“If you get tired, tell me.”
River did get tired, and he began to drag his leg a little, but there was no way he was leaving until he’d seen everything. Bears, wolves, lions, leopards, bison… He wanted to adopt an animal, make a contribution to the work they did here, but it would have to wait until he was better and in charge of his finances. It was a good thing he trusted Max.
They took a break in the middle of the afternoon for sandwiches and coffee. Newt carried the food over to a table in a spot where River was able to take off his mask without being seen.
“My heart,” Newt said. “I swear it’s still pounding. When Luca went up on his hind legs! He was huge.”
“Best…e…ver?”
Newt chuckled. “I did correct myself to almost the best thing I’d ever done. I’m hoping to do the actual best thing a lot more. It might get even better.”
River laughed. He’d laughed more with Newt than he had for a long time.
“Thank you…” River spread his arms.
“Max gave me the money so I guess you paid. Thankyou.”
“Wuur…worth it.”
He looked across at Newt’s face, felt Newt’s leg press against his under the table and for a moment, River forgot about his fall, forgot he was still struggling to get the right words out, forgot he had a long way to go and not a lot of time to get there. He felt content.
River was still on a high as they drove back. They’d sung alternate lines to the same songs they’d listened to on the journey there—which he found harder than he’d thought it would be. Newt got him talking too. His speech was definitely improving. He might not be getting every word right but he was self-correcting.
“What…to…morr?”
“What are we going to do tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Ask me again.”
“What are…we…ging…going…” He took a deep breath. “To…mu…more…” He huffed.
“Tomorrow. Try again.”
It took a while but finally River got the word out. “Tomorrow.”
“Say all of it.”
River sagged. “Bed.”
Newt rolled his eyes and that made River smile.
“What are we…going…to…do…to…morrow?”
“Bed,” Newt quipped back.
River had been joking and he knew Newt had too, but bed sounded more than okay.
“One stop before we go back,” Newt said. “I don’t know this area so I’m relying on the internet but it said this was a great place to watch the sun go down.”
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into an empty car park and unfastened their seat belts. The view was stunning. The land fell away down to the sea and on the far right the sun was sliding towards the horizon.
“It should be good,” Newt said. “Not too much cloud.” He sighed. “I missed this.”
River wondered what he meant. The sun set every day. Fair enough, it wasn’t always something you could see, and when you could, it wasn’t guaranteed to be spectacular, but he didn’t get what— River gasped as Newt’s hand landed on his crotch and gently caressed him. He groaned.
“Want me to stop?”
