I turn my hand over and grip her fingers gently. “Thank you,” I tell her sincerely. “For listening.”
“Jesus, Rob. After all the help you’ve given me and the girls? Least I can do.” She stands and walks toward the sink with her mug.
“Ah… speaking of help.” I clear my throat and turn to look at her. “Mike asked me to give him the money to get his car fixed yesterday.”
Anna’s shoulders get tense as she rinses the mug under the spray. “Thought you weren’t doing that anymore, Rob.”
“I’m not.” I take a deep breath. “Which is why I told him to fuck off. And that I was blocking his number.”
“No!” She slaps the water off and whirls around with a giant smile on her face. “Oh, praise tiny baby Jesus. It’s Christmas morning for me too.Finally.” She crosses to me in a flash and wraps me in a wet-handed hug.
I blink and pat her arm. “I… I felt bad because he said he needed a car to help with the girls?—”
“Oh, please. ’Cause he helps so much now?” She snorts and pulls back. “If there’sactuallya car situation—which I don’t know that I believe—Mike can rent or borrow a car ifhe needs to do something with the girls. That’s not your concern.”
“And if he gets mad and decides to not let me see the girls?”
“ThenI’lltellhimto fuck off,” Anna says. “Gladly. You’re their uncle, Robbie. They adore you. Nothing’s changing that.”
I let out a breath. “Okay.”
She grins down at me. “Damn, boy, you’re doing all the hard things this week.”
I laugh shortly. “Better late than never?”
“There’s no deadline except actual death, Robbie. Until then, we’re all just sorting our shit, trying to keep the bits that make us happy and lose the bits that don’t. Just remember, we love you for who you are, not what you do for us.” She wraps her arms around me again and hugs tight. “It’s okay to focus on yourself for a while. Talking to Lissa, being honest with Ames… that’s enough.”
After she leaves, I check on Ames and write him a note saying I’ll be back, then I take my spare keys and run to Ames’s apartment to collect his stuff.
I find a duffel bag in his closet and start packing—sweatpants, T-shirts, a toothbrush and deodorant and shampoo, the stuffed otter from his bed. At the last second, I remember his phone charger and go to retrieve it from his nightstand drawer. I’m utterly unprepared for what else I find there.
Three dildos in different sizes, with a lube bottle tucked alongside them.
My brain short-circuits. Heat floods my face, then spreads lower as I imagine Ames on this bed, his head thrown back and his hand between his legs?—
Fuck.Not the time, Rob. Hold your fucking horses, play your cards right, and there’ll be time for that later.
I slam the drawer shut.
I take two steps away, then turn back, open the drawer, and grab the charger I came for, refusing to look at anything else.
When I get home, Ames is awake.
“How’re you feeling?” I ask, chucking his duffel on the floor by the couch. My cheeks are still hot, and despite my good intentions, I haven’t been able to get certain images out of my head.
“Delightful. I was doing the cha-cha before you got here, but you missed it.” He glances at the bag. “Thanks for doing that.”
“No problem. I guess maybe I should’ve waited, in case you wanted anything specific?—”
“Nah. You always know what I want.”
My face flames, and I avoid looking at the bag to make sure the dildo didn’t somehow find its way in there.
“Sure,” I choke out. “Um. Medicine time. You need the bathroom?”
“I need ashower,” he says plaintively. “A real one. My arm’s sticky from the tape where the IV was.”
“How about we wait until morning for that, and I do my best with a washcloth for now?”
