Page 62 of Waves
As much as I wanted to flop forward after I finished, I needed to remember to not touch his back. After a moment of recovery, I pulled out and tied off the end of the condom before I threw it in the trash can in the kitchen. When I came back to the living room, Kai hadn’t moved an inch.
“Your back feeling okay?” I asked.
Face first into a cushion, Kai mumbled, “Yes, thank you.”
“You going to make it over there?”
Kai nodded but didn’t move. “I, uh, I may be open to the idea of doing that on occasion.”
“That can be arranged,” I said with a wide smile.
“Uh, Ezra?”
“Yes?”
“I may have dirtied your couch... a lot.”
“It’s not the first time one of us came all over that couch, babe.”
“Okay,” he sheepishly replied.
I got him to stand and wrapped my hands on his hips, careful to avoid his back when hugging him. Once I leaned closer until our foreheads touched, he smiled while he stared into my eyes. I didn’t need to move my lips to tell him I loved him. I knew he could hear me loud and clear.
I was a horrible patient. Not being able to soak in the pool had been such an annoyance, but I secretly went out for a few very, very quick dips when Ezra wasn’t there to stop me. I was no doctor, but I felt healed. Almost three weeks later, by some miracle, I had no complications. I couldn’t even say for sure how I managed as long as I had. Maybe my body became so devoted to recovery, it knew I had to stay ashore. I still itched for the stitches to come out, while Ezra appeared anxious seeing me healing as fast as I did. He knew what this would mean. He couldn’t keep me imprisoned for my own safety, and this time, I knew he wouldn’t try.
That inevitability must be weighing on his mind heavier than usual this evening. Mary and Eric were coming early tomorrow, exactly at the three-week mark. Assuming Eric approved the removal of my stitches, we were all going for a ride to the islands. Seeing Ezra so troubled tugged at my heart, but there was only so much I could do. Endless reassurances wouldn’t prevent him from worrying about me, but at least he understood and was still willing to let me go.
“Are you thinking about tomorrow?” I asked, stroking the length of his spine while we lay in bed.
“No.” His sigh made his answer sound unconvincing.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I know,” Ezra whispered.
“And I’ll even be back soon. I know I can do it again.”
“I believe you.”
“What’s on your mind, love?”
“You look different,” Ezra said, reaching up to comb my hair back.
“And here I thought I had more going for me than my looks.”
Ezra smiled, still playing with the ends of my hair. “What I mean is, your hair seems longer. Your beard too. I’ve never noticed a difference until now.”
“And?”
“And I was thinking, a body getting older is really the cells slowly dying. Only your sealskin doesn’t rot, or even change, and I don’t think you do either while you’re wearing it. But now...” Ezra paused, combing through my hair again. “I don’t think the ocean causes your withdrawal. It’s the skin. Your sealskin has kept you perfectly preserved at this one point in your life... but when you’re on land... and out of your skin... time catches up with you again.”
“Hmm.” I hugged him closer while gazing into his adoring eyes. “Will you still love me if I get old and scraggly?”
“Of course, I will.”
“What if I get older than you?”
“I suppose,” Ezra said as he rolled his eyes. He insisted I was the older one, both in appearance and actual years alive. I remained unconvinced.