Callum splayed out across his couch with a sigh.
“Daddy?” he asked.
“Yes, kitten?”
“Will you watch a movie with me?”
“Of course, baby. Go get your computer.”
“I have it.” Callum stretched his arm to the coffee table and flipped the top of his laptop open and waited for Jack to share his screen.
When the movie started playing, he laughed softly. “We’ve seen this one, Daddy.”
“It’s my favorite.You’remy favorite.”
Callum nestled into the couch and watched the movie, the sound of Jack’s breath steady in his ear.
When the movie was over, Callum felt simultaneously better and worse. The glaring absence of Jack was sharp as a knife. He could have died, gotten axe murdered himself or hit by a train or an errant taxi cab. He would have died without knowing…
“Can we Skype?” Callum asked.
“I look like a hot mess, kitten.”
“I don’t mind. Please. It’s important.”
Callum already had Skype open on his screen by the time he received the incoming call from Jack. Once it connected, Callum ended the call on his cell phone and brought the computer up onto his lap.
Jack was right. He did look like shit. The bags under his eyes even visible digitally, but Callum hadn’t ever seen anyone he adored more.
Jack’s eyes lit up when he saw Callum, and he couldn’t help but smile.
“I missed you,” Callum admitted.
“I missed you, too. I thought about you every day I was in the hospital.”
“I’m still upset, Jack.”
He visibly winced at Callum’s use of his name, but he nodded in understanding just the same.
“It’s going to be a hard couple of weeks. But I promise that things will get back to normal as soon as Landon leaves.
“Nothing about this is normal,” Callum grumbled.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“I don’t know. I still can’t make sense of what I’m feeling. But more than before, I know what I want, and what I want isn’t to be ignored for a week because you don’t want to tell Landon about us.”
“That’s not it, kitten…”
“I don’t want to be in a relationship with someone who lives across the country!” Callum shouted, then sealed his hands over his mouth in shock.
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t even know. I don’t know. I want to be with you, but I can’t do last week ever again. So I think it’s time that I got to add some rules to the list.”
“Anything.”
“I think I need some time to think about it. About this.” Callum rubbed at his eyes, feeling emotionally beat.
