Page 28 of Tommy

Sully was standing in the kitchen with Hardin.

“You can take your coat off,” Sully said. “I’ve already done what I came up to do. Doubt you’ll be heading back out.”

Clutching the small paper bag, I just smiled.

“What is it?” Hardin asked.

I presented the bag to him. “It’s just something, as like a thank you for having me, I was gonna give you it when I arrived, but then you were kinda mean.”

He laughed. “I was saving your life.” He turned to Sully, explaining how I’d caused the snow to fall off the roof and how if I’d been under it, might’ve give me pneumonia. A new addition to the information he hadn’t mentioned earlier. “And I told you, I don’t need a gift.”

“Open it,” I said.

“Yeah, open it,” Sully said. “Or I will.”

Inside the bag, a small magnet. A magnet which I quickly noticed, he had similar ones of on the fridge door. “Guess you can never have too many of these.” He pressed it to a small empty space on the fridge.

“I’ll draw you something later, as well,” I added. “Something you can pin to the fridge.”

“Yeah, June was saying you’re an artist,” Sully said. “I’d love to—”

“I thought you were heading out,” Hardin grumbled. “The sky is getting a little dark out.”

Sully cussed but was out of the door nearly immediately. I looked to Hardin, wondering why he’d asked him to leave like that.

“Where’s this hot cocoa and marshmallows you were talking about?” he asked with a big smile. I guess that was the reason he wanted him to leave, so he didn’t have to show someone else how kind he actually was.

12. HARDIN

I couldn’t help myself, blame it on the colder weather and the nature of being human to seek out another, but I enjoyed spending time with Tommy. He had an energy to him that excited me in a way I hadn’t felt excited by in a while.

He remarked about how the house was much warmer than the cabin. I didn’t have the heart to tell him this place was well insulated and reinforced. We had the same log burning fire place in the main living area, but the heat didn’t leak through the walls like it did from the cabin.

As I made hot cocoa, he was busy getting dressed in something comfier. It broke a lot of ice talking about his little side. I didn’t want to reveal my whole deck of cards, like how I knew so much about that, or even why it appealed to me.

He came into the kitchen as I was topping large mugs of cocoa with whipped cream, sprinkles, and marshmallows. He had a brown onesie on with a hood, floppy ears, and a small bushy tail on his ass. “They look amazing,” he said. “My entire body aches so much.”

“Well, I can’t promise this will fix you, but they will help,” I said. “You promised me a comic book.”

“I did. Right. I did.” He skidded off on the tile floor with Pip on his tail. In the distance, all I could hear was Tommy tell him to get down or pleading for his life. Poor kid was already injured. I called Pip, but he’d locked onto his new friend.

Tommy came back to the kitchen, one hand on the fluffy tail on his back and another holding books to his chest.

“Made it back in one piece,” I said. “I thought you knew no sudden movements around him.”Pip had an eye on Tommy. “I’ll break up some chicken to feed him.”

He placed three books on the counter. “These are the first three volumes.”

The covers were incredibly well illustrated and full of color. The title a striking red. “Teddy Wars,” I read, grabbing the firs book. “Ok, I’ll give it a go and let you know how—”

“No, no, don’t give me your thoughts,” he said. “I don’t even read reviews. It’s just—all too much to happen in my brain space.”

I nodded. “Note taken. You wanna sit in the lounge with the cocoa, or—”

“Well, I was promised a blanket fort, better than the one I made,” he said. “And as you know, my legs are very weak right now.” He patted at his leg with his free hand and tssked his teeth. “Ouch.”

“I guess no more horseback riding for you then,” I noted. “Although I think Belle is gonna miss you.”

“Never say no more,” he said. “But if I had to, I would say that right now. It’s not just my legs that are weak, it’s my arms too.” He gave them both a little dramatic flop by his waist. “I can’t even draw.”

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