Page 102 of The Unlikely Pair
It’s the disaster that is potentially going to happen to my heart.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Toby
Things To Do Today:
Go fishing
Check snares
Chop firewood
Wash clothes
Harry
A week goes by. Then two weeks.
The days bleed together, and Harry and I continue to stay alive.
Our days settle into a routine. We fish and check snares and cook and clean and chop firewood and have sex.
And yes, I am aware I’m playing house with Harry Matheson.
But Harry is the only person I’ve interacted with for over thirty days. Unless you count being shot at as a human interaction, which I don’t.
It’s understandable he’s become the center of my world. He’s the first thing I think about when I wake up, and he’s what I’mthinking about as I drift to sleep every night, either holding him or in his arms.
It’s understandable I’m constantly cataloging every fact I learn about Harry, that I’m seeking out new topics of conversation with him, that I find his brain and the way he sees the world endlessly fascinating, even if I disagree with him on so many things.
We continue to bicker occasionally, but somehow, our bickering has lost its edge.
It’s almost like we’re now…bantering. Trying to amuse each other rather than truly exchange insults.
I’m continuing to learn the complexity of the man beneath the caricature.
And every little Harry fact I learn slots into place, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle I didn’t even know I was putting together. The way he meticulously folds his clothes before bed, the fact he hums under his breath when concentrating on a task—always classical music, never anything modern—the way his eyes crinkle at the corners when he’s trying not to full-out smile at one of my jokes.
