Page 95 of Deck the Fire Halls

He tightened his arms around me and sighed, his breathing evening out soon after.

Yeah, this is definitely not that L-word you’ve been trying to ignore.

Shut up.

Because it is the L-word, you do know that right? You can tell yourself it’s too soon or it’s just some teen-like infatuation. But it’s not, and you know that, right?

I sighed, then the voice in my head sighed too.

I wanted to tell my subconscious to shut up but there was no point.

Because it was right.

I told you.

Oh, shut up.

It is the L-word. He’s asleep in your arms right now and you’ve never been happier. Go on, say it. It’s the L-word.

Fine. It’s the L-word.

My subconscious preened.

Yes, you’re absolutely right. I dolikehim.

. . .

That’s not what I meant and you know it.

It was my turn to preen a little now, and I kissed the top of Soren’s head again.

You do know that I am inside your head, right? You can say the word like instead of love, but we both know which you mean.

I’m not answering. I’m going to sleep.

I’m not leaving you alone until you admit that you love him.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

Fine! I love him. I’m in love with him. He’s absolutely the best thing to happen to me. Are you happy now? I’ve admitted it. Now leave me alone.

My subconscious smiled wryly, knowingly, then nodded to Soren.

Now you gotta tell him.

I was done arguing. I was too tired, too comfortable,and with my arms securely around the man I loved, I drifted off to sleep.

Work that week was great.Very conventional, very peaceful. Nothing out of the realm of ordinary, nothing drastically urgent, nothing terrible anyway. Katie kept my appointments structured, all patient files were prepared and organized. And if I wasn’t being too full of myself, I’d like to think that my patients were even happy to see me. Given I was so new and given Doctor Humphries had been their physician for most of their lives, I was generally very well received.

They even called me Doctor Rob.

Not Doctor O’Reilly. And it was hard to put into words what the distinction was, other than acceptance. They saw me as someone who was part of their town.

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