My wish had come true.
Harvey didn’t say anything—just silently slipped a bottle of aspirin into my hand and set a glass down on the nightstand with a soft thump. He stroked my thigh slowly, sweeping his hand up and down from the edge of my underwear to my knee in a soothing rhythm.
I loved him.
My heart shuddered to a stop.
Had I said that last night? Or had I justwantedto say it?
I couldn’t remember past the fuzziness of alcohol and exhaustion.
Well, if Ihadsaid it, at least Harvey hadn’t packed up and left in the night.
I’d made a pinky promise that this was just until Harvey left. I couldn’t break that.
No matter how much I wanted to.
“Not to rush you,” Harvey murmured, voice low and soft. “But your breakfastwillget cold if you lie there long enough.”
My stomach rumbled again, reminding me just how empty it was.
“I’m up,” I said, forcing myself to sit and only wincing a little at the sunlight streaming through the window.
Maybe it was time I thought about curtains or something, but it would’ve been a shame to miss out on the view. And Iwasnormally up with the sun.
The glass on the nightstand turned out to be full of orange juice, and the plate Harvey had brought was stacked high with bacon, eggs, and toast.
“You’re so getting a blowjob when my head stops pounding,” I said, shaking pills out of the bottle and swallowing them down with a couple of gulps of orange juice.
Before I knew it, the glass was empty.
“Let me grab you another one of those,” Harvey said. “Eat your breakfast, you’ll feel better.”
He kissed the top of my head on the way past, and a bubble of happiness welled up under my heart, so full it felt like it was about to burst.
I ate my breakfast like I was told, humming happily at every mouthful of perfect crispy bacon and fluffy eggs, imagining Harvey with rolled up sleeves effortlessly whisking them in the morning sunlight of the kitchen, hair all over the place, soft and sleep-rumpled.
He’d grown up into the perfect boyfriend.
Theo ate my bread crusts and a tiny piece of bacon, and then licked the plate when I was done, tail wagging as though nothing had ever been more delicious to him than a few crumbs and some bacon grease.
Harvey still hadn’t come back. Weird.
My head was still pounding, but it was distant now. Manageable. Mild enough that getting up and heading for the kitchen didn’t seem like an impossible feat.
There was a half-poured glass of orange juice on the counter, and Harvey nowhere to be seen.
I put the juice carton back in the fridge and sipped what was in the glass, eventually hearing the sound of Harvey’s voice coming from the yard. On the phone, maybe?
Theo had already been out, but it wouldn’t hurt him to go out again, and the fresh air would probably be good for me. I definitely wasn’t planning to go out just to eavesdrop on Harvey, no matter how curious I was.
That was my story, anyway, and I was sticking to it.
25
Harvey
SeeingReggie’s caller ID on my phone while I was pouring orange juice for Iggy was like swallowing a stone.
