“That’s right,” Nick adds.
“And by the way,” Ryan says, turning to his brother, “I completely forgot about the red bulb thing.”
“That’s what happens when you’re getting old, you know.”
“You piece of?—”
“You started without me?”Evan’s voice from the doorway makes us all turn.
“You’re late, kid,” Ryan quickly admonishes.“I told you seven o’clock.”
“My fault,” another voice chimes in, its owner peeking out from behind Evan’s back.“He took me to get a new laptop after I spilt coffee all over mine and…” Then the Doctor sees me and just stops.
The talking dies.
So do I.
I haven’t seen you in a week,Doctor.
It’s been a black hole, suffocating darkness.A fucking hell, hopeless and endless.
And you’re even more beautiful than I remember.
Chapter45
Martin
“You still have to explain how you managed to spill coffee on your laptop,” Evan says.
“Thank you for coming with me to get another one.”
“You are hopeless.”
“I already know that.”
I walk Evan up to the front door of the O’Connors’ house.The driveway’s full, so I had to leave the car out on the road.
“Do you want to come in?”He asks.
“I don’t know.Everyone will be there.”
“As usual.”
“Maybe just a quick hello to Karen and James.”
Evan unlocks the door with his own key.We can already hear Ryan and Nick’s voices from outside.
“You started without me?”Evan calls, jokingly.
Ryan gives him a hard time straight away for being late, and I feel that familiar pull to jump in, to say it was my fault, to start one of my usual, rumbling apologies.But then I look over my son’s shoulder, and the words just die in my chest.
Silence falls in the O’Connors’ hallway.Even our breathing seems to stop.It’s suddenly clear that our dirty little secret isn’t little at all.
My God.Was he always this gorgeous?
I haven’t seen him for a week, not since he slipped out of my house at the crack of dawn, and it’s been like a blackout ever since, as if the whole world was swallowed by dark, leaving no light at all, not even from the sun.
“Good evening, Doctor.”Ryan is the first to break the ice.
