Page 63 of Will & Patrick's Endless Honeymoon
Tears swim up to the surface again as he realizes that it’s all so precious, and so perfect, and all squandered by the man he’d first given his heart away to years ago.
Squandered and lost for good. How horrible, how meaningless, how sad.
“Sleep,” Patrick whispers. “It’ll all still be there tomorrow.”
Obediently, Will closes his eyes. It doesn’t take long at all for dreams to catch him. Thankfully, sleep steals his grief away.
The next morning,Patrick knows Will’s still hurting, but his shoulders are back and his chin is up as they wait at the airport for their pilot to arrive so they can take the Good Works jet home.
“Well, this hasn’t been the honeymoon I expected but I can’t say I was bored,” Patrick offers, putting out his hand.
Will grips it tightly and smiles. The light Patrick usually finds in his eyes is duller than usual, but not entirely missing. “Me either.”
“I turned my phone on this morning while you were still sleeping,” Patrick confesses. “Made a few calls. Paid a few bills.”
“Ryan’s funeral services.”
He nods.
Will’s lips tremble, but he swallows hard, getting a visible grip on his emotions. “I love you. And you didn’t have to do that.”
“He’s part of you, for better or worse.”
“But we shouldn’t clean up Ryan’s mistakes. I did that for a long time. Took the blame and the brunt of it all.” Patrick watches as Will’s eyes open wider. He’s getting it now. “This isn’t about Ryan. It’s about Hartley.”
Patrick shrugs. “Why should he worry about how to afford a funeral when he’s probably confused about how to carry on with his life now? It’s no skin off my nose to take care of everything.”
“You’re such a secret softy.”
Patrick frowns. “Not according to Ruby Lovell. She’s been fired and her license revoked.” He narrows his eyes and crosses his arms. “Good riddance.”
The pilot joins them on the tarmac, and they board the Good Works jet shortly thereafter. Will takes his usual seat by the window, and Patrick downs his anti-anxiety meds with a half a turkey sandwich the pilot has for him in the cooler.
“Thank you,” Will says quietly as Patrick’s nodding off. “For this honeymoon. For marrying me in Vegas. For sticking with me through everything.”
Patrick rouses himself enough to reply, “Don’t be an idiot. I’m the one who should thank you. Now let me sleep.”
Will’s lips are soft on Patrick’s forehead, and Patrick slips into sleep not long after the plane hits cruising altitude. His dreams are full of brains and victory, and he wakes when they land to refuel in Los Angeles with anticipation flooding his system.
Hours and hours later, he’s finally home again. Their house in Healing is a welcome sight after the endless tin can of an airplane and the drive from the airport. It’s after midnight, but they’re both still wide awake, stuck back on Hawaii time and overly rested from the naps on the plane.
“Well, we’re here,” Will says, dropping his luggage on the kitchen floor and stretching his arms wide. He’s a disheveled mess, with wild hair, and his shorts and shirt wrinkled from the travel. “Home sweet home.”
Patrick takes a deep breath. The maid has been by and the kitchen smells like lavender cleanser and lemons, and he loves it. “Ten days away with no social media. I’m gonna pop some corn and log in toThe Hurting TimesASAP.” He rubs his hands together. “See what I’ve been missing.”
Will laughs and slings his lightest bag over his shoulder. “Do that. I’m going to download some of the photos from my camera to my laptop so I can text them to Dinah like she asked.”
“That was the one bummer about not having our phones, wasn’t it?” Patrick mutters, grabbing a bowl for the popcorn and kicking the rest of their luggage out of the way. They can deal with unpacking later.
“I didn’t mind carrying the camera. Though I guess we took a lot fewer pictures than we normally would have.”
“Good thing I’m a genius with a photographic memory.”
“So you claim.”
It’s easy how quickly they fall back into old habits, though everything feels mildly surreal given the late hour. After they’re both comfortable on the sofa with their respective screens, Patrick grabs handfuls of popcorn and shoves it into his mouth as he skims through ten days worth of Healing’s gossip.
“Oh, ho, listen to this about Jenny.” He nudges Will with his shoulder. “This is from when she kicked out Tom:Our favorite blonde heartbreaker is breaking hearts again. This time she’s kicking baby-daddy to the curb despite his promises to stick around. Rumor has it, she’s missing all that hot coffee lovin’ from our favorite barista now that she’s been reminded of the sadly uninspiring length of baby-daddy’s D.” Patrick laughs until there are tears in his eyes.
