Isaac hung up, and Morgan was left with the silent and utterly heavy cell phone.
He had more calls to make. At ten minutes or so a call, it would take him almost four hours to get through everyone in the ledger. Maybe he should do a few more and do the rest tomorrow morning and afternoon, even though staggering the calls would mean people would be coming in for days to pay him for their orders for spring.
That was fine. All he had to do was keep his pencil sharpened so he could make notes in the ledger, learn the damn abbreviations, and make sure the coffee pot was always full and the donuts fresh.
Then, when that part was over and done with, he and Jack would be left in peace once more.
CHAPTER 36
jack
“That’s enough for now,” Jack said after watching Morgan make a few phone calls. He took the phone and ledger away.
“It’s going to take a while to contact them all,” Morgan said, a wry smile curving his mouth, fingers spread on the tabletop. “But there are so many people’s livelihoods tied up in this cycle.” He made a circle in the air with his finger. “I can’t sell the store,” he continued. “The town, the community, would die if that happened. Maybe in a few years, things will get better, and they can stop relying on this invisible loan. But for now, they need it. Even if it’s extra work.”
He pushed his hair back from his forehead and leaned on his hand, his elbow propped on the table. “Not what I thought I’d be doing, but here it is.”
“We’ll both be here,” Jack said.
“I appreciate that you said yes to all this,” Morgan said. “But is it really what you want? Maybe you’d rather we go to the coast and both buy those hot dogs on the beach.”
“We could do that,” Jack said. “But maybe we do this first.” He bent down to kiss Morgan, his fingers in Morgan’s hair, their breaths mingling, ribbons of brightness pulling themcloser. “Couch this time?” Jack asked. He snorted when Morgan blinked, as though astonished to be asked his preference.
“Not to be a pain,” Morgan said, “but it is easier to get up from the couch.”
“Your wish is my command.” Jack smiled. “And youarea pain,” he added. “A pain and a joy.”
He stepped forward, pausing for a moment when Morgan wrapped his arms around Jack’s waist and buried his face against Jack’s belly. Jack could feel the heat of Morgan’s cheek, the way he clutched at Jack as though Jack had been in flight and Morgan wanted him still.
“Let’s go,” he said, leaning down to whisper into Morgan’s hair, to kiss the top of his head. “I’ll build us a fire real quick, so you won’t catch a chill.”
“Stop fussing.” Morgan leaned back to look up at Jack. “Why are you always fussing?”
“Because I love you,” Jack said. “Now get up. Get moving. Into the parlor so I can put my hands all over you. Will you let me?”
“Yes,” Morgan said. “Always.”
It was later,though not quite dinnertime by the time Jack opened his eyes, warm all over, tucked inside the curve of Morgan’s arms as they lay on the futon. The bed had been too far away, and the fire in the cast-iron stove had lit the parlor the way it would have the walls of a cave. Now the flames were coals, low and gray, behind the diamond-shaped glass.
Jack propped himself on his elbows and tugged the quilt up to cover Morgan’s chest. He was just about snoring and relaxed all the way through, and he smelled so good, Jack wanted toburrow inside him. So he did that, kind of did that, nuzzling Morgan’s neck, and all the while he wanted to wake Morgan up because he was hungry.
“Hey,” he said. “Hey.” A buzz of a whisper in Morgan’s ear, just enough to get through to him.
Morgan woke, eyes wide, and his arms went around Jack’s neck and pulled him close. “Tell me that today wasn’t a dream.” He kissed Jack’s temple. “That it’s different now.”
“It’s different now,” Jack agreed obligingly.
In the back of his mind there was a glimmer, an image of where Blue and Star might be. Maybe they’d made it through the storms and were now wading in salty water, not thinking about Nimble at all. He had no idea and didn’t want to know.
“It’s different, and I’m starving,” he said. He shifted in Morgan’s arms, sliding his palm across Morgan’s belly, and felt grumbles of hunger. His fleeting idea of another round of them tumbling beneath the blankets evaporated. “How’s your knee?”
Morgan looked up at him with dark eyes, firelight reflecting there, waves of shadow on his skin as the scent of smoke swirled in the air.
“I’m starting my exercises tomorrow, I swear,” he said. “So we can do more than just mess around.”
“I don’t mind,” Jack said. “It’s all good to me.”
With a sigh and a grunt, Morgan tried to sit up. Jack helped him the rest of the way and, on his hands and knees, gave Morgan a good, solid kiss.
