Clouds and Rain

him. “I think you could use some rest too.”
    Flynn hesitated and then snuggled closer so Gable had no choice but to put his arm around him. “I want you to feel good here.”
    “I do,” Gable whispered, his face half-buried in Flynn‟s curls—
    which, Gable noticed, were growing quite long now, as if they hadn‟t been cut in months. He could inhale Flynn‟s sweet scent and closed his eyes, enjoying their closeness without the risk of getting caught by nurses or doctors prowling the corridors of the hospital. He was dead tired and felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep.
    “I better get started on dinner, so you can have a rest,” Flynn said, interrupting Gable‟s slumber.
    “I kind of enjoyed having you near me,” Gable tried, but Flynn had already extracted himself from Gable‟s embrace and was getting up from the bed.
    “Only kind of?” Flynn asked teasingly. He started walking toward the kitchen and then turned back. “You‟ll be asleep by the time I leave the room. Lie down and rest.”

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    Clouds and Rain

    Gable could only nod, knowing Flynn was right. He‟d barely swung his legs up on the bed when Bridget laid her head to rest next to him. Stroking her soft fur, he felt his eyelids grow heavy.
    When he woke, he was covered in a blanket and his head was resting on a pillow. He was sore and cramped up, but no more than usual after sleeping, and delicious aromas were drifting in from the kitchen. “Flynn?”
    “Be right there,” Flynn called from far away.
    Gable let his head fall back to the pillow and smiled. He was home. “I‟m home,” he whispered to himself, listening to Flynn puttering around in the kitchen, and realized he enjoyed the feeling so much it was making him emotional. He shook his head and stretched a little before sitting up on the bed and swinging his legs over the side.
    That‟s when it dawned on him that he couldn‟t reach his crutches, which Flynn had conveniently placed too far from the bed to be any use to him. He wasn‟t about to let that stop him, though. Holding onto the side of the bed, he hauled himself up and, balancing on his one good leg, he turned around. Somehow this all felt familiar; being in his own environment, his body remembered what it was like to do this from the last time he couldn‟t use his bad leg. Supporting himself by holding on to the bed, he hopped closer to where the crutches were, but he misjudged his own weakness and felt his knee give out. It was enough for him to lose his balance, and he shouted out as his hip crashed to the hardwood floor.
    Within seconds, Flynn was hovering over him. “Gable! Are you okay? Can you move? I said I would only be a minute! Dinner‟s almost ready and I didn‟t want it to burn. I thought ….”
    “You thought what?” Gable hissed. His side hurt and he barely had the strength to move, let alone drag himself up from the floor, so he stayed down. “Let‟s mother the cripple a bit? Make him feel even more helpless than he is? Let‟s put the crutches on the other side of the room so he doesn‟t feel tempted to move even a finger when I‟m not there?” Flynn reached to help Gable up, but Gable swatted his hand away.
    “Just… leave.”
    “But you need help….”

    99

    Zahra Owens

    “Yes,” Gable spat out. “Thanks for shoving that in my face. Does it make you feel all butch that I need you for everything? That I can‟t as much as take a leak without asking you to help me? Do you feel like a real man now you‟re in charge of me?”
    Gable felt the anger bursting out of him. Flynn was standing over him and he couldn‟t get up. Flynn was still holding out his hand and Gable only had to reach for it to be helped, but he‟d rather lie on the floor for the next few hours than be shown yet again how helpless he was. “ Leave me! ” he shouted at Flynn, the power of his voice sapping the last of his strength, after which he dropped completely to the floor.
    Flynn hesitated. Breathing heavily, he took a step back and straightened up, then turned around and walked out.

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    Clouds and Rain

    Chapter 14

    FLYNN paced the porch outside, afraid to go any farther. He had tears in his eyes and knots in his stomach that were ten times worse than the ones he‟d had when he brought Gable home that morning. He knew it wasn‟t going to be easy, but he‟d never expected Gable to shout at him and push him away. Not this soon. All he wanted to do was help Gable and make him feel happy to