to greet me, I chalked it up to a bad day and my own paranoia at work.

The reality came crashing down when I was stopped in front of the bakery by one of the local restaurant owners, Leslie. Cielo had busied himself peering through the bakery’s front window, cooing over the cakes excitedly. I had spotted Leslie coming across the street, her pace brisk and her face intent.

“Morning,” I called hesitantly, wary of her hard expression.

“Dominic,” she said in reply.

I decided to take the bait. “Is something wrong?”

“I just wanted to stop by and inform you that your latest shipment of apples to the restaurant will be the last. I won’t be ordering any more from you,” she replied.

It was the sort of direct answer I expected from her, but I still rocked back from the woman’s vehemence. My mouth opened to ask her what could have possibly changed, when her hard gaze shifted to Cielo. Despite a showdown of sorts happening a few feet from him, he was enraptured by the galaxy-painted pastries and paying no attention.

“Good day,” Leslie finished, whirling on one heel and striding away.

Numb and unsure what to say, I waited until Cielo was done before moving on. Despite his earlier obliviousness, he didn’t miss that something was wrong with me. For whatever reason, however, he chose to remain silent, which I was thankful for.

When we entered the grocery store, he turned to me. “Want me to take half of the list and you get the other?”

I pulled the list out, handing it to him mechanically. “Take the bottom half, I already have it memorized.”

“You sure have a better memory than I could ever hope to have.”

With the beaming compliment given, Cielo turned and made his way into the store. I watched him, cringing inwardly when I saw heads turn to follow his progress, only for the collective attention to turn to me once he was out of sight. I was sure I was seeing the same accusation and disgust in some of the faces that I’d seen in Leslie’s.

I waited until the gazes passed over me before allowing myself to take a breath. No one had said anything, but I knew word had already been passed around. Whether from Steven’s furious storytelling, or Aldo having passed word along through his phone, I didn’t know. Either way, I was finding myself the talk of the town and I didn’t like it.

As I braced myself to get through the shopping trip, a collection of snickering snapped my attention to a group of men. They weren’t looking at me, but down the aisle they stood in front of. There was only one thing I could think they’d find so funny, and with a sense of foreboding, went to go see.

Horror washed over me as I watched Cielo, as colorful and bright as ever, browsing through the aisle’s collection of condoms. When the men glanced at me, I could see the jokes building in their eyes. Before they could say anything, I pushed passed them to snag Cielo by the wrist and pull him to the exit. His protests fell on deaf ears as I pulled him away from the crowd and into the sunlight.

When we were what I hoped was a safe distance away, I rounded on him.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Could you have been any more obvious?”

His eyes were wide. “What do you mean?”

I jammed a finger in the direction of the store. “You know damn well I don’t want to make a scene about… that sort of thing. I grew up around here, these people are everything I’ve got. I’ve been building up a good name for years here, Cielo. Years. And you coming in here with your ideas about how things should be isn’t doing anything but ruining that!”

Cielo’s eyes welled up. “I’m only trying to be honest, and to help you be more honest.”

I pulled him further down the street until we were by the bakery. “You know what honesty gets you? The guy who owns that bakery, Edward, he was honest, too. Someone figured him out and he decided to stand by it and live his life. Right up until a bunch of guys jumped him one night and I had to barge in and save him. They did the crime, but I was the one who got locked up and treated like dirt for it.”

Cielo’s gaze softened. “Of course you protected him, but, well… how long ago was that?”

I hesitated. “About ten years.”

“See? Even around here, ten years can make all the difference.”

I gritted my teeth. “You really think it made any difference? He’s still treated like dirt, there are some people who won’t even walk in front of his store.”

Cielo sighed. “Well, of course there’s still people being ignorant and prejudiced, that’s just how people are. But look at that place, no one decorates like that or goes all out if they don’t have the money. So sure, there are people here who don’t like him, but enough of them still go there for him to do business and do well.”

“You’re not listening to me,” I growled.

His eyes narrowed. “And you’re not wanting to listen to me because it might mean having to change how you’ve done things in the past. You claim to love this town and its people so much, but you don’t have very much faith in their ability to accept you.”

It was everything I had wondered about and feared. Of course I wished I could live my life more openly. It would relieve a great burden from my chest. However, I’d already seen what Hilsbury was like when it came to people like Edward or Cielo. I couldn’t throw everything away, no matter how much Cielo wanted me to.

I took a step back, eyes blazing. “The world isn’t like your fantasies, Cielo. The world isn’t made of rainbows and unicorns, no matter how much you want it to be. This is reality, this is my reality. And you coming in here, flouncing around with your bright fairy colors is ruining it.”

It was neither a lie, nor the truth, but the crestfallen and wounded expression on Cielo’s face told me it had been enough. All the desperation and hope in his face died, replaced by crushing heartbreak. Just as the light in his face withered, so too did my anger, leaving me only with regret.

“Cielo.”

Before I could continue, a deep voice called across the street. “Hey! Cielo! There you are!”

My head snapped up, catching sight of a trio of people on the opposite sidewalk, two women and a tall, thin man. They were motioning to Cielo, who gaped in surprise at them. I realized belatedly that those were the friends he had been waiting for, and they had finally come to take him away.

Cielo turned his head back to me, the hurt expression still ripe on his face. I opened my mouth to speak again, but he turned and hurried away. Helpless to stop him, I watched as he jogged across the street to his friends and was swallowed up in their group.

Lost, I made my way back to my truck, back to my life.