Page 58 of Missing Chord

“Okay. Good.”

I fumbled back to pat his furry ass. “You seemed like you needed that.”

“Fuck, yeah.” He kissed my cheek, then rubbed his face against me. His beard tickled my shoulder. “Needed a moment when the only thing I could see or feel was you.”

I shoved down my lethargy and squirmed out from under enough to pull him into a loose hug. “Want to tell me?”

He shook his head, but then said, “Vicki passed in the early morning hours. I knew it was coming but each death is still… hard. Then I got Phoebe to juggle the rooms once hers was sanitized, and Harvey and Owen are spending their first night together in a long time, even if it’s in two separate beds pushed together. And a dozen other little Wellhaven things went right and wrong. It’s just…”

“A lot?” I suggested softly.

“Yeah. A lot. Like my brain was bouncing off the inside of my skull and loving you was the only thing that could make the pinball thoughts go away.”

I didn’t point out the word he’d used. We hadn’t said that in twenty years. “Glad to be of service.”

“Sorry—”

“No, I meant that.” I kissed his hair. “I’m never complaining about sex with you, and if I can take a crazy day and make it go away, make you feel good, that’s a bonus.”

“I’m so glad you came back.” He threw a heavy thigh across mine. “Glad you plan to stay.”

“Me too.”

I drifted, enjoying holding Lee close in the moment of peace before my ass would make me go clean up. Lee shuddered through a snore, then woke with a start. “Crap, I should get up.”

“Not yet.” I kept my arm across his shoulders, wriggling in closer. A little spit went down the wrong way and I coughed, my throat spasming.

Lee leaned back to look at me. “You okay? I’m really sorry if I fucked your mouth too hard back there.”

Two more coughs, and blessed oxygen returned. “You didn’t,” I reassured him hoarsely. “Just spit. Not your fault I can’t swallow and breathe at the same time.” That little episode had made the rest of my body wake up and ask for attention, though. “I’m going to the john. I’ll be right back.”

Lee swung his legs off the mattress. “I’ll make you some tea. I need to go home soon anyway. Mom went to the farmer’s market today, but she didn’t have the energy to take all the greens off the veggies and fit them in the fridge.”

“How is she? Still enjoying Willow?” I’d been over once and spent an hour with the cat sprawled in my lap as we talked. Made me think about a cat of my own someday, if I was really staying put.

“She’s good. Did a couple of things for her health I’d been nagging her about for years, and I think she’s already feeling better. Going out’s still not her favorite thing, though. And yeah, that cat’s a blessing. Best choice I made all year.” He hesitated, then set a hand behind my head and guided me into a slow kiss.“Other than deciding not to let past hurts keep me from reaching for someone amazing. That was my really best choice.”

I kissed him back, soft and sweet.I hope I can live up to that.

***

The masked nurse at the Kwik Klinic peered into my throat, then gagged the hell out of me with her swab. I coughed, eyes streaming, as she puttered with her samples. “Strep and COVID tests,” she said. “Ten minutes. Okay, let me have a better look now.”

I opened andaaaahed obediently as she peered into my throat.

“You don’t look very inflamed. We’ll see what the tests say. Once more.”

As a gay man, maybe I should’ve had better control of my gag reflex, but I swear she was putting that tongue depressor farther back than Lee ever got his dick. As she muttered and shone her light, I dry heaved. She was smart enough to pull back. “Sorry.”

I waved a hand, fighting the reaction of my body. “S’okay. I want answers.”

She turned away and puttered with tidying up some of the debris from swabs and gloves. “You said you’re a singer, right?”

“Yes.”

“That puts vocal cord nodules a bit higher on the list. If everything comes up negative here, I’ll put in a referral to an ENT. Let me check with the mirror.” She put a headband with a light around her hair.

That meant a few more uncomfortable minutes while she angled a small mirror into the back of my throat and madehmmmsounds.

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