A Pocketful of Stardust

by J P Barnaby

  “Hi, Thad! I have the flyer. Where would you like me to hang it?” Noah asked, holding up the sheaf of papers.

  “Right here, lovely.” Thad gingerly handed him a gilded frame. “Hold this. No, turn it around, like that, yes.”

  Noah held the frame so the front faced him and saw a small white tag dangling from the frame on a string. Thad was putting his cheap paper flyer into a three-hundred-dollar frame. He slid the back into place and set the frame on a table at the front of the nearest display.

  “That frame is the one object in this store that people pick up and look at most often before returning it to the table and moving on,” he said with a laugh. “You should see some traffic from that.” He read through the sign with a smile. “Pumpkin spice lattes? I’m so there.”

  Noah laughed and then asked, “Did I do okay with the sign?”

  “Well, it’s a little pedestrian for my tastes, but then they are a little gaudy by human standards. It looks bookish and offers practically free coffee. I think it’s fine,” he said. “Besides, you’ll get better at the business part each year. Lord knows I did, honey. It was a wonder I stayed in business those first few years.”

  “If I’m still open next year,” Noah sighed.

  “You will be. Ananda has been saging herself silly over there on your behalf,” Thad said, nodding to indicate a couple of box fans pointed out a window. “Never thought I’d have to use a box fan in self-defense.”

  “I appreciate all the help I can get. Speaking of, I have something else for you. I made some five-dollar-off coupons. I figured you could tell people if they spent a certain dollar amount or bought a certain thing, they could get some money off with us. Does that sound like a good idea?” Noah asked, desperate hope clear in his voice, counting out twenty-five of them.

  “I think that’s a great idea, maybe for the diner or Ananda’s. Unless you have any books on antiquing or furniture history, I doubt they’ll do much good here. I’ll just hand them out. They don’t need to buy anything,” Thad said with a smile and a shrug.

  “Thank you. I have some for Ananda and Miss Jessie too. Did you have anything you wanted me to put up for you?” Noah asked, anxious to keep going. For the past week, there’d been a tingling under his skin, an anxiety he couldn’t shake. Maybe it was an allergic reaction to sage.

  “Indeed I do.” Thad turned and skipped back to his counter. He came back with a sign printed on what looked like parchment paper. There was a hole punched in the top, and Noah was going ask about it, but then Thad handed him a suction-cup-tipped arrow. “Hang it on this.”

  “You do have a flair,” Noah said, amazed.

  “It’s a gift,” he said, bridging his fingers under his chin with an angelic smile.

  “It surely is,” Noah laughed and headed on to the next store. His eyes had already started to sting before he ever opened Ananda’s front door.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “NOAH HITCHENS, you’re the one who invited all these people to my house. You boys move that table and chairs into the living room so they have a place to eat!” Miss Edna called from the kitchen, even over a disturbing clatter of pots against the stove. Noah grabbed one end of a large folding banquet table and motioned with his head for Kyle to grab the other. She must have gotten them from the church, along with the dozen or so metal folding chairs holding up the wall to his left. They set the table in an open space, and Kyle turned it on its side to fold down the legs while Noah popped into the kitchen.

  “You don’t mind, do you, Miss Edna? If you do, I’ll take them to my place and we can—”

  “Nuke some turkey pot pies?” she asked, one gray brow raised behind her big bifocals.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of frozen pizza, but….” His grin was sheepish, and she put a hand on his cheek.

  “Of course I don’t mind, sweet boy. My Tommy and his wife couldn’t get away anyway, and I like cookin’ for folks. My dinette table just isn’t big enough. You bringin’ Jake over?” She turned to the oven and put her hands on the handles of a huge roasting pan.

  “Miss Edna, please let me get that.” Noah slapped her hands away gently and hefted the turkey from the fridge. Jesus, it must have weighed thirty pounds. “Holy… sh—moly, where did you even find a turkey that big?”

  “At the grocery store, Noah. It’s only a twenty-five-pound bird. You need to start working out,” she told him as he set it on the counter with a bang.

