Page 120 of Should the Sky Fall

When the pizzas are done and they both have their own plates, Dawson cuts off a piece and offers it to Cal. Cal takes it, doing the same for Dawson. He takes a bite, and nearly gags, having to force himself to swallow instead of just spitting it back on the plate.

“This is awful!”

Dawson lets out an offended gasp. “How dare you!”

Cal shakes his head, washing the horrendous taste down with water. “It’s fruit. On a pizza!”

“Clearly, you don’t know what’s good.”

“Clearly, my husband has no shame.”

In revenge, Dawson picks a piece of pineapple and flicks it at Cal. It bounces off his—thankfully black—shirt. He picks it up with barely concealed disgust and throws it back at Dawson. Dawson catches it, laughs, and pops it in his mouth.

“Oh my God,” Cal cries, which only makes Dawson laugh harder.

“Five second rule.”

“What?”

“You can eat something you dropped—”

“You threw it at me!”

“—if you pick it up in less than five seconds.”

“That was longer than five seconds.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It was.”

“It was not.”

“It was!”

They continue back and forth, until Dawson threatens pineapple war on Cal, so he surrenders. He still keeps an eye on Dawson and his excuse for a pizza, just in case. He’ll never get over watching him eat something Cal made—for the most part—and enjoy it.

“I’ll need to extend my running time after this,” Dawson comments as he licks tomato sauce from his fingers.

“I wish I could go with you. Do you think I could finally start swimming?”

Dawson pauses with a finger in his mouth. The sight does something to Cal, making his belly tingle.

“I think it’s worth a try. It has been about a month since the surgery, after all.”

Cal nods, thinking the same. “Yeah. And I feel good, just a little rusty. I want to move properly.”

“Can’t blame you. But yeah, I say give it a go. Treat it like you did walking in the beginning. Build it up slowly.”

“I will.”

And he’s starting tomorrow.

Chapter 19

Cal’stakentoswimminglike, well, like a fish to water. Almost every day, Dawson wakes up alone. Cal usually wanders back before breakfast, his hair wet and the scent of chlorine clinging to his skin. He’s looked more energized since he’s started and usually ends up going for one more round in the evening. A little more and the man will grow gills.

Dawson was worried about him over-exerting himself at first, but Cal got a green light from the doctors when he went in for a check-up, so it’s all good. Naturally, he still needs to take it easy with resistance training, but he’s happy to stick to his bodyweight exercises instead. Thankfully, he seems to have dropped his obsession with Channing Tatum and his washboard abs. Small mercies.