Shades of orange and yellow and pink painted the sky, bringing on a new day, so full of promise. Just... like Sam felt.
He hugged Ollie again, and he felt a sigh, long and deep, as Ollie relaxed into him.
“This is just perfect, Sam,” Ollie said.
And Sam couldn’t agree more.
It was nearly 6:30 p.m. when they pulled up into the driveway at Katherine’s house that evening. Ollie led the way up the walkway and then knocked lightly before entering the house. JoJo greeted them, as was customary, with loud barks and exuberant tail wagging, and Katherine was right behind her, immediately pulling Ollie into a huge hug.
“Ah, you were only gone for four days, but I missed you,” she said, her voice muffled into Ollie’s shoulder. She pulled back, her eyes shining with unshed tears, and she brought both of her hands up to Ollie’s cheeks as she seemed to study him for a moment. A tear escaped the corner of her eye and slipped down her cheek.
“Mom?”
Sam stepped up behind Ollie and set his hand on Ollie’s shoulder as he watched Katherine shake her head and wipe her eyes.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s nothing. Sam... how are you?”
“I’m good, Mrs. E. We had such a great time. Thank you for—”
Katherine cut him off as she pulled both him and Ollie back in for another hug, and he laughed as he wrapped one arm around her and one around Ollie.
“Mom, are you sure you’re okay?” Ollie asked as Katherine finally released them both. JoJo whined at Sam’s feet, and he bent down and scratched her behind the ears as he listened to Katherine’s quiet sniffling.
“I’m fine. Now, come on, dinner is almost ready, and . . . let’s just . . .”
Sam straightened back up, despite JoJo’s whimpering protest, and frowned as he watched Katherine shake her head.
“Mom?” Ollie took his mom’s hands. “What is it?”
Katherine smiled, even through her tears, which fell freely now. She glanced at Sam, and when their eyes met, Sam’s heart felt even more full. “I’m just... happy to see you both. And to see you”—she looked back at Ollie, her hands reaching up to his cheeks again—“so happy, sweetie. You look so happy. It’s... been a while, is all.”
“Oh,” Ollie said quietly, after a slight hesitation. “I...” His gaze met Sam’s for just a second, and he smiled—another of those big, bright, joyful smiles—and suddenly Sam understood why Katherine was so emotional. “I am happy, Mom. I’m very happy. And... you’re right. It has been a while.”
Katherine shook her head, pulled both of them in for one more hug, and then led them into the kitchen for dinner.
Chapter 13
Monday morning shouldn’t have been so rough, but for whatever reason, Ollie had a hard time dragging himself out of bed to get ready for work. Maybe it was because he just really didn’t want to leave Sam and the comfortable warmth of Sam’s embrace. Or maybe it was because he knew he had a backlog of work to get started on, and it was going to be a really long day. Either way, he found it took much more effort than he would have liked to get out of bed, get dressed, and head downstairs.
And as he stood in front of the coffee machine, willing it to brew faster, he leaned heavily on the counter with his eyes half closed, wishing he was back in bed, snuggled up next to Sam.
They’d decided the night before to skip running that morning, mostly because they hadn’t gotten home until close to midnight after staying at his mom’s house a bit too late. They’d also decided—or rather, discussed the need—to be careful and take everything slowly, regardless of how much progress it seemed like Ollie had made over the weekend.
It was tempting, though, to... hope. To wish. To imagine that suddenly, all of his fears and PTSD and anxiety would be gone, banished by some magical force they’d encountered in the San Juan Islands. But, even before they’d discussed it, Ollie had felt his uncertainty begin to creep back in when they’d started getting ready for bed last night. And by the time he’d crawled into bed next to Sam, he’d already made the decision to wear a T-shirt to sleep.
As always, Sam had been one hundred percent supportive, but Ollie thought maybe he’d seen just the tiniest flicker of disappointment in Sam’s expression when Ollie had exited the bathroom wearing his T-shirt... Regardless, Sam had immediately wrapped Ollie up in a warm hug, kissed his cheek,and reassured him again that Sam’s love didn’t come with any conditions or any deadline.
After the coffee finished brewing, Ollie grabbed his mug along with a plain bagel—he wasn’t really hungry, but he figured he should probably eat something—and then he sat down at the table to eat. By the time seven thirty rolled around, he’d only managed a few small bites of the bagel but had downed his whole cup of coffee and half of another cup. He tossed the bagel in the trash, poured the rest of his coffee into the sink, and jogged up the stairs to see if Sam was awake.
When he peeked his head into the room through the partly open door, he had to clap his hand over his mouth to suppress a laugh. Sam lay on his stomach at the edge of his side of the bed, one arm dangling off and his head turned toward Ollie. His eyes were closed lightly in sleep, but his mouth was partway open, and his dark hair fell in messy, loose curls over his forehead.
Ollie desperately wanted to brush Sam’s hair back, kiss his forehead, crawl right back under the covers and cuddle for... ever. But he needed to leave, get his day started, and he knew that Sam was going to have a busy day himself. Thankfully, for the time being, Sam would no longer be in deadline mode at work; his work schedule would be a much more predictable 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ollie hoped that meant they’d be able to spend more regular time together.
He stared longingly at Sam for another few seconds and then turned and jogged back down the stairs, grabbed his keys from the hanger in the entryway, and let himself out the front door.
The morning was warmer than it had been the week before, and the sun shone brightly, without a cloud in the sky. And somehow, his walk to work seemed longer than normal—or maybe it was just remnants of his sluggishness that hadn’t beenchased away by his one and a half cups of coffee. In any case, by the time he made it to the office and stepped into the nicely air-conditioned lobby, he was wiping beads of sweat from his forehead.
None of his colleagues were in yet, and the office and lab were both locked up and quiet. As he made his way to his own office and then powered up his computer, he mentally ran through a checklist of things on his agenda that day. There were no scheduled meetings, thank goodness, but he had three projects he needed to get updates on and at least two experiments he needed to plan and get started. Plus, he still had some data to analyze from the week before, and he needed to start preparing his presentation for the upcoming Society for Cancer Immunotherapy Conference, which was being held at the Seattle Convention Center in late September. He made a quick list, sent an email to his boss, John, to set up an informal meeting for that afternoon to make sure he was on track, and then donned his lab coat and headed into the lab to get started.
