Page 106 of Necessary Time

“Better?” he asked, taking the plate and silverware from me.

I let out a long breath and closed my eyes. “Yeah.”

The silence in my head gave me an opportunity to work my way back through the memories of the night before, and I patted the bed until Colin took my hand in his.

“Did I call you old man last night?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said, giving me a squeeze. “Things starting to come back to you?”

“I drank a lot.”

“Yeah,” he agreed again.

“Did…” I poked at some bacon lodged in one of my molars with the tip of my tongue. “Did David leave with Henny and Miles?”

“Your brother had gotten him a hotel down the way. They dropped him off there.”

Colin’s voice tipped up at the end of the sentence, just barely. The unspoken question was there, but I wasn’t going to make him ask it.

“We talked last night.”

“I know.”

“He apologized for kissing me without asking,” I said.

“That’s good.” Colin wasn’t being terse, but he wasn’t really giving me a lot to work with. At first, it frustrated me, but I was pretty sure that was the tired hangover talking. He was just trying to give me time and not push me into saying anything I didn’t want to. I knew that about him, knew he was like that. It was just hard to manage a conversation that way when I’d drank half a brewery the night before.

“He’s seeing someone now. Another man.”

“Is he happy?” Colin asked.

“He seems like it.”

“Did you make up?”

There was still sand between my toes from when I’d sat with David on the beach, and even though it had to have only been granules, it felt like boulders. I pulled my foot up and rubbed between my toes, trying to force loose whatever had found a home there. Colin chuckled softly beside me, brushing something off the bed.

Crumbs, sand, whatever it was.

He took care of me.

I loved him for that.

I loved him.

“Yeah, I think so,” I finally said. “I think it’ll be different, but good.”

“I’m glad for you.” He sighed. “What about your brother?”

“I don’t really remember much of that.” I flung my leg back out and leaned against Colin’s arm. He moved, rearranging himself so I could slide down and rest on his chest. The warmth of his body was better without the blankets on top of me too. “Was he mad?”

“He wasn’t happy. But I think he’ll get used to it.”

“That’s good.” I wrapped my arm around his chest and held onto him. “Can we stay in bed all day?”