Patrick will explain.” His cheeks had turned pink.
Bryan
didn’t get a chance to ask anything else. Someone called from over by the
counter and Lee darted away. Bryan stared at the ice cream for another few
seconds. It was his favourite, after all. He picked up the slender spoon and
dug it into the ice cream. Three generous spoonfuls later, his mouth was
buzzing and his taste buds were in some kind of blissful heaven, when Patrick
slid into the seat opposite. He put two cups of steaming coffee on the table,
one for each of them. He was obviously settling for a chat.
“Hi
Patrick,” Bryan said brightly.
Patrick
blinked as if startled, and then he smiled too. “You look really well,” he said.
“Everything going okay with you?”
Bryan
nodded. He realised he didn’t want to speak just yet: he was still savouring
his mouthful. His smile lifted both sides of his mouth.
“Yes,
I can see that. You have ice cream…wait.” Patrick leaned over and flicked a