Several days were spent arranging for the funeral. At the funeral Myndee's mother and little brother turned up. Maille 's reaction was one so full of rage and hurt that Kell had to physically restrain her from saying something very rude, or doing something very brash. As they drove back onto the crowded freeway at four PM heading back toward Park City she vented her anger, and Kell listened, not making any comments at all. Knowing this was a part of it. This anger, that focused at once on one thing, and then again, on something else.

He turned into an Olive Garden restaurant and opened her door for her. She was silent and fuming by now. They were seated and he ordered for them as he always did.

Maille swallowed. "I'm done." she said finally.

Kell, seated beside her took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. It was the first time he'd done it for days. Maille felt her eyes opening as if a dark misty cloud that had covered her for a week was lifting and the rain was cleansing her soul. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel a frantic urge to be with Myndee.

 Around her were people, some laughing, others talking to each other, eyes riveted on each other. She felt like she hadn't seen anyone's eyes but Myndee's for days. The booth was red leather, and nice and smooth, and cool. She hadn't felt cool either. She'd felt sweaty hot for days as well. Like as if she had a fever, or too much hot emotion that bad to be released.

Patiently, Kell waited. His angel was floating on silent wings back to earth. He rubbed her knuckles gently.

"It's your last night in Salt Lake." she finally whispered, and then cleared her throat and said it again. He nodded.

"What do you feel like doing?" he asked.

Maille took a deep, shaky breath. "We can do something." she nodded, and not listlessly as he might have expected, but with a wonder that she could do something. That her heart was still beating and she could go on. It would be better if she didn't just go home and eat and sleep and wake up for more.

"I will think of it." Kell agreed, keeping eye contact now that she was able to.

"Okay." she turned to look at him, feeling like it was the first time she'd actually looked at him since before she hurt herself. 

Kell kept their hands together while they ate, which was funny for her, as he had her right hand and she was right handed. She giggled a little at trying to feed herself awkwardly, and let him give her bites a lot. The food never tasted better, as if suddenly food had a taste where before it hadn't. She savored every bite, and ate until she was full, which wasn't like her at all.

Kell was dismayed that she didn't eat more, knowing she had been skipping meals for days and had become even slimmer in the weeks since she'd known him. But he promised to keep track of her.

He would be gone for only four days this time, and then home for two.

After they ate, he drove to the kiddie carnival place where they'd ridden the bumper boats.

Maille's eyes had a look that said, oh no not again, but he didn't take her on the boats. He bought several tickets to the giant slide. There were many stairs to climb, and he judged her energy as they hiked it. She was good, full of energy if not sparkle.

He got on the gunny sack they gave him and Maille stepped on in front of him and he pushed off. He wrapped her tightly in his arms, feeling her supple body against his and felt a familiar urge sweep over him yet again. That would have to be dealt with, he thought. He'd never restrained himself so much in his Life. But knowing Maille had changed many things.

She screamed as they flew over one of the humps and caught air. He laughed as she arrived at the bottom and wanted to go again. Again they did, and by the time they were out of tickets she was much more herself.

He took her to the car, debated with himself where to next and decided on a store. They needed clothes for what be had in mind now.

Maille was completely drawn into Kell's magic web of entertainment and experiences by the time he had her try on a tight silver shimmery dress. This wasn't the sort of clothing Kell normally brought her, but she tried it on, trying to figure where he was taking her next. The dress was all wrong, he brought another, more veils at angles across her hips and legs. It was an assortment of meshed colors, red-orange, and yellow, with a plain white t-shirt top, V-neck and short-sleeved. He brought her white flip flop sandals, and then when she came out she was surprised to see he'd found red pants and a white t-shirt to go with her.

His dreads waggled, his beads shined in the store lights, and Maille thought she'd never seen a hotter guy in her life. It was something about the incongruity of his appearance with his dark, unfathomable eyes, that looked at her with such understanding and compassion, and not the aloofness his attire suggested. It wasn't like he wanted her for just one thing. That didn't seem to be on his mind at all.

The building they drove up to did not impress Maille except with its size. It was a monster. There was valet parking and Kell escorted Maille into the front. There she was frisked, a new experience, and carded. Right when she was about to tell Kell she didn't go to bars, somebody grabbed her hand and stamped her with "dance only". 

Oh, she thought and let Kell pull her into the most fantastic dance floor she'd ever seen. She had to look up. The band was floating on a circular, revolving, moving platform that blared from all corners of the room. People were dancing on elevated glass- looking platforms reached by connecting clear stairways. Cosmic lights swung around the room in gorgeous colors and styles, flashing, neon , sparkly twinkles everywhere. Maille was dazzled.

