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My intuition pinged. Was Chris thinking of anyone in particular? Who was she?
“I still don’t get why you didn’t tell me about you and Gus. If it was some big romantic gesture, like a Vegas thing, why wasn’t that the first thing that came out of your mouth? Why didn’t it come up after four hours in a car together?”
My lips parted. I still didn’t know if I should come clean or make up some excuse for why I’d kept the cat in the bag.
“Morning,” growled a sleepy voice from the stairs. Gus padded into the kitchen wearing loose flannel pjs bottoms and no shirt. It was the least clothed he’d ever been around me. And shirtless Gus shut down my brain and all its processes. It wasn’t his broad shoulders or strong chest. It wasn’t the dusting of chestnut hair across his pecs. It was, like everything with him, the way he carried himself. He didn’t walk anywhere. He swept into a room like heswept out from behind the altar. Now he didn’t even have the billowing gold robes trailing behind.
“Thanks so much for letting me crash last night. It was nice watching the game with someone for a change,” Chris said, standing upright.
“Anytime, buddy. It’s always nice to meet a friend of Dec’s.”
Chris winced. “Sure.” He tried to play it off like it hadn’t been a veiled insult, but it didn’t quite work. Not with me. “I’m going to take off. Still not feeling great after four beers last night.”
“Don’t you want coffee?”
“I just need to get on the road.”
“Drive safely, Chris. I’ll say a prayer for Vanderbilt,” Gus waved.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt their season.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
I threaded my hand through the handle of my mug and followed Chris onto the porch, closing the door behind us. He dropped his overnight bag to finagle his boots on, then sighed and reached for my mug. He sipped the scalding black brew, holding my gaze over the ceramic rim. It was familiar and easy being with him. After grad school, working in various labs together, and over a decade of friendship, our movements were synchronized and natural, even on this new precipice.
“I feel like this is goodbye,” I said.
“I wish it wasn’t.” He smiled his crooked smile and took another sip. He’d always liked his coffee scalding. There was no way the man had any taste buds left because he’d burned them all off years ago.
“We’ll see each other.”
“Not like before. I...” he scrunched his face, like it was painful to get the words out. “I need some time, Decca. To move on. I wasunder a lot of wrong impressions that became very clear to me yesterday.”
“Oh, Chris. Why didn’t you—”
“It doesn’t matter. But I really do need to get going.” He smiled bigger now. “The cat sitter’s mom said she had a sleepover yesterday, so Nubi’s probably raiding the pantry for treats as we speak. Then she’ll be incontinent and there’ll be cat diarrhea all over the carpet in my bedroom.”
“You still have Anubis?”
“She’s sixteen now, and still practically feral.” He looked into the mug like he wanted another sip. Then thought better of it and handed it to me. I placed it on the porch railing, then plastered my body to his in a deep hug.
“I’ll miss you,” I said into his chest. I felt a huff in response and his reluctant arms finally wrapped around me and held, though not as tightly as usual.
Gus, the Elevation of the Cross
“You know, Dad, SaintConstantine converted on his deathbed. It’s never too late. I’ve always wanted to give my father Holy Communion.”
“Not quite on my deathbed yet, though, am I?” He sat in the front pew as I drank down the remnants of the Eucharist.
“If you don’t convert by then, I’ll christen you against your will. I’ll force feed you the Body and Blood of Christ.”
“It’s as good a time as any. At least there won’t be a thousand people watching me.”
“Now I know where Soula gets it from.”
His eyes glowed with their usual spark, but I’d noticed several times throughout the service that he had to hold on to the side of the pew for support.
Protein. That was what he needed. I’d do a better job with his meal planning. Include more lean protein in his snacks.
