Page 97 of Just Past Two

Isabel grinned and put her arm through Caleb’s. “A couple of days ago. We haven’t told anyone yet.”

Matthew grabbed her left hand and pulled it over to look at the ring, which was an intricate interweaving of three fine metal bands, creating a braided look. He’d never seen anything like it. “This is gorgeous. Holy shit, guys. How did I not see this at work?”

“Nobody’s noticed, actually. It doesn’t look like a normal engagement ring, so that might be why. Caleb made it.” Isabel elbowed her boyfriend—no, fiancé—her face completely aglow with happiness.

Silas moved in to examine the ring, too, then nodded. “That’s very good work. You were right, Matthew, when you said he was talented.”

“Thanks, man.” Caleb nodded in appreciation. “Took me fucking forever, too. You’d think smaller items would be faster, but they’re not.”

“No, they’re certainly not,” Silas agreed. “I was doing work on a heart valve replacement a couple of years ago and it took me longer to do than most of my other projects.”

“Glad you took your time, though,” Isabel quipped. “Don’t want to rush that.”

“No, you definitely don’t.” Silas’s reply was serious.

Seeing Isabel and Caleb make a firm commitment of their love like this gave Matthew pause. He didn’t have married friends. Sure, he was almost thirty, but his social circle tended to be mostly single. Most of the people at PI Games were his age or younger, and yet none of them had settled down. Isabel and Caleb, though, that was permanent. That was something real.

Realizing he might be staring blankly, he covered for his lapse in the conversation by clapping and rubbing his hands together. “Okay, we need to celebrate your engagement with this delicious pizza.” Matthew flipped open the cover and inhaled the cheesy goodness. “Fuck yes.” They dug into the pizza straight from the box, even Silas, despite looking a bit stressed about having to clean up with only hand sanitizer and a clean rag, and conversation moved on to other topics as they sat cross-legged in the storage space. But even as he laughed and joked with his friends and Silas, Matthew found his eyes returning to the delicate metal ring encircling Isabel’s finger, marking her and Caleb as belonging to each other wholly and completely.

He was surprised by how much he wanted that right then. He wanted that something real. He wanted what they had.

The question was, did he want that with Silas? And, more important, was that something Silas could ever want with him?

Silas carried the prototype cat wheelchair into Matthew’s apartment, holding it like it was a prized trophy and not something he’d spent the last few hours meticulously constructing in a storage unit. Matthew smiled at his obvious pride, one more endearing aspect of the guy.

He studied the device again as he took it from Silas. “I still can’t believe you built this with what we had in that workshop, Silas. It’s incredible. It looks better than all the ones I saw on Amazon.”

“Thank you.” Silas sounded genuinely pleased by the praise. “I had a nice time building it.” He ran a hand over the hammock section that would support Zuul’s belly. “Your friends are nice.”

“Aren’t they the best? I’m so happy for them.” Matthew set the wheelchair on the table, rolling it back and forth. They had tested it over and over back at the workshop, but he couldn’t get over the smoothness of the mechanism and enjoyed the sound of it rolling over the table.

“They certainly seem happy,” Silas said. He watched Matthew testing the device as he spoke, and his tone sounded thoughtful. “I never thought much about settling down before.”

The fact that “before” meant “before now” was unspoken, but Matthew heard it there, hovering at the edge of Silas’s words. Maybe he wasn’t the only one curious about whatever they had between them. Maybe he wasn’t the only one thinking of what could be. The very idea was frightening, but also exhilarating.

“Uh, so, the boyfriend thing.” Matthew swallowed. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you.”

“Oh.” Silas shrugged. “It’s okay. Labels aren’t that important, right?” He looked around the apartment. “So where’s your cat? Are you ready to try this?”

Matthew was aware of the subject change, and he didn’t know how he felt about the “labels aren’t that important” line, but Silas didn’t seem upset, so he figured he could let it go. “She likes to sleep in her crate. I’ll go get her.”

Zuul, as it turned out, was none too pleased with the device at first. The measurements were accurate, so it fit her perfectly, but she flailed when they first laid her into the hammock, which supported her stomach and back legs and gave her little wheels instead. Once they had her in place, a job that landed both of them several long thin scratches, they let her go and she glared at each man in turn before trying to run away in that hobbling zombie way of hers. At the first instance of speed, though, she stopped, then tried again, and then she was off. With the cart supporting her lower half, she ran without impediment, careening down the hallway, and then skidded to a stop right before she would have slammed into the wall. Then she turned and ran back to them. What had started as a desire to escape the device then turned visibly into an exploration, as she started sniffing the cart and turning in a circle, which the device managed easily, thanks to the tight turning radius Silas’s design had ensured.

“Do you think she can use the litter box with it?” Silas watched her walk more slowly now, but also more upright than before.

“I don’t know. Let’s take a look.” Matthew carried her, wheelchair and all, to the bathroom, where he’d put the litter box with its makeshift entrance ramp. He set her on the ramp. She rolled herself in and out without incident, although she did track quite a bit of litter out onto the mat.

“My litter box ramp designs could take care of that.” Silas pointed to the litter tracks. “I really need access to a 3-D printer, though.”

Matthew thought about his friends at work. “I don’t know anyone who has one.”

Silas rubbed his jaw, where his five o’clock shadow darkened the skin. Matthew loved the feel of someone else’s stubble against his face and body, and just seeing Silas touch his face like this made him think of his faint whiskers skating across Matthew’s cheek, his clavicle, then lower on his chest, scratching all the way down . . .

“I still know some people at the University of Tampa. I’ll ask them.” Silas nodded, interrupting Matthew’s increasingly lurid train of thought. “Yeah, I might be able to make that work.”

In the meantime, Zuul had trotted past them, wheeling herself down the hallway without any concern for the people she’d left behind. Realizing she was gone, Matthew followed her, and Silas trailed after. Zuul was easy to hear, since the hardwood floors of the condo carried the sound.

“I think she likes it,” Matthew said, laughing as she broke into another run. He’d been doing his reading on the subject, and knew he couldn’t leave her alone in her cart because she could get caught on something and hurt herself, but this would be a great option for her when he was home. She could have more mobility like this in the evenings, perfect since she usually slept during the day and didn’t need to run around a lot. He loved watching her move around so freely, which she’d never been able to do before.