  “So people keep telling me,” he mumbled and then glanced around at the counters littered with Corningware. “You know it’s only six people, right?”

  “And leftovers—that’s what Thanksgiving is all about. Leftovers.”

  “Funny, I thought it was about community.”

  “Pssssht. Community is for the young. When you’re old, it’s all about the leftovers.” She smacked him on the arm and laughed.

  “All of this isn’t going to fit in your oven,” he observed.

  “Nope, but it will fit in yours and mine. Yours is already heatin’ up.” She pushed two pie plates and a tin of rolls into his arms. “Go put these on your counter until it’s time for them to go in. Push ’em back so Jake doesn’t get any fancy doggie ideas.”

  “Kyle!” Noah called, and pushed the rolls into his hands when he entered. “We need to drop this at my house and pick up Jake. I can’t get the door with all this stuff in my hands.”

  “Amateur,” Miss Edna said under her breath, and Noah laughed. They headed out the back door and across the big driveway to Noah’s yard. Kyle pulled the gate open, and they carried their haul to the porch. Jake met them at the back door, nose already in the air. Is that for me?

  “Back up, buddy,” Noah said sternly, and Jake begrudged them a step into the kitchen, and then another. They put the pies and rolls on the back of the stove, which was already warm. Kyle turned back toward the door, but Noah caught his hand.

  “Just a sec.”

  Kyle looked at him, and Noah stepped closer. “I wanted to steal a kiss before we went back. Is that okay?”

  Noah gasped as Kyle bridged the distance in a step and brought his lips to Noah’s in a fierce kiss. He loved the way Kyle touched his hair and his face, like Noah was something precious to him. Noah had never felt cherished. It was addictive.

  They broke apart, breathless and hard. Noah was about to ask Kyle if he wanted to go upstairs, but Kyle patted his leg, and Jake followed him to the back door. Noah took a breath and grabbed a Coke from the fridge before following. It almost went to the front of his pants to kill his erection, but instead he took a cold drink, which helped as they made their way back across the yard.

  Miss Edna had told folks to start showing up around two, but they made it there in varying degrees. Miss Sarah arrived about one thirty to help pull everything together. She went over to check the pies while Miss Edna put together the green bean casserole. Another casserole. Noah was pretty sure that’s all Southerners did. Maybe they had casserole clubs. Or subscribed to the casserole of the month.

  Ananda came by about a quarter till two with a Jell-O ring that matched her blazingly purple caftan. There were bits of red in the gelatin that coordinated with her red accessories. After a moment Noah remembered his manners and stopped staring. He tried to take the mold from her to set it in the kitchen, but she grabbed his arm.

  “Oh, Noah, thank you for inviting me. Can I do something for you?”

  “As long as it doesn’t involve saging my store,” he said, trying not to giggle as he recalled the look on Henry’s face as he sneezed his way through her last visit. Then he sobered, remembering Henry was gone.

  “No, child. I’d like to come and do a ritual at your house. Your father, he passed there.”

  “I know,” he said warily. “But he’s not still there. I would know.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to upset you on such a glorious day. Let’s talk about it later,” she said and flittered off to the kitchen with her coordinated dessert. He rolled his
eyes, and Kyle glanced at the door to the kitchen.

  “What does she want to do to your house?”

  “God knows,” he said with a sigh. “Looks like we have enough chairs. Let’s put the tablecloth on and see if Miss Edna wants us to set the table.”

  “God does what he does for a reason. He may not like Miss Ananda meddling with it.”

  “She’s harmless, honestly. Just well-meaning and a little… odd.” Noah grabbed the tablecloth and began to unfold it. He held the opposite end to Kyle, and they spread it over the long table. The cloth was the normal institutional white of any church linen, but Miss Edna had colorful dishes and placemats to warm up the table.

  “Noah!” Miss Edna called from the kitchen. “Could you boys put the cloth on and set the table?”

