Page 81 of Sugar

Piper canceled all the reservations he could, then took the shortest road home, which had them pulling up to the town house almost exactly forty-eight hours later. He hadn’t driven that long of a stretch in years, and his body was begging for a hot bath full of Epsom salt and then a solid night’s sleep.

Juno was like a zombie walking in, bumping into several things, but Piper was pretty sure that was more his fatigue than his eyes. He shuffled toward the bedroom and collapsed on the bed, muttering something about his car before his breathing evened out.

Piper watched him for a while, then turned and looked through his cabinets. They were desperately bare, so he made a note to shop for supplies before dropping to his couch and kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

He was tired, but it would be a while before he could sleep. He was wound up from the drive, from the revelation that he was in love and that Juno loved him back. That the scope of his entire life was about to change shape into something unfamiliar.

He wanted it, but it scared him a little. He never really envisioned his future before. Whenever he’d try, the only thing he could picture was a sort of dark void. There were sometimes shapes and shadows, but that was it. None of it made sense.

It was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle, but all the pieces were painted black.

Rubbing at his temples, he let himself sink into the warm fuzzies that came with knowing that Juno was at home with him. Being in love was one thing, but settling in together was something entirely different. Piper was sticking to his word about giving Juno his own space, but more than that, he wanted to give him a place to work.

Pulling out his phone, he looked up portable kitchens, and he found one on a tiny-home website. It was a small building, sort of like a mini warehouse, and it could be hooked up to utilities. He didn’t know what it would take to open a commercial kitchen for at-home stuff, but he figured he and Juno could cross that bridge when they came to it.

The point was he could afford it. He could invest in his beloved’s future to make sure he lost nothing. He wanted Juno to breathe easy for once in his life. Sure, he needed to figure himself out, too, and what he was going to do for the rest of his life because Netflix and crochet weren’t going to do it for him for long.

But he had all the time in the world.

His heart was beating steadily in his chest. No skipped beats, no staccato rhythm. He could breathe without feeling air-starved, and he could travel if he wanted. He was fine.

And that was the most bizarre feeling of all.

His phone buzzed with an email, and he startled when he saw the address. The service dog breeder had sent him an update. The puppies had been born. He didn’t hate the idea of a dog, but he didn’t need one now.

However…

Piper hit the number in his contacts, and not long after, Andrew picked up. “Piper?”

“Hey. Sorry to call so late.”

Andrew laughed. “Nah, bro. I’m a night owl. What’s going on?”

Piper bit his lower lip. “I just got your email, and I…well. I had an idea about the puppy. I don’t need the cardiac alert service anymore, but I was wondering if maybe—and this is probably a wild shot in the dark—but maybe you know someone who trains guide dogs? Because I think I know someone who could use the service dog better than me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Juno found the handle on the Uber car, hating that it was painted the same color as the body, so it took him longer to figure it out. The driver was patient, at least, and he didn’t talk, which Juno appreciated. He was no longer reeling after his eye appointments, which were happening every three weeks now that his vision loss was progressing rapidly.

His doctor had charts and graphs with colors and dark spots that he could no longer see much of—which he supposed was telling. But at this appointment, he’d gotten news he’d wanted to hear: the loss was slowing. And there was a chance—because it happened to a few people with his condition—that he could actually recover some of his visual field over the next few months.

Juno wasn’t going to bet on that, and he figured whatever he regained would probably be negligible in the grand scheme of things. His left eye was still worse than his right, but his right was bad enough that reading was next to impossible unless the font was massive.

So, no more menus for him. He tried to read a few pages on Piper’s Kindle, but having to read one word at a time was driving him nuts. He settled on renewing his audiobook subscription instead and let Piper invest in a voice-over program for both their laptops so Juno could use whichever one he felt like.

He thought about protesting, but the cost was astronomical, so he figured he’d let his boyfriend spoil him a little.

After all, Juno made up for it with blowjobs and cupcakes—two things he was still incredible at.

He’d been home now for three months, and he’d been dodging Oliver and Miles, but he’d finally caved the week before and agreed to have them over. He and Piper had finished decorating Piper’s new house, and Juno had bitten the bullet and gone to the single orientation and mobility class appointment that was covered by his insurance.

It was four hours long, covering indoor and outdoor cane skills, and it came with a free cane plus a few discount coupons for more if he wanted to purchase some. He’d been eyeing a few bedazzled ones on a website in the pamphlet his doctor had given him, and he was pretty sure he was going to order a few just as soon as he got back to work and had more cash flow.

Which was the third thing he and Piper were getting ready to finish. Piper had presented the idea of a tiny-house bakery once he dropped the bomb that he was putting his town house up for sale and looking for property near the water with a massive yard.

It was overwhelming for Juno, who had seen this kind of real estate exchange on shit like reality TV, but never in real life. But Piper hadn’t burdened him with any of it apart from taking Juno to house after house until he found one that he liked too.

Piper was a little too cautious about the place being easy for Juno to navigate, and that had been their second major fight, though this one hadn’t come with the threat of breaking up. Juno just sulked, and Piper apologized for treating him like glass, and then they kissed and made up.

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