Page 111 of Ancient History

“We go way back. We’ve gone out to eat together.”

“Platonically, of course.”

“Pop, what kind of painkillers do they have you on?” Hutch’s brow adorably wrinkled in confusion. The man could make being nonplussed smoking hot. “What’s going on?”

“Amos and I are breakfast buddies.”

Hutch continued to master the art of cute confusion by tilting his head slightly and quirking an eyebrow.

“When has Amos been over for breakfast?” Hutch asked, and when he figured out the answer, his eyes bulged open accordingly.

“I tried sneaking out, but the man made me join him for breakfast. It was the courteous thing to do. He shared his Froot Loops with me.”

“Wait a minute.” He turned to his dad and crossed his arms. “You’ve been eating Froot Loops?”

Bud had the sweetest guilty face, as if he were trying to deny it for a second but then just gave up.

“You were having cholesterol and heart issues, and you thought sneaking sugary cereal meant for kids was a bright idea?”

“I’m a kid at heart.” He shrugged, and the connected wires and tubes raised and lowered with his shoulders, giving him a puppet quality.

Hutch spun around to me. I held my hands up in defense.

“Don’t blame me! I was going along with it because I was caught in an awkward position.”

Hutch began cracking up, the kind of genuine belly laughter that echoed in the room. We all joined in, and nobody had ever seen a hospital room so jolly.

“Pop, what am I going to do with you? I love you, old man.” He kissed his dad on the cheek. Then he tipped my chin and gave me a soft, sweet kiss that still managed to bring the heat. “And what the heck am I going to do with you, Famous Amos?”

* * *

We stayed a little bit longer.Hutch and I watched TV with Bud. By luck, Bud found a Golden Girls rerun on TV with a very young (and very cute) George Clooney guest starring.

Hutch and I held hands throughout the episode. He was texting Raleigh updates with one hand, while he massaged my palm with his thumb. I kept squeezing our hands tighter together, our bond unbreakable.

Hutch left to grab a snack and take a walk around the hospital to stretch his legs. Bud looked over at me, and a wave of awkward tension filled the room. I couldn’t tell if it was one-sided.

“My son’s crazy about you,” Bud said.

“Likewise.”

“Can you grab my phone off the nightstand?”

I got up and handed it over. Bud unlocked it and swooped through until he brought up pictures.

“Hutch did a prom photo shoot. I was going to photoshop you into the pictures, or find someone who knew how to do that.”

I scrolled through the series of dorky, embarrassing pictures Hutch had sent me earlier, and found them just as charming the second time around.

“I wish I could’ve been there.”

“I have a feeling I’ll get prom pictures of you two eventually.” There was an interesting twinkle in his eye that I clocked.

My phone buzzed with a text from Hutch.

“Hutch wants me to go to the cafeteria.” It seemed like an odd request since we were supposed to be leaving, and the cafeteria had been closed for a few hours.

“I think you should go,” Bud said with another interesting eye twinkle.

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