  Noah smiled at Kyle. “We’re on it, Miss Edna!” he laughed and felt warmer than he had in ages.

  THAD WANDERED in at five after two, fashionably late, he said. The platter he brought had stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped scallops, and tiny striped cucumber crudités. He must have spent all morning putting it together, and Noah suspected that was why he was a little late. Well, and that he had to find a bow tie that coordinated with his sweater.

  “Thad, that plate is beautiful,” Miss Sarah crooned. “They’re so delicate.” He pulled back the plastic and she took one of the mushrooms. They could have been on any menu in New York.

  “You boys are supposed to—” Miss Edna said, bustling into the room. “Oh, Thad! Hello, son, how are you?”

  Thad’s face clouded over for the smallest of moments, and then he handed the plate to Noah—shoved it at him, actually—and wrapped Miss Edna in a warm hug. He didn’t say anything, he just hugged her.

  Noah took the plate into the kitchen, and Kyle followed right behind.

  “Is he okay?” Kyle asked as Noah piled placemats into his arms.

  “Yeah. I get the impression Thad’s family doesn’t like that he’s gay, and Miss Edna accepting him freely may have made him feel really good.” Noah explained the best he could, but he guessed Kyle understood about families and their issues. Kyle’s family didn’t have issues, they had entire volumes.

  Noah took plates out of the china cabinet, and together he and Kyle set the table while the others mingled around talking. Then everyone sat down at the table out of the way while Miss Edna and Noah brought in dish after dish of food. It covered the entire center of the eight-foot table. A magazine-perfect turkey, golden brown and succulent, sat at the head of the table, stuffing tumbling out of its… innards. Mashed potatoes and gravy sat in their place of honor next to it, then the green bean casserole, deviled eggs, rolls, cranberry sauce, and a bevy of other accoutrements.

  No one seemed to want to be the first to break the plane of the perfect meal. Miss Edna took Noah’s hand on her right and Miss Sarah’s across the table. Each person followed suit until their little ring sat unbroken.

  “Lord, we thank you for your blessings and your kindness in bringing us all together for this beautiful meal. We thank you for keeping our family here safe, and for our bounties and gifts. Please watch over us—Noah and Kyle as they start their new relationship together, Miss Sarah and her new job, Thad and Ananda as they continue to bring beauty to our community. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen,” she finished, surrounded by a chorus of “Amens” around the table. Kyle squeezed Noah’s hand tight before letting go.

  “Miss Edna,” Thad said quietly from next to Ananda on the opposite side of the table.

  “Yes, son?” she asked, handing the carving knife to Noah.

  “Thank you,” he whispered, like the sound was all he could manage.

  “Honey, you are welcome at my table anytime,” she said with a smile, taking the carving knife back from Noah when he just looked at her blankly. She stood up at the head of the table and sank the huge knife into the bird, cutting remorselessly down its back. Noah remembered what Cooper had said about Miss Edna being really good with guns. This was not a woman you wanted to mess with.

  “You scare me a little, Miss Edna,” Noah admitted.

  “Fear is a healthy thing,” she said with a smile.

  Chapter Thirty

  MORNING CAME long before he wanted it to, but the shoppers would be out in full force well before the sun rose on this glorious day of consumer frenzy. He lay in bed for a long time, trying to prepare himself for what was coming. They were a week away from his deadline with the bank and nowhere near where they needed to be in terms of savings. As much hope as he held in his heart, very soon he’d have to come to accept that he would lose his father’s store. No huge sales or gimmicks were going to get them to the total they needed. For now, he had to simply keep on pushing.

  Noah threw the covers back and immediately wished he hadn’t. Georgia had finally found the AC switch, and a chill swept the small room. Damn, he might actually have to break out a sweatshirt at this rate.

  The hot shower did wonders for the tension in his back and shoulders. The stress of the last few weeks drained away with the sluice of water. It would come back, but for right then, he felt good. Out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door to head back to his room, nearly bumping into Kyle coming up the hall.

