A PERFECT RENDEZVOUS

Cold Shower

The celebration of a bicentennial in a small Texas town, Zayn realized the next day, was an elaborate affair, with a kickoff speech from the mayor and a week-long schedule of events that included parades down the main street, sports events, livestock shows, and a variety of entertainments.

"That's Mayor Addelson," Harry told him as they arrived at the park in the middle of town and stopped at the edge where they'd be seen by the fewest people. Harry nodded toward the tall man in his late forties who was walking briskly onto the pavilion, which was appropriately decked out in red, white, and blue bunting. "And that's his wife, Marian, in the yellow linen dress," he added, indicating a pretty woman in a chic dress and hat who was sitting among the honored guests on a specially erected grandstand at the side of the pavilion, watching her husband prepare to begin. "Mayor Addelson was widowed a long time ago," Harry provided informatively. "Marian was an interior designer in Dallas when he met her there two years ago. He brought her back here, and Daddy married them. They have a wonderful ranch outside of town and they're building a new house up on the hill. They're very nice."

Zayn slid his arm around Harry from behind, pulling his trim buttocks against him, and smiled into his hair. "You feel very nice."

He leaned lightly against him, and Harry felt his body surge and harden.

"So do you."

Swallowing, Zayn diverted himself by concentrating on Mayor Addelson. Addelson's thick hair was the strange grayish yellow blond that seemed more common in Texas than anywhere Zayn had ever been, but the mayor obviously shared every politician's love of pomp and speech making, because he talked for almost a half hour about the grand battle once fought on Keaton's soil and about the history of the town, beginning with its founders. Zayn was mentally comparing the individual merits, or lack thereof, of the movie scripts he'd read last week, when he realized the mayor's speech was over and he was talking about Zayn:

"Before we sound the cannon and open up the celebration, I'd like to spend just a minute talking about the special visitor we have in town. It's no secret from any of you that Zayn Malik is here right now or that he's visiting Harry Mathison. It's also no secret that the great state of Texas hasn't been very friendly or lucky for him in the past. I know how much y'all are hopin' to meet him and how eager we all are to change his impression of Texans, but folks, the best way to do that is to give him some space and let him get to know us in his own way. You all know what he's been through, and you've all seen the way people mob movie stars and pester them for autographs. Zayn probably has nowhere in the world where he can relax and be treated like ordinary folks like to be treated. Except here. Let's show him what it's like to have a hometown like Harry's, where people care about each other and look after each other!"

That invocation was greeted with a loud burst of applause, a drum roll from the bandstand, and friendly grins and waves from hundreds of people aimed at Zayn, which he politely returned.

To Zayn's surprised pleasure, the townspeople adhered to the mayor's suggestion, and Zayn had the best and most relaxing day in a public place that he could ever remember having in fifteen years. Nor was he immune to the mood of celebration and the uniquely Americana flavor of what was going on around him. As day drifted into evening, he had an amazingly enjoyable time doing foolishly simple things like visiting booths where homemade items from cakes to crocheted linens were on sale, devouring hot dogs slathered with mustard, and joking with Ted and Katherine about whether or not all the games in the booths were fixed or just the ones they'd tried to win. But then, he was with Harry, and as he'd already discovered in Colorado, he had a gift for making even the mundane seem like an adventure.

Harry was also a great favorite of the townspeople, and their affection for him seemed to tentatively include Zayn, too—now that his words at the gymnasium last night gave them every reason to expect he'd come here "to do right by Harry." Zayn was dying to prove it to them and to the world by sliding the engagement ring he'd chosen that morning onto his finger, but he was waiting for the right moment. After the calamity of their last attempt to exchange rings, he was adamantly determined that this attempt would make up for the grimness of the other, that it would be joyous, memorable, and lighthearted.