Page 118 of The Way Home

“You didn’t think I’d leave you, did you? After the accident?”

“What?” Caleb loosened his arms and leaned back slightly. Jamie stayed tucked against his collarbone, refusing to budge. “What makes you ask that?”

“Well…” Jamie lifted his head and blinked groggily. “When I was recovering, you must have thought there was a chance I wouldn’t… I don’t know, fall back in love with you. Right?”

Caleb looked away for a beat, willing the memories down and away. He didn’t want to revisit that time, even if it had only been a few months ago. His conversation with Ellie over Jenga flashed back to the forefront of his mind. The day he’d admitted that exact fear.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I did worry about that. It always felt like there was a chance that if I did something wrong, or didn’t do something, you wouldn’t fall back in love with me.”

When he turned back, he was met with sad, desperate eyes. “That must have been awful.”

“It felt sort of like being dropped into an alternate universe, if I’m being honest.”

A sleepymmmcame from Jamie as he considered that. “Another universe,” he repeated, his hands shifting where they were gripping Caleb’s back.

A thought occurred to Caleb. “Did you worry about that, J?” he asked softly. “That you wouldn’t fall back in love with me?”

Jamie gave a slow nod. “Yeah, I did. It was a lot of pressureat first, trying to return to my old life and feel… like I did before. I worried I’d never get to where you needed me to be.” His eyes dropped to Caleb’s bare chest and lingered there. “Back in February, I think I decided that if I was going to feel like my old self, I had to just pretend to be him.”

Caleb slid a hand up into Jamie’s hair, letting the soft strands fall between his fingers. “Are you still pretending?”

“No,” Jamie said calmly, still studying Caleb’s chest. A soft smile spread across his face. “I’ve never felt more like myself, actually. Which is crazy, considering I had a life-changing accident only a few months ago.” He huffed quietly. “I used to always be so on edge. Worried what people thought of me. But with you…” His eyes lifted to meet Caleb’s, and Caleb felt his breath hitch. Bright green, like spring grass. “Loving you is so easy, Caleb. Now that I do—orrememberthat I do—it feels like my body can relax. Maybe for the first time ever.”

Caleb was speechless at the open, earnest look in those green eyes. Such a different shade from the uncertain ones that had opened in the hospital.

Satisfied with his words, Jamie tucked himself back into Caleb like a little koala, nose pressed into the warm curve of his neck, arms and legs tightening around him. As Jamie’s breathing slowly evened out, Caleb decided they would just fall asleep like this tonight. Still a little messy from sex, stark naked, wrapped around each other.

For a moment, Caleb let himself imagine that alternate universe again. The one where Jamie had woken up in the hospital and never loved him the same way. It wasn’t until Jamie’s soft, sleepy voice rumbled against his skin that Caleb realized the man was still half-awake.

“I’d fall for you in any universe, Caleb.”

Two weeks later,Jamie woke up to a house of utter chaos.

He’d gone to bed early the night before, hoping to bank some sleep. He could sleep on the plane, of course, but he’d never been ona flight this long, and, on the off chance he couldn’t sleep, he didn’t want to arrive in the States completely knackered when it was time to meet Caleb’s family.

Even so, his body still felt exhausted.

With the flight coming up and the final matches of the season looming, Caleb had been a complete wreck this past week. Not sleeping. Barely eating. The man looked like a zombie, and Jamie was determined to do whatever he could to pick up the slack.

He couldn’t make the trip magically disappear, but hecouldclean the flat and do the washing. And cook, though Ellie had to come over and teach him a few things.

Some emergency kitchen FaceTimes to his mother had occurred.

But if it made this trip even a tiny bit easier for Caleb, it was worth it.

He could hear the commotion on the other side of the bedroom door.

“Bro!” Pippa was on him the second he opened the door.

“Who gave Pippa caffeine?” Jamie grunted as his sister engulfed him in an iron-clad hug. From the kitchen, Ellie muttered, “No one would let me give her a sedative.”

“She brought you a jam tart, J,” Caleb called from the couch. Jamie looked over to see Caleb sitting between his mum and Angie. He thought he also spotted a red ponytail sticking up from somewhere near the coffee table. Was Sally on the floor?

Jesus. Everyone really was here to see them off to the States. Hopefully, Caleb felt supported and not even more stressed. Jamie had to resist the urge to rush over with a glass of water and ask what he’d eaten today. It would make him feel better if he knew that Caleb had some food in him…

“Jamie, c’mon,” Pippa whisper-shouted, tugging on the sleeve of his T-shirt.

“Oi! Ow, that hurts!” he yelped as she shoved him into the bedroom.