Page 30 of Resilience on Canvas

Gasping, she placed her hands on Henry’s shoulders and pushed him back a bit, breaking their hug.

“Robert Davis?! I can’t believe you finally talked to him!” Rose exclaimed.

The excitement in her voice made Henry’s stomach tumble.

“Yeah, I, uhm, I called off the weddin’, too.”

“Oh, Henry! I’m so proud of you!” She squeezed his biceps. “Robert wasn’t mad?”

Henry pulled off his mask. “He... he was. Actually, that was why we were out together when the storm started. He came to the store to beat the tar out of me.”

Joe came to the porch.

“Jesus Christ, Henry,” he said. “Are you hurt?”

Henry shook his head. “No, I outran him for a while, and then the storm came, and, well, now we’re friends.” Henry chewed on his bottom lip. “Or... I mean, I think there might be more to it than that, even. Maybe.”

Rose’s eyebrows shot up, and she sucked in a breath.

“No!” she said, like this was the most incredible thing she’d ever heard in her life, and there was nowayshe could believe it.

And, well, itwasincredible, wasn’t it?

“Yeah, but it’s confusin’,” Henry said, reaching up to scratch his head.

“Well, come in and tell us more! I’ll make us some...” She trailed off and pursed her lips. “Oh, there’s no tea left, is there? Or coffee. Hmm... what about hot water with honey?”

Henry smiled. “Sounds lovely.”

Once they were in the kitchen, Henry took a seat at the little round kitchen table with Joe. He tossed his pack to the side while Rose started preparing the hot water. Gosh, the fact that they had no coffee or tea was horrible. Henry had brought them some honey from the store the previous week, but he’d have tried to sneak them some tea or coffee, too, had he known that they were out of both. Henry wished he could help them. He wished he could helpeveryone. But he couldn’t forfeitallof his shifts. He needed to put alittlemoney toward his family’s monthly expenses. Maybe he ought to have offered his shifts to Joe, though, instead of Robert.But, then, Robert had those kids to take care of. So, maybe this was for the best. Joe and Rose seemed to be surviving fine. For now.

“So, what’s confusin’?” Joe asked.

Henry smiled a little. He was lucky to have found Rose and Joe. Neither of them had batted an eye at him liking men. Probably because Rose liked men and women both. Which was the other reason why she had wanted to leave New York. Apparently, she had been involved with a woman there, but then something had happened that had left Rose heartbroken. Henry wasn’t too sure whether or not Joe might have had a problem with Henry’s inclinations had he never met Rose first, but he tried not to stew on it. Joe was supportive. And Henry knew he had a kind heart. That was enough.

“Sometimes, I have the feeling that Robert likes me. Inthatkind of way,” Henry said. “He... I mean, he ate some marmalade off of my face and—”

“Hewhatnow?” Joe said, his eyes widening.

“Yeah, he—he took it right from my cheek with his thumb and then licked it off. Obscene-like, too. It was...” Henry blew out a breath. “Lord, it was somethin’.”

“Wow,” Joe said, running a hand through his blond-brown locks.

As the water in the kettle began to heat, Rose joined them and took a seat right on Joe’s lap.

“Hemustlike you, then,” Rose said before clicking her tongue once. “Robert Davis. Guess that’s why he’s not married.”

“Yeah...” Henry strummed his fingers on the table a few times. “Hetold mewe’re nothin’ more than friends, though. Why’d he even need to say that unless... unless heknewthat maybe I had sensed the marmalade thing meant somethin’morethan that?”

“I bet you he’s scared,” Rose said. “I wasterrifiedwhen I first realized that Emily and I liked each other in a romantic way.”

“What’s there for Robert to be scared about?” Joe asked as the kettle started to whistle. “Henry is like a little baby Hoover hog.”

“Don’t compare him to one of those rabbits, Joe,” Rose said with a playful roll of her eyes. “Everyone sees them as pests.”

“Everyone except for Henry.”

Rose gave Joe a playful shove before standing up to fetch the kettle.

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