He's home in one piece, sort of a nice surprise compared to the last
trip he took alone, where he didn't come home at all and instead we went
and collected Lochlan and the pieces of his motorcycle that remained. I
threw myself into his arms and was rewarded with a brief hug. A ten-second hug which is very unlike Lochlan at all and then I realized why.
He brought flowers for Ben. He reads everything. I knew he would but I didn't think he would go all out like this. The bouquet is huge.
I
attempted to keep my composure and failed, spilling it all over the
floor in muted peals of dismayed laughter. I will clean up the mess later. He and
Ben clapped each other on the back wordlessly and then Ben opted to
stare at me for around seven hundred seconds, maybe deciding if he
wanted to start laying down even more rules and then he chose wisely, excusing himself to go and get some work done.
Another truncated hug from Lochlan and a kiss on my forehead as I am inspected, ruefully.
You drug your freckles out of winter storage while I was away, peanut.
I frown in response. I hate my freckles. Every last one of the millions there are.
You look beautiful. He waits. I know he wants to inspect me for himself to make sure there are no marks, no seared-in cloven footprints, no lashes from a forked tail or tongue. I make no move to reassure him. I know the marks are there. They already scar his soul.
I distract instead.
Hungry?
Starving. He smiles. That's his promise to let things go for a second. We'll pick it up later, as always.
