Page 76 of Should the Sky Fall

Dawson nods frantically as if Kieran can see him. “And that’s not all. He hates coffee, Kieran. We stopped atLost and Ground—”

“You took him toLost and Ground?!” Kieran yelps, appalled.

That’s fair. Dawson can’t blame him. The café is their safe haven, the one place Dawson would go to get away from Cal.

“He was craving something sweet.”

“O-kay?”

Right. Context. “Cal hates sweet stuff. And he lives on caffeine.”With a dash of whiskey to give it a kick. “He all but spit it back into the mug when he tasted it.”

“Hm, yeah, that’s a bit weird,” Kieran concedes. “But he’s probably still out of it because of the meds. They mess with your hormones and shit. Maybe he has like…pregnancy cravings.”

“Pregnancy cravings.”

“You know what I mean. It’s hormones, man!”

“Right,” Dawson says, dubious. “I suppose hormones made him like Disney movies?“

“Isn’t his brain all fucked up after the crash? Maybe he just needed something chill.”

Dawson’s not sure what it is that’s begging him to argue. Kieran’s skepticism isn’t exactly misplaced and the explanations he’s offering are perfectly plausible. So why does Dawson find them irritating instead of helpful?

“He wanted to learn how to do laundry. You can’t explain that away with hormonal changes.”

“Huh?”

“I went to do laundry, and he asked if he could watch, because he wanted to do it next time.”

“Cal. Doing laundry,” Kieran says, then bursts out laughing. “I’d pay good money to see that.”

Dawson grins. He’d like to see that too. See him do any house chores, really. “How about I call you when the day comes?”

“Deal. Anything else bizarre?”

He could write a book.“Well, he was shocked to find out we don’t cook, so I suggested we go shopping. And then…I cooked.”

“You cooked?” Kieran repeats. “I thought he hates your cooking.” The way he says it makes it clear what he thinks of Cal’s opinion.

“Me too. But he said he liked it.”

Kieran hums. “Alien abduction, maybe?”

“That’s what I was thinking!”

“Where’s he now?”

“In the bedroom, doing his rehab exercises.”

“Cute,” Kieran snarks. “Enough about the asshole. How are you handling this?”

“I’m…handling it.”

“Dee…”

“Don’tDeeme. I’m handling it, okay? It’s a lot. It’s weird, but…” He huffs. “Honestly? I expected worse.” And he’d been worried as heck that all the memories would come rushing back to Cal once he set foot in the apartment—an environment that was the most familiar, apart from his office.

“I just worry about you.”