No lie that I’d never uttered such an oath aloud before.
Carter liked my joke, grinning. His head tilted, leaning forward to talk quietly. “I just received a call from the Harris County Public Health Department. Contact tracers have found others ill in the same way as Dash, in the family he represented. Two members have died. One’s still in the hospital. Another only had cold-like symptoms. The rest of the family was unaffected. Whatever’s happened, it’s become a bigger deal. I’ve asked them to contact me until you or Dash are ready to take this on.”
“Is it Ebola or somethin’ like that?” I asked.
“I don’t believe so, but I don’t believe they know what it is either.” He stopped speaking and reared back to allow Kailey inside the backseat of the car.
“Dad, tell Mom we’ll see her in seven days, so she stops crying,” Kailey said. “And we need to move here. It’s better than Northern Virginia, and Mom won’t miss Beau, and all the rest of them.”
She dropped it like it was hot while playing her game on her phone.
“Pretend like you love me, Beau,” she said dramatically, giving me a tight side hug. It was something she said and did regularly to lighten the mood, but the tears clogging her voice made it more pathetic than any other time.
“I’ll call you tonight,” Carter said, getting another quick kiss from his wife, before ducking inside the vehicle.
“I think we need to move New Year’s Eve to New York City this year,” my mom said, tugging tissues from her jeans pocket.
“Oh no. Not flyin’ four small children to New York City to celebrate a fireworks show with the four small children previously mentioned. Especially when I can give them sparklers in the backyard and they’re just as happy.” The tease landed like I hoped, everyone chuckled.
“I never looked at it that way,” my mom said, beaming up at me. “I wanted to make memories. You have memories with your grandparents.”
“Huh.” I winked down at her. “We never went anywhere except here. And Mia might have a chance at skippin’ a stone properly, but if a frog hops by, she’s gone, hoppin’ away with it. But the roughly ten acres behind us has come up for sale.” I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb.
“I hear you. I hear all of you,” Carter said, reaching for the car door to shut in our faces. He lowered the window, adding, “Let’s get Dash well then go from there.”
On that note, the car drove away. Once it was out of sight, we finally turned toward the house. She held on to me tightly. “I never said it, but the way Dash kept declining so quickly, I was afraid this wasn’t going to end well.” She untangled from me, wiping the tears under her eyes. “I didn’t let myself go deeper. I tried to be present in your place, but now that he’s safe at home, on the mend, it’s all emotionally overwhelming. I love that guy.”
“I think he’s overwhelmed too,” I said, slowly climbing the steps as she trailed behind me.
“I’m not overwhelmed. You are,” Dash called hoarsely with humor through the open living room window. My eyes narrowed, seeing him clearly. He was supposed to be in bed where I’d left him, and he’d outsmarted me again. Now I had to remember to push that wheelchair out of reach.
“I like the idea of them moving closer.” I lifted my finger, shaking it at him.
HisI-got-youlaughter was music to my ears.
14: The Overdo
Beau/Dash
Beau
Three Days Later
“You’re overdoin’ it,” I said with force, glaring at Dash in the bathroom mirror. I was seconds away from a big fucking fit right here inside our bathroom. “I’m not gonna say it again.”
“I feel like that’s untrue,” Dash said, squirting a decent amount of toothpaste on his brush, ignoring me completely.
“You clearly don’t love me enough to do the important parts of a fast recovery.”
“I love you beyond reason. You know that,” Dash said calmly, splashing water on his toothbrush.
“You had back-to-back therapy appointments today,” I said to his profile, tossing out a hand because it needed to be thrown out, no other reason. Definitely not for Dash to try and understand reasonableness. That was never going to happen. “You should be asleep right now. Dammit, you’re a frustratin’ man. Why do I have to keep sayin’ this? Did you lose brain cells while you were sick?”
“Maybe,” he replied. “Makes sense. I like the beard, it frames your face perfectly. Makes your eyes pop.”
I instantly turned to the mirror to assess the growth. Beards were weird. They itched. There was literally zero way to keep it clean when you ate. I felt gross, always bringing the napkin to my lips after every bite. But I didn’t have to shave much. We’d see how it went. “You think? I think the light facial hair was complex enough to deal with. This takes it to a different level.”
“Keep it. If I ever build an arousal again, I’m gonna like that between my ass cheeks. Well, I’ll enjoy it in every way.” Dash bent to rinse his mouth, then dried his lips before rising again to stare at his own frail, skinny body in the mirror. Eventually his gaze rose to his hair. “I’m thinking about keeping it longer. It needs a style. Lauren’s coming over next Sunday to shape and dye it. What’d you think?”
