who; @stoneasher | where; Good Frequency Records
Good Frequency Records was exactly how Ezra had imagined it would be with its tidy rows of records and filled to the brim with people. People who'd come out to celebrate Asher Stone. The priest had come to know that Asher was the kind of person that was easy to celebrate. Easy to admire. Easy to love.
Laughter and music echoed through the shop. Ezra had to weave through the crowd, offering apologies that were lost in the joyful noise. It was electric and full of light and promise. When the priest spotted him, he felt himself soften. Seeing him here in the place he'd built, the place he'd wished for, dreamed of, filled Ezra to the brim with warmth. His cup was overflowing. Asher belongs in a place like this.
When their eyes met, like they always did, it was easy to forget all of the noise. To forget the half finished projects waiting for him at church or the fact that David Mistry had come to the opening with someone else. Someone beautiful that wasn't him. It was his superpower, Ezra thought. He could look at you like you were the only person in the world. The priest wanted to bottle that feeling.
“Well if it isn't the man of the hour,” Ezra said, offering his biggest smile. “Congratulations. Is it everything you dreamed of?”