“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.”
“I meant that I expected my body to resist, the way it’s been resisting everything. Every time someone got too close, there was a flinch. I expected to wake up this morning and feel the flinch.”
“And?”
“And there’s no flinch, not even a flicker.”
I rolled over, carefully, so as not to disturb the hand on my chest or the cat at the foot of the bed. I turned until I was facing him. His hand adjusted, sliding from my chest to the small of my back. We were close enough that I could see the sleep creases on his cheek and the softness of his eyes without their usual defenses.
“Hi,” I said again.
“You said that already.”
“I’m saying it again because the first time I was facing the wrong direction. I wanted to say it to yourface.”
“Hi.”
“There it is.”
He almost smiled.
“General Tso is on the bed,” I said.
Peter turned his head and observed the cat. His eyes narrowed.
“He doesn’t sleep on the bed,” Peter said.
“He’s sleeping on the bed right now.”
“He’s never slept on the bed, not once.”
“He jumped up during the night, walked across my legs, found a spot, and started purring. I think he approved.”
“He got cold. The temperature dropped. This is thermoregulation.”
“This isapproval, Peter. This is a twenty-pound cat who has spent three months pretending I don’t exist before deciding that my presence in your bed is acceptable. This is the feline equivalent of a blessing.”
“Cats aren’t priests. They don’t give blessings.”
“General Tso is a spiritual authority in this apartment. His presence on this bed is a sacrament, and I will not be talked out of this.”
“You’re impossible.”
“You like impossible. Youchoseimpossible. You lay naked on a couch for impossible.”
The color that rose along his neck was the most satisfying thing I’d ever produced in another human being.
“We’re not going to discuss the couch,” he said.
“Oh, we are going to discuss the couch extensively. You were naked on a couch, Peter.”
“I’m aware.”
“With General Tso behind your head.”
“I told him to leave.”
