Page 29 of Companion Required
Leonard had always possessed an appealing smile. He looked good today, too, in jeans and a striped yellow and maroon rugby shirt, his greying goatee highlighting familiar dimples as he smiled.
“Always more than welcome,” said Kennedy. While he studied Leonard, he noticed the man’s eyes drawn to someone across the room.
“And who might that young specimen be?”
“Roll your tongue in, Len,” said Kennedy. “That’s Kieran. First of all, he’s far too young for you. And secondly, he’s with me.”
“With you, orwithyou?” asked Leonard, arching an eyebrow.
When Kennedy followed his scrutiny, appraising Kieran from a distance, he felt a sudden pang of protectiveness. Kieran—already cornered by Pete—looked perfect in the casual clothes Kennedy had chosen for him. Caught laughing at something Pete had said, Kieran clutched a hand over his mouth as though to hold in his amusement. On one hand, Kennedy wanted his friends to get along with Kieran, but he didn’t want them to make him feel uncomfortable by flirting with him. Heaven knew, he’d had his fill of that on the last cruise.
“Lay off, Len. He’s a really nice guy and new to all this. Looks as though Pete already has his fangs into him. Go say hello to the girls, while I try to rescue him.”
As he approached them, he heard Kieran monopolising the talk, firing question after question at Pete.
“What about him, the nice old guy, Eric?” Kieran asked. “What do you call him?”
“Him I call Dad.”
“Huh? Why Dad?”
“Because he’s my father.”
“Your father’s gay?” said Kieran, his mouth dropping open.
“Not in the slightest. But he’s been joining us ever since Mum died. And because we sometimes share these cruises with the bottle blue brigade—senior citizens—he normally gets more action than the lot of us put together. Oh shite, is he starting on the red wine already? Here, hold this a moment.”
Kieran took hold of Pete’s champagne glass and turned to smile at Kennedy.
“How are you doing?”
“Learning a lot about your friends. Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve asked the pianist to play some golden oldies—Katy Perry, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, that kind of thing.”
Golden oldies, thought Kennedy,then what the hell does that make me?Only then did he realise the pianist was playing a gentle jazz rendition of ‘I Kissed A Girl’.’
“Pete’s quite the character, isn’t he?” continued Kieran, either missing or ignoring Kennedy’s expression. “He has names for everyone. Steph and Laurie are the ‘Weather Girls’, Leonard he calls Doris because, apparently, Leonard’s last name is Day. He used to call him ‘Any Day’, but I haven’t quite figured out why—”
Kennedy knew why, but wasn’t about to let on. He’d once joined a conversation where Pete was explaining that ‘any day is better than Lenny Day’, and had then gone on to detail Leonard’s many moments of moroseness. Only rarely did Kennedy lose his temper, but he had torn a strip off Pete in front of everyone. Many years ago, Leonard had lost someone he really loved. If he wasn’t always sunshine and roses, then he had a damn good reason why.
“What does he call me?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Go on. I can handle it.”
“He calls you Mr Happy, because he says you rarely are,” said Kieran. “And in your defence—yes, I know I’m not fighting any more battles for you—I said he might need to re-evaluate the name by the end of the holiday.”
“By the end of which, no doubt, he’ll have christened you, too.”
“Oh, he already has. I’m to be known as Queer One instead of Kieran. Ouch. So my cover should be good for a few more weeks.”
Kennedy’s good humour stalled. Being among so many gay people with their unfiltered banter might well prove to be uncomfortable for Kieran, and he didn’t deserve that.
“Look, Kieran, if you get hassled or find you can’t take the smack talk—”
“Hey, Kennedy, I’m good. Okay? And honestly, I have a really good feeling about this cruise. Please don’t ruin it for yourself by worrying about me. Believe me when I say, I can hold my own.”
Kennedy maintained his gaze, then started to smile and say something inappropriate, but Kieran folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head.
