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His laugh was hollow. “I’m afraid that orgasm made me want to nap again.”
“Maybe you need some food in you too,” I said, and he nodded. “Let’s finish up.”
I washed his hair and mine, then stepped out to grab towels. He dried himself off, and I helped him back to his bedroom.
“How about you lie down and take a ten-minute catnap while I make us something more substantial?” More substantial than the muffins I brought home.
“Sounds good,” he murmured, shutting his eyes.
“Will you join me out there?” I asked because I remembered him saying that moving his limbs did him good. “If not, we can eat in bed.”
“I can try.”
“Awesome.” I went to the guest room to get dressed, then padded to the kitchen to look in the fridge.
I was deciding what to make alongside the eggs from our most recent grocery-store trip, when I heard ringing. I followed the sound, which was coming from the direction of the coffee table.
Shit, the noise was from Foster’s iPad, and when I glanced at it, I realized it was the weekly video call with his family. He’d obviously forgotten about it, and I didn’t know if they’d think something was wrong if he didn’t respond. I turned to shout to him, then thought better of it. Instead, I sat down on the couch, pulled the device toward me, and hit Answer before I could rethink the decision.
Fuck, what was I doing? Too late now.
His parents appeared in the first square box on the screen, and then his brother in the second one from his own apartment.
“Hey, Lachlan. Nice to see you,” Mrs. Middleton said, seeming a bit confused.
“Hi, you too. I’m sorry I answered for Foster,” I rushed out, “but he’s feeling under the weather, and I didn’t want you to worry.”
34
FOSTER
“…he’s feeling under the weather, and I didn’t want you to worry.”
I stood frozen at my bedroom door. It took a herculean effort to make it this far, but sitting up and drinking coffee helped. Besides, I wanted to push myself after Lachlan had done so much to help me. The gentle way he took care of me in the shower wasn’t something I’d soon forget.
He said he was making something to eat, and I wanted to sit at the table and try to enjoy it with him because I didn’t know how many more of these kinds of days together we had left.
“That was nice of you.” I could hear the worry in my mother’s voice. “Is he sick?”
Fuck. I felt bad that Lachlan was taking up for me, so why couldn’t I make my feet move to join him? I’d forgotten about the call and wished I’d made an excuse by text. No way I felt in any condition to chat and pretend I was okay.
“He’s, uh, yeah…feeling washed up and stuff from a busy week, so…”
Maybe that would do it, and they’d end the call until next week. I held my breath as I waited for everyone to bow out.
“He’s depressed,” Dad said matter-of-factly. My fingers gripped the wall, trying to find purchase. “It’s okay, you don’t have to sugarcoat it for us.”
I used to think my parents were disappointed in me during depressive episodes, but that was just my mind playing tricks on me. From this perspective, I could hear the worry, but not anything remotely resembling the notion that they were ashamed or dismayed.
“I wasn’t trying to sugarcoat it,” Lachlan responded. “I just didn’t think it was my place to tell you.”
“You’re a good friend,” Chase said, and that propelled me a step forward. I needed to get my butt in gear and not leave Lachlan high and dry. I had no idea why he’d decided to answer the call, but to be honest, I’d ignored my family’s texts all week. He was right. They would’ve worried.
“Thanks, so is Foster,” Lachlan replied. “Right now he’s the only friend I have in the world, or at least it feels that way, and I owe him a lot.”
Ah, hell. I paused in the hallway again. It might be awkward to bust in on their conversation now.
“From the little Foster told us,” Mom said, “it sounds like he owes you a lot too.”
She was right. I hadn’t given them many details, but she was my mom, so she was good at figuring stuff out. Like how fond I’d grown of Lachlan. She’d probably even deduced we were intimate, not that she’d bring that up. Awkward.
Chase probably guessed all that too. We hadn’t talked much outside of our weekly calls, but he’d asked a couple of questions about Lachlan by text that gave me the impression he had his suspicions.
“He, um, gave me a place to stay when I was in dire straits, and I would do anything for him. I, uh…well, I love him,” Lachlan said, and I clenched my chest as my heart throbbed. “I just wanted you to know that he’s in good hands and I’ll take care of him. I won’t let anything bad happen.”
