Page 55 of A Furry Thing Called Love
Sighing, I throw my hands up.“You can put all this away then.”
Jordan’s grin is worth rearranging our plans.Not that I really care, but still, Ididpull all the ingredients out already.
“You're lucky I love you,” I tell him as I pull the cake out and grab the pack of candles from the counter.
Jordan hugs me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder.“I really am.Thank you for giving us a chance, Ar.”
Turning my head, I kiss him as much as I can in this position.“There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.”
“Does that mean I can get chickens for Christmas?”
I laugh.“Absolutely fucking not.”
Jordan sighs and squeezes me around the waist.“Worth a shot.”
I pat his hand in consolation.“Good try.”
I reach for the pack of candles as Jordan asks, “How’d your appointment go, by the way.”
Pausing what I’m doing, I look at him, giving him a smile.“It went well.No new progression on my last MRI, and the doctor was happy to hear the medication change has seemed to help with some of my symptoms, better than the last one I was on.He was content with the progress reports from the physiotherapist as well.So, all in all, it was a very good appointment.”
“That’s great.I’m glad the new meds are doing what they should, I know you were worried about that.”
“Yeah.It took so long to get things figured out when the first few medications didn’t seem to do much.Changing them scared the hell out of me, but I’m glad we took the leap.”
Any type of changes in my regimen will always terrify me, but so far, things are looking promising, and keeping myself stable is all I can ask for right now.
Getting back to my task, I open the box of candles and start arranging them on the cake.
Jordan sighs and I grin, laughing as he lets me go, grumbling about “I know how old I am, you don't need to put that many candles on”.
“That's no fun,” I inform him, lighting all thirty-four candles.
Jordan sighs, but indulges me as I sing to him, all three dogs joining in as well.
As he leans forward to blow out the candles, the boy cat finally decides to come out of hiding, jumping onto the counter.
“Shit!”I say, grabbing him, but not in time, as he faceplants into the side of the cake.
Jordan almost falls over as he laughs, while I hold the kitten out in front of me, staring into a frosting-streaked light-gray face.
“You should name this onetrouble,” I grouse.
“Orperfect,” he shoots back.
I look at him, melting at the love-struck expression on his face.“Yeah,” I respond.“Perfect.”
Epilogue
Arlo
“I can’t believeI let you talk me into this,” I say with a sigh.
“You know you love them,” Jordan replies.
I sigh again and watch as he takes the crate out of his car.“You don’t need help, do you?”
“Nah, I got it.Just stay there and look pretty.”
