Tommick pulled in a breath.
“I did worry, and I’m glad you came here,” Dorrimin informed him, watching Tommick’s skin prickle and grow bumps as Dorrimin petted him again.Dorrimin observed every shiver and thought things he probably shouldn’t.“I wouldn’t have been able to sleep.”
“Dorri.”
“I would have been anxious for days.”Dorrimin began to use the towel, squeezing handfuls of hair while reminding himself to be gentle.
“Dorrimin.”Tommick tried to turn around.
Dorrimin didn’t let him.“Eat.You’re going to end up playing cards with Ollis until she gets bored, you know.”
Tommick picked up the spoon but still hesitated.“I’m a fool like my family think, you know,” he answered, almost matching Dorrimin’s tone.
Dorrimin tugged on a handful of hair, probably less gently than he should have, but Tommick shivered again and didn’t protest.
“You stopped to help someone, Tommick.You’re actually rather wonderful.”Dorrimin held still, then twitched back into motion.“But you should have stayed with Bartin’s friend.I would have worried, but you would have been safe.”
Tommick slowly eased back and then exhaled, much of the tension leaving his shoulders.He tipped his head up, allowing their eyes to meet for a moment before he dropped his chin.“I’m sorry for scaring you.”
Dorrimin had no response to that.Not a good one anyway.Not one that would be appropriate in his family’s kitchen with his family not far away in the parlor.He skated his fingertips up the back of Tommick’s neck again.It sent a tremor through Tommick.
“Does your family think less of me?”The question was quiet.
Dorrimin brushed another touch along Tommick’s nape, so pleased by the softness and the warmth that he couldn’t seem to stop petting and tracing lines over it, no matter how much Tommick shivered.
“Dorri!”Dorrimin’s mother called at that very moment.“I’ve lit a fire in your room so it won’t be so chilly when you two go to bed!”
Tommick hissed out a breath.
Mothers, Dorrimin thought, embarrassed, but not enough to stop touching Tommick.He would if Tommick asked.There was a quiver in his stomach, uncertainty and some nerves, but also excitement, because Tommick wasn’t saying anything like that.
“The fans for the heating system need electricity, but the fireplaces work without them,” he explained.“You’ll be warmer doubled up with me than in the spare room.But I can make up that bed if you prefer.”
“No!”Tommick objected brightly, twisting to flash a smile at him before twisting away again and choosing that moment to scoop up a dumpling and eat it while also trying to talk.“It’s fine.I don’t want to be trouble.”
Dorrimin didn’t have much experience with adult friends, or any experience with a sweetheart, but he did briefly marvel at Tommick being the nervous, awkward one for once.
“They don’t think less of you,” Dorrimin answered that question at last, quite truthful, for his mother had courtship on her mind and would get his father in agreement with her if he wasn’t already.Whether or not Tommick agreed was another matter.
Dorrimin resumed drying Tommick’s hair, letting Tommick eat while he thought about many things including Tommick in his arms before and in his hands now.
“Doyouthink less ofme?”he wondered after a while, curious.“Anxious stork that I am?”
“Never.”Tommick dropped his spoon into his empty bowl.“I could never.”
The vehemence in his tone warmed and soothed Dorrimin’s insides like the Throat-coating Cough Elixir his cousin in the Medicals made, which Dorrimin had to take with heated honey to disguise the taste.Medicals rarely considered things like taste, more concerned with efficacy.
Later tonight, or tomorrow, but once they were alone, Dorrimin was going to have to ask Tommick about courting.He would have to trust in Tommick’s kindness if the answer was no.
But Tommick had helped a stranger through an approaching blizzard.He had kindness to spare.
Part Six
Olliswasn’tinthemood to play cards.She was in her warm, cozy night things despite their guest, and had wrapped herself in a quilt while she filed her nails and squinted at some book propped up under a candle.It only occurred to Dorrimin after he’d chosen a spot on the smaller settee opposite her that she might have dressed that way to make Tommick feel less self-conscious about being so underdressed around them, and by then, Tommick had sat down next to him, leaving Dorrimin to dither over whether it was better to leave him alone with his family for a few minutes to go change intohisnight things, or to simply stay with him as he was.
Then it also occurred to him that Ollis was rarely that thoughtful and this was likely more that she didn’t think of Tommick as worth putting on airs for.Like family.
It had been over a year of visits from Tommick, including his longer visits to the workshop.Even out training in her field of study every day, Ollis had noticed.
