Page 50 of Doing Life

Sloan almost dropped a knife on his foot. “Uh. Yeah.” That came out super loud, and a slight smile slid across Lance’s mouth.

“You okay?”

“Honey, I am so okay you don’t even know.” He was hard as a rock, his face red as a beet, he would bet, every inch of his skin hot. Lance couldn’t see that, though, so yay.

“Good. I’m not trying to freak you out.”

“I’m not freaked out, Lance. I’m just tickled as a pig in shit, that’s all.” He went to put the knives away, because he’d washed them earlier, then pressed a quick kiss to Lance’s cheek.

“Not a sexy image.”

“No? No oinkers in manure for you?”

“Nope. Nopitty nope.” Lance got the water going to rinse some of the dishes. Abby whined, so Sloan went to let her out. She’d already eaten, and she’d had a few plain noodles, so it was time to go out and sniff the yard, he thought.

They cleaned up, then Lance took his arm for the trip to the bathroom, then the couch. Sloan let Abby back in, giving her a dental chew before moving to sit with Lance. “Music or a movie?”

“I think a movie tonight. Something I saw before all of this so I can work on my visualization.”

He knew Lance was trying hard to remember what colors looked like. What people looked like. Keeping his sight memory alive. It had to suck so hard. But he was totally willing to help.

“What aboutShanghai Noon?”He rememberedlaughing with Lance when they’d discovered they both loved Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in that silly movie.

“Oh, good choice.”

Sloan agreed. It had some gunfire, but nothing as violent as say,Gladiator, which was from about the same era of their lives. They had to weigh shit like that now.

The movie went fast, and Lance sagged against him by the end, so he took Abby out for her last potty of the evening, checked the dishwasher, then got Lance up and moving to thebedroom. The go bag was there, and he grinned. “You need a shower?” Sloan asked.

“Nah. In the morning. We rinsed off at therapy, right?”

“You know it.” Sloan vibrated, he was so thrilled about this. But he wasn’t going to push for anything but sleeping. Maybe holding. That was it.

Both in their sleep gear, they crawled into bed, Lance taking the right, him the left, like they always had. Abby seemed to have no issues with curling up at the foot of the bed, but he had a floor pad for her too, in case she wanted her own space.

“You good?” Lance asked after inching over to lean on his shoulder.

“I am perfect, honey. So damn perfect.”

“Kiss me?” Lance lifted his head, offering up his mouth, and Sloan gave a long, slow, happy kiss, making them both sigh with pleasure.

“Night, babe,” Lance told him as they settled on the pillows.

“Night, honey. I love you.” And he held Lance until he fell asleep, smiling at the ceiling for a long time after the lights went out.

Chapter Fourteen

Lance wiped his hand on his jeans, the other one clutching Abby’s harness. God, this was crazy. He could hear the music and laughter coming from the bar as they got out of the truck, and walking in felt as if he were running the gauntlet. He had no idea what the hell he was getting himself into.

It didn’t sound like a redneck place. Not like Southern Junction or anything. Sloan had said it was in a strip mall, the kind of place that did trivia on Wednesdays and comedy night and open mic. The band was local, but popular, and they did a mix of covers and original songs in acoustic sets.

So it was a great way to start.

“We have about half an hour before the band comes on, honey,” Sloan told him, letting him slip a hand into the crook of one strong arm, Sloan on the opposite side from Abby. “Just enough time to grab a beer and maybe some mozza sticks or something.”

“Okay. I can do this.”

“You so can.” Sloan’s encouraging smile was evident in hisvoice. He was getting good at reading Sloan from his voice and from whatever tension was, or wasn’t, in his muscles.

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