The Night Owl and the Insomniac by J. Leigh Bailey

Author:J. Leigh Bailey [bailey, j. leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64080-462-3
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-07-03T00:00:00+00:00

OWEN waited for me outside the medical center. He leaned against the pale brick wall, hands tucked into his cargo shorts pockets. The sun, still bright in the afternoon sky, glinted off his ash-blond hair. He looked good in sunlight, but he looked better at night, when the dark outside and the pale glow of the moon showcased his eyes in all their glory.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey.” He hunched into his shoulders a bit, looking as uncomfortable as I’d ever seen him. I really didn’t like seeing him that way.

I had a thought. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to wait to talk to you.”

I pointed over my shoulder. “Your father is right in there. I’m not sure he’d approve of you skipping class.”

“He’ll deal. Unless I royally screw up and fail the class, which I won’t, he won’t care.”

I leaned against the wall next to him, tucking my hands in my pockets, mirroring his pose.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push,” he said.

“No, I’m sorry. I overreacted.”

We stood there a while, neither speaking. I stared out to the line of mountains in the distance. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” I said, nodding my chin toward the ridgeline. “I mean, the Chicago skyline is pretty iconic, but there’s something about the mountains. The rough-around-the-edges beauty. It’s not tame. It’s not flashy. It’s something to be respected. Someday I’m going to get closer. Do some hiking. Or maybe camping. I want to be able to say I was there.”

“We can make that happen. Either hiking or camping. Or both. I’ve got camping gear. But if you’ve never done it, it’s something you’ll want to work your way up to.”

“Someday,” I agreed. It was nice having a someday. For a long time, I didn’t want to plan too far ahead. I didn’t know when or if my illness would take a turn for the worse. When I was having a particularly good week, I was happy to be able to watch a movie from my couch, pain-free, with no need for special equipment. Now I was talking about hiking and camping in the mountains like it was a real possibility. Because, for the first time, it actually was.

I turned to Owen. “Do you really think going to Chicago will be useful?”

“Yeah. Right now we’ve got too many possibilities and not enough answers. With every answer we find, we can narrow the list of possibilities.”

“What do you think we can discover in Chicago that David can’t find through his hacking skills?”

“David is focusing on the adoption side, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, if you aren’t adopted, then one of your parents is a shifter. And since you don’t want to ask”—I was relieved he said it without any judgment or pressure—“the next best way to discover if one of them is a shifter is for a shifter to meet them. I knew you were a shifter the moment we met.”

“You did?”

“Sure. There are things that stand out, if you know what you’re looking for.

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