Kim laughed.
“Cock tease! And he can. You know we both can! But some breakfast first would be great.”
“I agree.”
Dídac walked off toward the kitchen, on the way snagging his track pants and jersey from the floor where he had tossed them last night, and slipping them on.
“Do you just have those wet clothes? I’ll find you something.”
“I had a suitcase,” Kim said, “but it’s somewhere down there in the paddock. I must have lost it when I slipped in the mud.”
“I’ll get you something.” His gaze lingered on Kim’s cock, standing straight up in the morning sunlight. “You’re too much of a distraction like that.”
“The temperature’s also quite fresh. Amazing what a difference up here compared to Barcelona.”
“This is the Pre-Pyrenees. It can get chilly, especially at night.”
Kim stood naked in the doorway, waiting for Dídac to fetch him some clothes. Looking out the door, he could see the entire valley up which he had struggled last night, and in the distance, mountains. The grass and trees were all tawny and dried out in the summer, and the mountains had little snow on them. Had he really struggled up all that way? There wasn’t much of a path to speak of, just a muddy cow trail. He couldn’t even see the end of the stony track where his car had given out. Halfway down the paddock he spied a turquoise blob the color of his suitcase. After breakfast they could retrieve it and see about the car. Right now his priority was Dídac, and making sure this wonderful guy never left his side again.
Breakfast was as good as Dídac had promised. They sat at a table out on the terrace, where a straggly, yellow-leaved grape vine overlooked them from its pagoda, dangling bunches of small, greenish-purple grapes. It was sunny and warm, a complete contrast to the stormy night before. The croissants were delicious, filled with runny chocolate (“my biggest vice,” Dídac claimed), the coffee was strong, and the apples and pears were small and gnarled, like wild fruit, but sweet to the taste.
“I just left the production,” Kim said. “Trying to work with that Isard instead of you was beyond me.”
“What do you mean? You left… just left?”
“I needed to find you. We finishedrehearsal… the play’s a mess. It won’t be ready by the opening. But I don’t care about that. I realized…”
“But how did you find me? It had to be Laia. She was sworn to secrecy—”
“It wasn’t her fault. We went for a drink. She told me to leave you alone. But she let slip the name… ‘Canamat’. My map app did the rest.”
“Ca n’Amat. It means ‘house of Amat’. This was Grandpa’s house. But there are at least half a dozen places called Ca n’Amat throughout Catalonia… You were lucky.”
“I was. This was the one I found. And here you were.”
“Finding me here was like finding a needle in a haystack. You must have had divine help.”
“Maybe.” Kim smiled. “I don’t believe in any of that, but in this case… perhaps.”
“And you came up the old track. I can’t understand how your car made it up there. Did you have a four-wheel drive? No one except the goats have used that path in fifty years.”
“Yeah, that’s obvious… now. The rental’s still down there somewhere. Not quite sure what to do about that.”
“There’s a tarmac road on the other side of the house, the one everyone uses. After breakfast we can take mine and go find yours. But…” And now Dídac looked down at his coffee. “Why, Kim? Why are you here? Why did you leave your show? It’s the most important thing to you in the world.”
Kim shook his head.
“When Laia told me to stay away, to leave you alone… I realized. I couldn’t give a toss about the show. You’re far more important to me. Dídac, I don’t care what happened with whatever scandal that was that took—”
“It was before you… before I met you, Kim. It was stupid, but… that period before starting work onThe Swan… before meeting you… It was a low point in my life. I was lonely. I went out, took stupid risks—in terms of my career, I mean. I never took risks sexually. I’m on Prep, and always used a condom too, just in case.”
“Hey…” Kim reached over and cupped Dídac’s face between his palms. “I said I don’t care. Whatever that was, it means nothing to me. I don’t care aboutThe Swaneither. What’s important to me is being with you.”
“But what’s happened withThe Swan? Did you just abandon it?”
“Today’s Friday. I’m missing a day’s rehearsal. Yeah, there’ll be a stink. But I really don’t care, Dídac. I was thinking about it, driving up here. It was my vanity project. About an ugly duckling that wants to grow up beautiful, be loved and accepted by the world. That’s me in a way. It’s like my way of screaming out to the world to notice me, look up to me. But that isn’t me anymore. I don’t need that sort of reaffirmation. What I care about is being with you. I want us to be together.”
Dídac huffed slowly.