  “Hi,” Noah said, a little self-conscious when Kyle simply stared. The look started at his tousled hair and might have been a caress down his face, over his shoulder, along his hip. It gave Noah a shiver even without Kyle’s hands on him. The hallway warmed, sending a blast of heat through him. And all of it without a word spoken.

  Noah felt the blush hit his cheeks when his cock started to tent the towel, and he excused himself back into his bedroom. When the door closed, he leaned against it, letting the cold wood work to staunch his hot wood. He really didn’t want to sit in here and jack off while Kyle showered across the… oh hell.

  Thirty minutes later, after a quick cleanup and thorough hand-washing, Noah stood at the stove, putting together french toast for them both. It was one of the few things he could make really well. They were starting to spend a lot of money with Miss Jessie at the diner simply because he didn’t know how to make anything more than grilled cheese. Miss Edna had promised to teach him, but she’d been busy with Thanksgiving preparations. Besides, she’d said, they had all the time in the world.

  “Morning again,” Kyle said as he came into the kitchen. “Can I help with anything?” He gave Noah a shy kiss.

  “You’re getting to be a good Southerner,” Noah said with a laugh. “You can pour a couple glasses of milk. Maybe feed Jake? This’ll be done in a minute.”

  Kyle started with Jake’s food, and it felt so domestic, Noah’s breath caught. He didn’t know if Kyle would stay at the house with him after Cooper and Yeira had resolved the situation with his sister, but right then, he felt a contentment that had never been there before.

  “Do you think it will be busy today?” Kyle asked when Noah sat a plate in front of him.

  Noah sat down in his father’s seat since Kyle had taken his. The kitchen looked different from this perspective. The world seemed to look different. Now he was the man of the house and everything fell to him. He wasn’t sure he liked that seat.

  “I don’t know. My dad was always closed today. He took a four-day weekend at the store, and we always took a mini vacation somewhere.” Noah had forgotten that somewhere in the chaos of life. It was information that sat in his permanent memory banks, like math or how to tie his shoes, but it bubbled to the surface then.

  “What’s a mini vacation?” Kyle poured syrup on his food and cut out large slices. He always cut every bit of his food before he started to eat. One of those eccentricities Noah was starting to learn.

  “My dad and I would get in the car and go somewhere for a few days. Sometimes we went camping. Sometimes we went into Savannah to the shore. Sometimes we went to the gulf. I think we went to Birmingham once. Just some time away together. Looking back, I think he wanted to make sure I knew I was a priority.
” Noah watched as Kyle chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

  “My family never did stuff like that. The only time we traveled at all was to go to another camp.”

  “I thought you stayed at that one,” Noah said.

  “No, they liked to move the elders around some. Keep them from getting too much power in one place. I heard my father telling Mama about it. We lived in a couple different places in Montana. All over, really.” Kyle wolfed down a bite so large, he looked like a squirrel in a nut race.

  “There are other camps?” Noah took a smaller bite.

  “Sure. Light of God has little communes all over the world.”

  “What does that mean for you? For telling your story? I thought it was just that one little camp in Montana.”

  “I guess we’re going to find out. She’s going to be here in a little while, right?” Kyle said, his gaze fixed on Noah’s. They looked at each other for a long moment; then Noah leaned forward and they shared a soft, syrupy-sweet kiss.

  “Yeah, she’s on her way from the airport now. She’s going to get a hotel room and then meet us later.”

  WHEN NOAH unlocked the door to Stardust Books about half an hour later, they had a small gathering of about ten people outside waiting for the store to open. Kyle glanced at Noah, who walked through the door and turned off the alarm. Jake followed, accepting pets from a few folks like a king mingling with the common folk. Noah rolled his eyes and whistled for Jake to follow.

  Kyle headed into the coffee bar, with most of the people coming in to follow him. The remaining few strolled up and down the aisles, looking at the books on sale. One guy asked about additional books in a series Noah had put on sale. Another asked if he’d ever read the set he was considering. One woman asked about Harry Potter for her daughter and got a resounding yes.