"Do you dance?" Kell yelled in her ear as he pulled her to the main floor, amid a sea of waving arms and scantily clad people.

Maille looked around. Her dance experience had been church dances and Rosewood Christmases. They had virtually no connection with what she saw around her. This was worldliness at its apex. She'd never even imagined such a thing. She shook her head.

"All good girls can cha-cha." he grabbed her and pulled her close to him for a brief second, while she realized that actually, she did know how to cha-cha and other familiar dances. She'd learned them in high school.

Kell was known here. People reached out to touch him, leaned away from their partners to give him a high five. He was clapped on the back so many times Maille was sure he would have a bruise from their exuberance. She wondered if there were other faces among the crowd that she would know.

Of course, Kell could dance, she thought as he expertly twirled her. He'd probably taken lessons from some of the master choreographers. All these young male actors were good dancers. They had to be, had to have those skills. She was inept compared to him. At least she thought so, until Kell dipped her scandalously low and yelled in her face above the blaring music, "Lose your inhibitions, Maille."

Maille glanced around her between concentrating on her feet and her partner. Girls were dressed in revealing and provocative ways. Nobody covered their stomach or their backs. Hair swung everywhere, she looked positively provincial with a long braid. She needed a spiral perm that flew in all directions and sported beads and sequins.

Kell's two fingers directed her eyes to his and with that feral grin of his, he shook his head. Don't compare, was the message and Maille laughed. He grabbed her and jerked her toward him, feet flying in wildly exciting dance moves. He was fun to watch, let alone dance with.

At one point the crowds had actually swayed around them, but eventually, some moved to give Kell room. It was obvious he'd been there before, obvious he'd shown off quite a bit. As he shuttled around in a circle a tall dark skinned girl with a bra and a skirt on sidled up to him and flirtingly rubbed herself against him, Kell spun several times and ignored her. 

Maille was amazed that the girl would do such a thing until she felt a hand on her butt and realized somebody was doing the same to her. She ran forward and Kell caught her laughing harder than she'd ever seen him.

"Burned?" he shouted. She knew her face was flaming, but when she turned to see who had touched her there was simply a sea of faces. Kell danced her away from the area, a myriad of lights spun crazily around them leaving them at once together and then in the crowd. Kell continued up the stairs a level and entered the scene there with his sexy silky moves. Girls ran their hands through his dreads, kissed his lips, grabbed his butt. Kell flirted with them all but kept his fingers laced with Maille's till they reached a less used platform and he pulled her close.

The music didn't blare as much here, the lights seemed below them rather than all around them, and the people were just a shimmer of flashing faces and arms. He held her and slow danced with her, a familiar bear hug type dance, except his hands, holding her back, caressing her sides were warm and tender, and moving, not like the sweaty high school guys she'd known.

Eyes penetrated hers, knowing, longing, lips dropped to hers softly and then stronger, with more insistence. Maille wrapped her arms around his neck. 

What was this that happened when he held her like this? Always lust? Nothing more? Was sex what he thought of when he kissed her? She loved the way his body framed hers in the dance, his hips pressed to hers, his legs moving her in the way he wanted her to go, their steps corresponding to each other like a well-oiled gear. His chest and arms weren't necessarily pressing her, but the way he moved kept her nudged close or far, signaling the movements ahead of time. 

One hand usually held her back, sometimes her shoulder, sometimes her neck, and slid down. It all felt extraordinary. His fingers undid the loose braid and spread her hair in a shining silk veil over her shoulders and down her back. He pulled it close and twined it around his fingers.

Maille closed her eyes and let it happen. Maybe it would never happen again, maybe this crazy wild unfocused feeling would go away and so would he. But for now, she let herself revel in it, in him. She trusted him, this was Kell, her secret dream lover, the one who held her when she cried, who opened her heart to new experiences, who gave her courage to make dreams come true, who shared her most recent, most intimate thoughts. 

He was safe. At the moment, he was very safe, and there was no one else, and never would be.

                                                                                           ****

Kell let her go, ran a hand through his hair, felt the dance energy leave him. He knew where this was leading. Straight to bed. All the tension had gone south for him. He watched Maille, her face a mirror of her thoughts and all were for him. Her lips were red and parted for him, her eyes were dark and shining, for him, her arms around him were like angel wings, fluttering, and flaring, covering his passion.

Almost he gave in. He could have pulled her out to the car right now, done it right there in the back seat, it wouldn't be the first time. Or taken her to his house, in the pool, on the floor, it didn't matter. There was a huge desire to ease the burning.

But he didn't do any of those things although they were written in his eyes. He slowly pulled her to him for a dance. His Maille, his girl.

******