“And here I thought you two weren’t kinky enough.”
He huffs. “Weren’t we supposed to hang up?”
“I was waiting for you,” I tease.
He stifles a laugh. “Come home soon. If not to live here, then to visit.”
Staring at the knife in my hand, I nod as if he can see me. “I’ll do my best.” I pop open the jar of jelly and spread it on my toast. I’ve never been a big breakfast guy.
“For Christmas maybe, since you already missed Thanksgiving.”
“I said I’ll do my best, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. I was just hoping your best wouldn’t be a year from now. He knows you have us here and that we were also a big part of your life. He also knows you’ve been getting help for your condition.”
“Weren’t we supposed to hang up?”
“I’m waiting on you,” he muses.
I bark out a laugh, bringing my food slowly to my lips. “I’ll talk to you later. I need to take Huey outside soon. He’s giving me the evil eye.”
“I still think it’s weird you take your pig for a walk. I think it’s weird you have a pet pig in general.”
“And I think it’s weird you want to keep me on the phone all day.”
He lets out a short huff. “Alright, cabron. I’ll talk to you again soon.”
“You will. Later.”
“Later.” The line goes quiet and I shove my phone in my back pocket. Huey grunts at me, nudging his nose at his leash that he managed to knock onto the floor.
“I know, buddy, I know. I got started a little late today. Three months of no job and having nowhere to be will do that to ya.”
He grunts again, spinning around in a circle, and I laugh, chowing down on the reminder of my toast so fast that too much goes down my throat at once, making it painful to swallow.
“I almost choked for you,” I tell him, lowering my face. “You happy now?”
He sniffs the air, nudging at his leash again, and I shake my head, leaning over to snatch it off the ground. “Of course you aren’t. Not until you have all the older women in the neighborhood saying how cute you are from across their lawns.”
If my brother was here, he’d say that engaging in conversation with my pig for so long was another reason I need to go back home and be around people again. I’ve been trying to leave my house more, but loud noises still get to me, causing me to stand on guard.
“The PTSD is probably the reason for the sleepwalking,” my doctor said at our first meeting.
It doesn’t matter what it’s from or that I’ve been in therapy for the last three years. All I know is that it ended my marriage to my high-school sweetheart. He should be the one I’m strolling outside with on sunny, cold afternoons, not a pig I found tied to the railing in the middle of the highway. Huey makes a decent companion, though. For now. I’ve put the dating scene on hold, at least when it comes to meeting people online. The connection was never there. Keeping up the conversation was too much of a chore, and the last guy wasn’t a fan of me wanting to feed him his pasta or wash him during our shared shower after a quick fuck.
Rory liked it when I took care of him. We both needed it. Me more than him sometimes. Kneeling down, I attach the leash to Huey, and he drags me toward the door, nearly making me lose my footing once we’re outside. I quickly shut the door behind me, tugging back on the leash.
“Hold on, boy. You’re in such a hurry today.”
I let him guide me across the street to the neighborhood park, and he wiggles his ass as he picks up the pace. I match his steps, and then my eyes catch on a man wearing two different shoes and an orange sweater with “TheNightmare Before Christmas”pajama pants. That’s one way to turn heads. He lifts his face, opening his eyes wide at the sky as if he’s chasing as much sunlight as he can reach. He’s breathtaking. Honey-colored, medium-length hair, golden eyes and rosy cheeks.
“You’ll hurt your eyes doing that,” I yell from two feet away, and his head lowers, his eyes bouncing around.
“Too late for that,” he answers and goes back to looking up at the sky.
“Nice pants,” I call out, scooting closer so Huey can eat something he sees in the grass.
“What are they? I was reaching for my black yoga pants but I didn’t want to make my boyfriend late so I grabbed what I could.”
