Page 23 of Call Don't Fall

“You don’t have to,” Treg added quickly.

“I’ll take a look at it. I don’t read as much as I used to, but a web comic sounds like it can be read in small chunks between patients,” Kirk shrugged. “Your pronouns are they/them, right?”

“Yeah. Most people don’t pick up on that,” Treg grinned.

“When you work in medicine you try to pay attention. At least I do. Not paying attention would be like calling someone the wrong name all day because you didn’t care enough to ask what it actually was.”

“Which one do you all want to ride first?” Grina asked, raising her arms to gesture at the lane lined with rides. It was a festival and not a theme park. So the selection was limited, but still fun enough. Hemlock Mountain pulled out most of the stops for the Fall Festival but saved most of the excitement for the Yuletide Festival. There were a few pop-up rollercoasters for that one.

“What do you think, mate?” Kirk asked me.

“What do you think?” I shot the question back at him.

“I think the question is upside down or not,” he laughed.

“Not,” Treg said.

“Which is why I didn’t eat before the rides,” I said and stuck my tongue out at all of them.

“Want to do the ferris wheel?” Kirk asked.

“With you, yes,” I said.

“What about the Wolf-A-Whirl?” Grina asked.

“Maybe,” I said, eyeing Kirk.

“Do you just want to be alone with your boyfriend, I mean mate?” she asked.

“Would it make you mad if I said yes?” I asked and fought off the urge to bite my lip.

“No,” Treg said before Grina could answer. “It’s your mating moon. I’m surprised you two are even out of the house.”

“We had to grab his stuff from his old place so the new roommate could move in,” I explained.

“Come here,” Treg gave me another big bear hug. “Have fun. Just don’t forget to eat!”

Grina gave me a begrudging hug goodbye. She was mad about Kirk. Worry plagued her scent. We’d been friends since we were pups. I usually told her everything and when my brain finished processing the whole ‘swooning’ ordeal, I’d tell her about it. For now, I was happy to snuggle up with Kirk on the ferris wheel and see Hemlock Mountain from the sky.

“I bet this view is breathtaking at night,” Kirk said, as we settled in and the wheel started turning us toward its summit.

“It is,” I nodded. “I could ride it forever once the sun goes down.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” he whispered in my ear and I blushed straight to the roots of my hair.

“Well, I could,” I said thinking both about his dick and the festival ride. “Too bad we’d get a lewd indecency charge if I did both at the same time.”

“I don’t think the other patrons would appreciate the show.”

“Their loss,” I laughed and rested my head on his shoulder until the ride ended.

We exited hand-in-hand and Kirk walked me back to the corn maze we passed earlier.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“It’s never hard to get through,” I shrugged.

He arched a brow.

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