On A Night Like This

Chapter Twenty

"That's quite a story," Matt said.

"Yeah. I just wish I hadn't screwed things up."

"Jayce, I don't think it's your fault. Based on everything you just told me about Dylan, he's had a rough life. This might be something you should talk to Heather about."

He had only spoken with Matt's wife Heather a few times, but she had always been kind to him. And she was a therapist, so it probably wouldn't hurt to get her perspective.

Heather's warm, upbeat voice filled his ear. "Hey, Jayce! I'm glad you're okay and safely back in Seattle. You had us all worried."

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I didn't mean to cause all this trouble." He gave her a brief recap of the past couple months, but spent most of the time telling her about Dylan.

She listened carefully, taking a moment to think before giving her opinion. "If you really like Dylan and want to have a relationship with him, the first thing both of you will have to do is communicate better. It sounds like you both have insecurities, and you need to talk to each other about those. Second, you're going to have to take the lead on a lot of things. Dylan's had a sheltered life and it doesn't seem like he's had much opportunity for human interaction. He doesn't have the same social skills that you do. You're going to have to be patient with him. There may be days when he lashes out or doesn't know how to handle a situation. I suspect that's what happened when he sent you home."

"I didn't think about all of that," he admitted.

"If you want to talk to him again, or see him again, you'll need to be the one to reach out. There could be any number of things Dylan is thinking, but it's possible that after everything he's been through, he doesn't believe you actually want to be around him."

He listened carefully to everything Heather said, asking a few follow-up questions before they hung up. He was grateful to have her advice and see the situation from someone else's perspective. It gave him hope that things didn't have to be over with Dylan.

-Dylan-

For days, he had laid in his bed, barely eating and ignoring the world around him. The silence he'd once loved was stifling now. Jayce was gone and he'd give anything to hear Jayce's laugh again or listen to him ramble on, filling the room with the sound of his voice.

He pulled the blanket over his head and clutched the scarf he'd given to Jayce. After Jayce had left, he'd found the scarf draped over a chair. Apparently, Jayce didn't want to take it with him and didn't want any reason to remember him or his time in the cabin. The rejection stung, but he buried his face in the scarf and breathed deeply. It still smelled like Jayce.

He knew he needed to get up and move on with his life. More snow had fallen, and he needed to clear the driveway again and bring in more firewood. And if he wanted fresh fruit and vegetables, he'd have to do what he dreaded most - go back into town to the grocery store.

-

A few hours later, he pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. He stared at the building in front of him, hoping there wouldn't be many people inside. He hoped he could get in, get what he needed, and get out before anyone noticed him.

Inside the store, a group of teenagers were in the bakery section looking at the desserts, and an older woman was slowly pushing a cart down one of the aisles as she browsed. He kept his head down and headed straight to the produce section. He quickly picked out what he wanted before taking a detour to grab some fish fillets as well. He was about to turn the corner into the next aisle when he heard the whispers of the teenagers he'd seen when he entered the store.

"Did you see that creepy guy is in here?" one of the girls said. "I heard that he kidnapped a hiker and kept him in some weird cabin up in the mountains."

One of the guys chimed in. "My dad said the same thing and told me to stay away from him. Like I would ever go near him. Something's wrong with that guy."

His heart sank hearing their words. He didn't know how the information about Jayce being at his cabin had gotten out, but it shouldn't have surprised him that people were twisting the story to make him out to be a threat. Now, people's stares were going to be even worse.

The teenagers laughed about something and he focused on their words again. "That big scar on his face looks so bad," another girl whispered. "I don't know why he walks around like that instead of trying to cover it up."

He felt sick. It was one thing for his mind to fill in the blanks about what people must be thinking as they stared at him, but it was another thing entirely hearing their real thoughts. He couldn't stand another second of being in public with everyone's watching eyes, so he dropped his basket of groceries and quickly fled from the store.