Page 106 of String Boys

Kelly’s strained laugh just emphasized the point. “Mijo, I don’t know if I can let my mother hear me—”

“Iknow!” They giggled some more, their hands growing familiar and languid on each other’s skin.

When they finally settled down, Kelly curled up next to him, settling like a cat—still for the moment but twitching, ready to chase mice should he hear one.

“What now?” Seth asked sleepily.

“Tell me about your astronomy class,” Kelly commanded.

“Sure. If you tell me about sketching a nude model.”

Kelly snorted. “His penis wasveryoddly shaped.”

“So’s the universe.”

They started giggling again.

And then they talked and talked and fell asleep when the air in the house was so still, they could smell the foggy cold of dawn.

They woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon, and the feel of the other body in bed.

Before Kelly could roll away, Seth pulled him close, and Kelly went, both of them grunting with exhaustion and excitement.

“Seth?”

“Yeah?”

“This sex thing—we’ll get to it.”

“God, I hope so. Today. Definitely today.”

“But here’s the thing.”

“You keep talking, I’m gonna sleep through bacon.”

Kelly pinched him. “Stop it. Anyway, the thing is, waking up with you next to me is about the most awesome thing ever. Can we remember that?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go get us some bacon.”

“And some sausage.” Seth laughed, that high-pitched “dee-erp!” that had haunted him from high school, and Kelly kissed him, quick and hard, before rolling out of his arms.

They dressed in sweats, and both of them put socks on, because the chill outside seemed to be seeping in through their toes, and then ran downstairs, the muffled thump of their feet on the hard blond wood sounding through the house.

Craig was actually doing the cooking, forking bacon onto a plate covered with paper towels to sop up the grease. An egg casserole sat on hot pads on the table, and Linda was setting down a platter of fruit.

Lily, Lulu, and Agnes were already starting on the egg casserole, their hair back in ponytails, their faces freshly scrubbed. Chloe banged on the table from her portable high chair that affixed to the table with clamps.

“You hungry?” Seth took a piece of cantaloupe and cut it up into little pieces for her and then grabbed the little plastic bowl and put some egg casserole in it with her dull fork.

She looked at the egg casserole skeptically, poking it with a slender finger.

“She doesn’t eat eggs?” Seth asked.

“She doesn’t eat much,” Kelly said with a sigh. “We keep taking her to the doctor, and they don’t know what to tell us. She’s just… I don’t know. Behind. On everything.”

Seth handed her a piece of cantaloupe and smiled at her, and she giggled back. “But still awesome,” he said loyally. Matty’s daughter. It was still hard to believe.