Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
After everything they’d been through, the future finally looked bright.
“I could come up with other ways you can treat me,” Cole whispered and guided Ned to their wagon. “Ways that wouldn’t leave me wondering if Craig has somehow gotten to you.”
“We’ve moved on, and he got his closure. Leave the ridiculous ideas for your act.”
Ned put the tray on a side table by the bed, but while he left the cup of coffee for Cole, he started putting the cloth-wrapped food into a backpack. Dog hadn’t moved from his rag bed as Cole blindly made his way through the wagon and only stirred out of sleep when the dishes clattered. He blinked, yawned, and then rose, stretching his joints before demanding his master’s attention.
Cole’s mouth curved as he watched Ned rub the mutt’s neck. The small, portable home was their whole life now, and while it still needed work, he felt grounded every time he studied mementos from their past displayed on shelves. Their assumed identities had different initials than the ones carved into the bark, so the wooden heart lay in the open, in a brass bowl right next to a twin frame that contained the photographs they’d both kept throughout the worst times of their lives.
“Have you seen it yet?” Cole asked, absent-mindedly patting Dog.
“Seen what?” Ned asked as he changed into clean denim pants, but his smirk told Cole he knew what the question was about. He was handsome like that—sitting in a chair in their own wagon, enjoying the brisk morning while everyone else chose to sleep in.
“Don’t be an ass,” Cole said, pulling on clothes.
Ned rubbed his smooth face with a grin. “No. I haven’t seen it. I promised to wait for you, didn’t I?” He lifted the backpack filled with food. “I thought we could eat on the beach.”
Cole shoved his feet into boots, put on his hat, and grabbed the coffee mug, ready to venture out. “The best idea you’ve had in a while,” he said and nudged Ned’s side on the way out.
Ned followed him with a laugh and helped Dog down before stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Are you trying to tell me grating cheese over popped corn was not the achievement of the century?”
Cole hummed and locked the door once Ned was out. “Your aunt should take cooking lessons from you,” he said and walked with Ned, keeping himself a step behind him to admire his man’s muscular backside. The second-hand denim pants were slightly small on him, which translated into an enjoyable view for Cole.
“I’m a dead man. There’s only one family I’ve got now. Speaking of which—” Ned pointed to the painting of a man walking the tightrope covering the side of a wagon. “Terje says it’s good to start early. What do you think about allowing Tommy to train in acrobatics?”
Cole chewed on his lip. It made sense for Tommy to learn a trade related to the life they were all living, since Cole wasn’t taking his eyes off the boy until he was sixteen at least. “I suppose. But he should try it all. See what he really likes instead of doing as Judith’s boys do,” he said as the three of them left the camp behind and entered a patch of trees that wasn’t dense enough to obscure the expanse of the sky beyond a mild hill.
“They’re older, so he’s still got time. I just… I don’t wanna coddle him, but the boy’s been through so much already. He deserves joy,” Ned said and tossed a thick stick up the hill, which sent Dog on a wild chase after it.
“Better to die than live unhappy,” Cole muttered and sipped some of the scalding hot coffee. He pushed his hand under Ned’s backpack and kept it there as they ascended toward the brightening sky, breathing in salty air.
“I love you,” Ned said out of the blue, so preoccupied with Cole he didn’t even look to the waves greeting them with their far-off whisper. They’d reached the top of the slope, but Cole only noticed the vastness of the gray ocean on the periphery of his vision, focused on the tension passing through Ned’s features and the warmth of his green eyes.
He kissed Ned’s shoulder and touched the leather jacket where it felt ever-so-slightly thicker. Ned still didn’t know he’d been carrying a part of Cole wherever he went, and Cole liked it that way. He squeezed Ned’s hand and stood closer, resting his chin on his lover’s sturdy shoulder, the view they’d wanted to see together for the past eight years forgotten. There was no place for it in Cole’s heart when it was already so full.
“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I’ll never leave your side.”
Ned gave him a hug. “We’ll make up for those lost years.”