I found a pharmacy and got him ibuprofen and a heating pad.I wanted to buy him things.I kept thinking about what he’d done for me last night.I felt more grown up and like I loved him more than I ever had, which didn’t seem possible.I got antsy waiting in line at the pharmacy to pay for my stuff.I couldn’t wait to get back to him, and I started worrying something was going to happen to him while I was gone, like the cottage would burn down, and he wouldn’t be able to get out.I knew it was stupid, but I still worried.
And he was totally fine when I got back.He’d eaten breakfast and washed his dishes, and he was lying on the couch with my laptop on his lap.
“How are you doing?”I said.
“Okay.”
I filled a glass of water and brought it to him with the pill bottle.He swallowed one and drank the water.
“Got you a heating pad too,” I said.I nuked it in the ancient microwave in the kitchen, brought it out to him, and positioned it behind his back.Then I sat on the couch and put my arms around his shoulders.“Better?”
“Yeah, thanks,” he said.“I think I found you a tap company.”He pointed at the laptop screen.
I looked over his shoulder.“Nope.”
“What do you mean ‘nope’?”he said.
“They’re a Toronto-based tap company, and every member is white.They’re all men too.That’s a problem.”
“Why?”he said.“You’re a white man.You’d fit right in.”
“Eddie, there’s no way that company is all white men because they couldn’t find any qualified dancers of color or any women.I’d never audition for a company like that.But I appreciate the thought.”
“It’s your call.”
We arranged ourselves on the couch with his head cradled in my lap, and we watched the pilot episode ofTenson my laptop while I put my hand under the blanket and let it rove over his body, stroking him everywhere.
“You must notice things about TV shows other people don’t.Being an actor.”
“I used to watch TV.Now, I just make out with my boyfriend.”
“Ahem,” I said.“Fiancé.”
He rolled his eyes.“Fiancé, then.”
The episode ended.
“Feeling better?”I said.
“Yeah.”
“Better enough to go out?I found some snowshoes in the shed.”
“I don’t know how,” he said.
“It’s easy once you get the hang of it.”
We went outside, and I got out the snowshoes.I gave him the pair that were in better shape.Then we went for a walk.The muscle memory kicked in, and I made a trail for us across the snow.He kept stepping on his snowshoes, tripping, and falling.
He was struggling to get up, then he quit and lay in the snow.“It’s not easy.”
I went over and pulled him up.“It’s like riding a bike.”
“Or riding you?”He put his arms around me.
I’d forgotten about us being a two-way street.
“Um, Eddie?You’re standing on my snowshoes.”
