IslandAffair

went to the counter
and poured himself a coffee, hissing as he spilled some on his fingers. He
licked them clean and brought the prescription bottle that sat next to the
coffeemaker back to the table with him. He forced himself to be nonchalant
about it, pretending it didn’t matter that the other man watched him. This was
a part of his life now and if John was too, they’d both need to get used to it.
He sat in the chair opposite John and swallowed the pills.
    “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
    “Just for reading. I don’t use them much.” He gestured at
the pills. “How often do you take them?”
    Robin picked up the bottle, turning it in his hands. “Twice
a day now, more often at the start. It was awful, I felt as if I was living in
a fog. They still make me a little fuzzy when I first take them but I’m used to
it now.” He set them down and picked up his coffee and plunged ahead. “The
seizures are a lot less but you should know what to expect. Stress and anxiety
can trigger them. So can tiredness or if I’m sick. Basically anything that puts
a strain on the body.”
    “I’ve seen one before,” John said. “But it was a
stranger…not someone I care about.”
    “Then you know there isn’t anything you can do except try to
keep me from hurting myself and let it pass.” That had been the hardest part
for his family to deal with. “I’m usually a bit disoriented when I come out of
it and usually want to sleep for a while.” He looked up and met the other man’s
eyes with difficulty. “Sometimes…there’s…a mess. But that’s gotten better too.”
    John met his eyes, face calm, and reached across the table
to squeeze his hand in reassurance. “Thank you for telling me.”
    Robin pulled away and swallowed the rest of his drink, more
than ready to change the subject. He only wished it could be to something a bit
less awkward. “I have the next couple of days off. I thought we could go to my
parents today. I’d like to introduce you to them.”
    John’s eyebrows rose in question. “Introduce as in introduce .
As in meet your parents?”
    Robin smiled at him and said gravely, “Yes, as in, ‘Hey Mom,
Dad, this is my boyfriend.’”
    “You don’t have to do that, love. We have plenty of time.”
    “I want to. I don’t want to waste any more of my second
chance looking at the inside of a closet door. It’s past time.” He walked away
from John, leaving him smiling at the kitchen table while he went to get
showered and dressed.
     
    As they pulled up in front of his parents’ house an hour
later, the butterflies in Rob’s stomach turned into frogs and the bowl of
cereal he had eaten threatened to make a reappearance. If he had still been
allowed to drive he might have chickened out and driven past the little
wood-framed bungalow. Instead he sat frozen in the seat of John’s SUV and tried
to gather his wits before his mother came to find out what was going on.
    He had called them to make sure they were home and there was
no doubt that she was watching for him. It was only a matter of time before
curiosity and worry brought her outside. Since his injury, she seemed to always
expect the worst and though he could understand why, it didn’t make it any less
annoying. When he was released from the hospital, it had taken all his energy
to convince her to let him go back to his own home. She had wanted him to move
back to the bungalow but by that time Rob just needed some space of his own
where no one hovered. The compromise in the end had been that Jo came back to
the apartment with him for the first week. He had accepted because he knew his
sister would understand and give him the distance he needed.
    John touched his arm. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. Come on, let’s go inside.”
    Before they reached the front steps the door opened and his
mother stepped out to greet them. She was dressed in her customary blouse and
slacks and the sun caught the flickers of silver in her ash-blonde hair. She
smiled curiously at the man at his side.
    “Mom, this is John MacAllister, the friend I met on
vacation.”
    “Oh! Of course. Robin talked about you a little. We weren’t
very comfortable with him going on a singles trip so I’m glad you kept him
company.”
    “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Grant.” They clasped hands briefly.
“It was my pleasure, honestly.”
    Robin choked at John’s words and his mother frowned at him.
“Are you all right, dear?”
    He resisted the urge to