章 54: Chapter 54

Sometimes, in the low light of dusk when they eat dinner out on the patio and the wasps are buzzing in the flowerbeds, Alex smiles.

* * * *

Ryan has not really appreciated digging before, but now, with Alex digging and Ryan planting the bulbs, he gets to watch the muscles in Alex’s thin back flexing and twisting.

Today, Ryan isn’t sure he has any bruises.

“Do you have any?” he asks, and when Alex glances at him quizzically, he realises that he didn’t qualify that. “Any bruises?”

Alex shakes his head.

“Sure?” Ryan persists. The mark from the coffee table has almost completely scarred over now, still faintly pink but easing to white.

“Well,” Alex says, “how old does it have to be before it’s not a bruise?”

Ryan considers. “When it stops hurting.”

“Well, that depends where it is.”

“Well, how long does that normally take?” Ryan thinks it’s a bit sick that he’s accustomed enough to ask that kind of question, but it’s worse that Alex seems to know.