Clouds and Rain

talkative, is he?”
    Flynn shook his head.

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    “Gable has some distant relatives back east, but no one he‟s in touch with on a regular basis.”
    Flynn sighed. “So he has no one.” It was more a statement than a question.
    “He has you, Flynn.”
    “Does he?” Flynn looked at Calley, whose face was all compassion. He gazed in the direction they‟d wheeled Gable off to and sighed again. “We had a fight. That‟s why it took me so long to find him.” Flynn didn‟t know how much he could tell Calley. What had happened felt very personal, but he had to tell someone and he hoped Calley could put things in perspective. “One moment he‟s loving and caring and the next it‟s like he doesn‟t want me around for anything else than….” Flynn stopped. He didn‟t know Calley well enough to go into that sort of detail.
    Calley smiled indulgently. “And here I was thinking that all you men were the same.”
    Flynn couldn‟t resist smiling a little in return. Calley‟s easygoing manner and her compassion made him feel more accepted than he‟d ever been. He‟d been a bit apprehensive about it, since they‟d never really disclosed the nature of their relationship to her, but he felt she understood somehow. In any case, she knew Gable was gay, since she knew all about what had happened with Grant, and Gable had told him one thing and that was that he trusted her with his life.
    “I always sensed you were different,” Calley said, breaking the silence between them. She sounded serious now, the teasing note in her voice totally gone. She smiled again when Flynn looked up at her, but it wasn‟t a humorous smile. “He was hurt badly, Flynn. I didn‟t think he‟d ever recover, and I‟m not talking about the physical side of the accident. For some unfathomable reason he was in love with that man, and it took him months to accept that he had left him. If all this is too much for you as well, I understand, but please let him down gently.
    Tell him and don‟t let him live in false hope.”
    “I‟m not leaving,” Flynn replied determinedly. Then his courage faltered. “Unless he tells me he wants me to.” 71

    Zahra Owens

    “He probably will, just to guard himself,” Calley replied, voicing what Flynn was thinking.
    Hearing Calley say that made Flynn‟s confidence grow again.
    “I‟m not Grant, you know. Whatever happens, I can take it.”
    “Thank God you‟re not Grant!” She squeezed his hand again and briefly looked at him, then turned her gaze toward the corridor they‟d both been watching since they arrived, and their conversation stilled.
    Uncomfortable with the silence and unused to sitting still for so long, Flynn got up from the hard fiberglass seat he was sitting in. “I need to stretch my legs. Want some coffee?” Calley nodded. “Black for me, please.”
    Flynn set off, hoping he could get some information on Gable‟s condition while he was looking for something to keep them warm and awake. The girl behind the reception desk gave him the standard answer, telling him they were still working on Gable and that the doctor would be with them shortly, so Flynn returned to where Calley was sitting, handing her a paper cup with lukewarm liquid that barely deserved to be called coffee. They drank in silence, and after some time, Flynn felt Calley lean against him as she dozed off. He couldn‟t sleep, despite the fact he hadn‟t slept in almost twenty-four hours. He needed to know how Gable was doing, and although he was outwardly calm, his insides were playing hockey. He was certain something was seriously wrong and almost feared the moment the doctor would come out from wherever he was hiding and tell them just how bad it was.
    “Mmh,” Calley murmured as she startled and sat up, wiping the corner of her mouth as she opened her sleep-drunk eyes. “Any news yet?”
    “No, go back to sleep,” Flynn answered, trying to sound soothing in response to Calley‟s ever-caring demeanor. She didn‟t get the chance, as a serious-looking, forty-something man strode over to them then.
    “You‟re the relatives of Mr. Sutton?” He reached out to shake first Flynn‟s, then Calley‟s hand, and they both stood up. “I‟m Dr.
    Isaacs. I‟m in charge of the ICU.”

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    Clouds and Rain

    “How is he?” Flynn asked, nerves knotting his stomach so tightly he felt he might vomit.
    “He‟s stable, but it‟s been quite a struggle and we‟re not out of the woods