“Not a bad idea.” He glances around as if looking for something. Answers, perhaps. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but…would you stay?”
“Yeah,” I breathe out. “Of course.”
“Yeah, okay. Living room?”
I nod, and Lee lets go of my hand to grab our plates. He all but dumps them into the sink before waving for me to follow. His living room has two couches, one long and one short, and a lone chair. He flops unceremoniously onto the larger of the couches, and Shelly races over, hopping up beside him. She waits until Lee is comfortable, one arm behind his head, his other placed over his heart, before draping herself across his chest and purring loudly.
Lee’s eyes stay on me as I settle on the couch facing him. “Are you going to rob me?”
I snort. “No.”
“Where’s your bike?”
“At the trails still. I’ll get it later.”
He hums, his blinks slowing, although it seems as if he’s doing his best to stay awake. Shelly is making biscuits on his shoulder now, looking so comfortable I find myself more than a little jealous. Of a cat.
“Who are you to me?” Lee’s voice is solemn, his question causing my breath to stutter. “In these visions you see, are you my…husband? My lover? My friend?”
I swallow heavily, a smile tugging at my lips, even as I ache fiercely inside. “All of those,” I tell him. “More.”
His brow furrows, but he doesn’t ask anything else. He continues to blink until, finally, his eyes don’t open again. The midday sun shines through the window beside us, the house around me cozy and warm. I watch Lee breathe. Watch the steady beat of his pulse at the crook of his neck.
For as far as we’ve come with medical advancements in the last century, Lee still needs a machine to keep his heart pumping. And he always will.
I slide down until I’m lying flat on the couch opposite him. With the man I’ve spent so many years looking for right in front of me, so close I could touch, I let my own eyes close.
We’ve got time.
When I wake, Lee is sitting upright, staring at me. I startle, rubbing my eyes as I try to orient myself. The sun is lower in the sky now, early evening.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
He nods once.
I push myself up, glancing around. “I, uh…”
“Bathroom’s down the hall. And there’s a glass of water on the table beside you.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, choosing the bathroom first. When I get back, I drink most of the water while Lee continues to stare.
I don’t realize I’m toying with my bracelet until he nods his head toward it slightly. “How often does it happen?”
I assume he’s asking about the seizures.
“Most days,” I tell him truthfully.
He leans his elbows onto his knees, his hands clasped at his chin. “I’m thirty-two.”
“Oh. Okay?”
“I have a sister, but she’s living over in Europe right now.”
I open my mouth, but Lee goes on.
“I teach math at the local high school. And co-coach the football team. I have a painfully normal life. A cat. No partner. No kids…yet. I read before bed, bound books, not on my tablet, because holding something that’s equated with being old these days makes me feel connected to the past. And I have no clue why that’s important to me. I was born with a heart defect. I recycle, compost, and keep my solar tiles clean. I have a fondness for old movies. Again, the wholepastthing. I consider myself painfully pragmatic, yet here you are, sitting in front of me, and suddenly I’m wondering if magic is real. Who the fuck are you, Caspian Wilder?”
I press my lips tightly together, battling the tears I can feel threatening to fall. I don’t even know why they’re there. Maybe because I’m finally getting pieces of this man I’ve never glimpsed before? Because of why he’s sharing them with me in the first place? Maybe because…because I think he’s going to believe me.
