It was true, Arlo hadn’t. AndExtreme Everythinghad an attorney. Phi could have handled it. “Neither have you.”
“I don’t want a divorce!” David shouted.
Arlo’s hand tightened on the windowsill. “You were unhappy. With me.”
David inhaled. “I wanted more of you, not less. And I wanted you to want me more.”
“I wanted you to listen to me, David! I told you that. To be my friend. The way we used to be.”
“I am! But we used to spend so much time together, you and me and Axel. It felt like we had all the time in the world, and now we can barely make time to see each other. Don’t you miss that?”
“College? Of course I do. But we were kids then. We were practically kids when we got married.” Arlo slumped against the window frame.
David came to his side, finally, putting tentative hands onhis arms. “You’re freezing. You should get back in bed.”
“Does Axel even know I was in the hospital?”
“No,” David admitted, guilt plain on his face. “I thought…his honeymoon…”
“It’s fine.” Atypical: Arlo usually had no mercy for stupid excuses. “He’s a terrible hospital visitor, anyway. He’s so loud.”
David huffed a laugh. “Yeah, he is. And it seemed like the wrong time to explain.”
Axel didn’t know his best friend and brother had separated. They had agreed to keep it secret until after Axel’s wedding and honeymoon. Arlo remembered that now.
“Have you heard from him?” Arlo asked. “Are they having fun?”
“You know Axel. Lost in the jungle is a bonus, not a problem.”
“Oh, no.”
“Don’t worry, the waterfall was only a small one.”
Arlo laughed, and David’s heart thumped. How long since he had made his husband laugh? A real laugh, not a bitter one?
“If you aren’t sleepy you could catch up on their posts? But under the blankets before you freeze.”
“You don’t need your phone?” Arlo asked as he crawled back into bed.
“I can do without it for a night.” David patted at the pillows, then forced himself to stop.
Arlo swallowed. “You could say here. If you wanted. Watch with me.”
He put his hand on the empty side of the bed, where David normally slept. Alone, half the time, even before Arlo had moved out.
David’s breath caught for a second. He cleared his throat. “Okay.”
He slid under the covers carefully, gently, as if their bedwas a horse that might buck him to the floor.
Arlo pressed play without looking at David.
“I’m Axel and this is my lovely bride Ashley, and this is our Extreme Honeymoon!” Axel yelled at the camera.
Arlo smiled to hear his brother’s voice again. Axel sounded happy. Ashley sounded happy, too, even when Axel agreed they were lost and she yelled, “Oh, no!” They laughed and leaned on each other.
David was achingly aware of the narrow gap between them, Arlo close enough for David to feel the warmth as Arlo thawed. It was so long since they had been intimate. Dancing at the wedding had been torture.
The video ended with the honeymooners still lost, but David knew they found their way in the next episode. “Miss you, bros!” Axel’s shout overlapped with Ashley’s, “Hi, Mom and Dad and Shelley!” as the feed ended.
