Empty Nests by Ada Maria Soto

Author:Ada Maria Soto [Soto, Ada Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Published: 2015-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

GABE WATCHED James’s face until he was sure James had slipped into sleep. He quietly pulled some soft cloths from his bedside table. James stirred the smallest amount as he was quickly cleaned. He pulled the blanket of spun silk that was folded neatly at the foot of the bed up over both of them. Then he closed his eyes and, enjoying the rare comfort of someone warm beside him, slept.

GABE WOKE as James kicked and jerked his head to the side. He mumbled something Gabe couldn’t make out, his face crumpling. Gabe stroked his hair, easing James out of the dream he was having. His eyes fluttered open.

“You okay? I think you were having a nightmare.”

James yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry for falling asleep.”

Gabe glanced at the bedside clock. “It was only about half an hour. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” James yawned again. “Stress dream. Late for work, the bus breaks down, have to walk, but the streets keep shifting.”

“I get those. I’m in some important meeting, but I can’t remember what it’s for, and when I go to look at my notes, they’ve been photocopied so many times I can’t read them.”

“I used to have dreams like that in high school.”

“Me too.” He leaned in and gave James a soft, lingering kiss, which James returned without hesitation. “How are you feeling?”

James smiled. He seemed sleepy still and a bit dazed. “I am feeling bizarrely good.”

“Bizarrely?”

“How about relaxed and content, which is a very odd and rare state for me to be in.”

“Maybe with a bit of work, we can make it more common.”

“I think I’d like that.”

“Good.” Gabe went back to kissing him. It was a nice comfortable place for the both of them. James skimmed his fingers along Gabe’s back until he found the patch of scar tissue again.

“It feels like road rash, just worse,” James commented.

“It basically is.”

James stroked it lightly. “What happened?”

“Car accident. It was after the company shifted from being a start-up to something more solid. I had to go all the way up to Napa one day to get some paperwork signed for this big deal. I was driving back, and there was traffic on the bridge and all the way down the 101, and I was supposed to be in on a conference call. I got onto the 280 instead, driving in the left lane doing close to ninety, trying to make up time. My phone rang because people wanted to know where I was.”

“I think I can guess the rest.”

Gabe could never remember what had happened after that phone rang but had been able to make a guess moments after waking up. “I’m told I rolled about eight times and tied up traffic for three hours. All I can remember is waking up in the ambulance with a bump on my head, a broken wrist, broken nose, cracked ribs, a broken collarbone, and a combination of road gravel and safety glass somehow ground into my shoulder blade. But it could have been worse.

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