Julian
Iwalkeddown Weaver Street Saturday morning thinking what a shame it was that winter was such an under-appreciated time of year. I usually liked to hibernate from late November until the last snowfall was melted, and the mud had mostly dried—which around here could mean May or June—but that was so misguided of me. December was gorgeous! The air was perfectly crisp and cold, the nearly-bare tree branches had a sort of sparkly beauty to them. Plus, I was fuckinglovingthese holiday decorations. If the whole world had burst into song and started dancing in the streets with their dry-cleaning, like in that one episode ofBuffy,I probably would have joined rightin.
“Morning, Doc Ross! Morning, Daniel!” Dana Cobb called out from high atop a ladder in front of the Crabapple Bed and Breakfast. The woman was what my Nonna Betinelli would have called “abundant”—curved and well-padded from her legs up to her pale, round face. Though she was well over fifty, she still wore her hair in a high, cheerleader ponytail, and she smiledconstantly,like she was determined to put as much perkiness into the world as her wife Rena did sass. “What’s a pair of handsome gents up to thismorning?”
“Morning, Dana,” Daniel said. “We’re heading to the diner for breakfast. Julian has a craving forpancakes.”
More like Julian was going to be rewarded with pancakes after an extremely athletic round of sex last night and possibly the best blowjob I’d ever delivered, if I did say so myself, thismorning.
I had to bite my lip to keep the shit-eating grin off myface.
“You need any help up there?” Danieloffered.
“Well now. You offerin’ your services, stud? I wouldn’t mind spottingyourladder.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, then giggled at Daniel’s flustered blush. “Nah, I’m fine. Just securing the garland. Supposed to be a hell of a weekend, tonight andtomorrow.”
“Snow?” Daniel said eagerly. “Howmuch?”
“Nah. No white stuff this time.” She sounded a little disappointed. “Just wind and dangerously cold temperatures, to quote theweatherman.”
“Oh.” Danieldefinitelysounded disappointed. The guy loved snow more than any kid. I made a mental note to tease him about it later. “I could do without thecold.”
Dana tsked. “You sound like my Rena. Some of us see it as a good excuse for cuddling. Isn’t that right, Doc?” She shot me a wink as she climbed up two morerungs.
NowIwas the one blushing. But Daniel wrapped his arm more firmly around my shoulder and I found that I didn’t mind the teasing much at all. Everything was a lot better when your favorite person in the world was wrapped aroundyou.
“What do you say, Doc?” Daniel whispered in my ear. “That sound like a decent way to spend theweekend?”
“I suppose you could convince me,” I agreed. “But we’re gonna need a lot morepancakes.”
“Happy, carb-loving Julian is my new favorite Julian,” Daniel said. He made a thoughtful noise. “Sofar.”
“Are there any Julians you dislike?” I asked,amused.
“Well, I will say there’s one I likeless,” Daniel said sadly. “Like vegetable pizza Julian. So misguided. Poor guy. But other than that, Ithink—”
“Ah, fuck a duck!” Dana shouted half a second before a giant plastic snowflake came crashing down on the sidewalk. “Sorry, gents! Maybe you should watch out for falling snow after all.” She laughed uproariously at her own joke, and the ladderswayed.
Daniel and I exchanged a wide-eyedlook.
Daniel bent down to pick up the decoration and held it up to her. “You sure you don’t need help? I’m a little taller than you, and I might befaster.”
Dana sighed. “I suppose I ought to give my pride the day off and let you help, otherwise I’ll be out here all day. You sure you don’tmind?”
“Nope.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Wanna go get a table and I’ll be there in fiveminutes?”
I nodded. “I’ll get you coffee,too.”
“Best boyfriend ever,” Daniel said softly. And it was funny that no one else in this town would realize just how meaningful those words were, because now they werereal.
I bravely resisted the urge to perv on Daniel as he climbed the ladder, mostly because itwasreally cold out here without Daniel beside me, and hurried down thestreet.
It was hard to believe we were so deep into winter already. It felt like I’d spent most of the fall involuntarily strapped to an emotional thrill ride—Did Daniel like me? Could he like me-like me? Could I handle it if he didn’t? Could I handle it if he did?—where every alternate week brought a higher peak and then a lower valley. I used think I liked rollercoasters. Now I’d be perfectly happy to never ride one again. I wanted peace and calm andDaniel, and this life we were buildingtogether.
The past couple of weeks had been good. Insanely good. So good, there were moments where I wondered if I’d wandered into someone else’s life by accident, or I’d been handed me a gift meant for someone else. But every time I looked in the mirror, I saw my own widely-grinning face. And I was starting to believe that maybe this kind of happiness had been out there waiting for me all along, I just had to believe I could getit.
Daniel spent hours every day on his laptop. Now that I knew how he was spending his time, I could understand how draining it was. But he was nearly finished with his revisions, and he said he’d let me read it when he was done. I promised myself that I’d be honest but not too honest with my feedback. The world had enough negativity in it. And although I hadn’t asked him about it specifically, I was pretty sure I understood why Daniel had such a hate-on for JD Pritchard: my favorite author must have been one of the assholes who turned on Daniel after his books flopped. I’d resolved that I was never going to buy another Pritchardmystery…
I mean, I might read one from the library, or whatever, because the books were fucking good even if the guy was an asshole. But I definitely wouldn’tpurchaseit.
