Page 175 of Playing By Ear

⠊

I, probably. He shifted his finger to the right.

⠇

L

⠕

O

⠧

V

Perry’s heart tripped over itself. Jamie hadn’t said it last night, and that was okay. Instead he’d left the words in a place he knew Perry would soon find them, but maybe not until after Jamie left to go back to his dad’s.

⠑

E

⠥

U

⠃

B

I LOVE UB? What in the name of God was UB?

Oh. The Braille for 2 was the same as B, but with a ⠼ in front of it to announce the following character was a numeral. Perhaps Jamie hadn’t read that far on whatever web page he got these from.

I LOVE U2.

Perry hugged the washing-up liquid bottle to his chest for a long moment. Then he set aside the muffin tin and returned to the bedroom.

He paused on the threshold. Though the sun had just risen, the room was still dark to his eyes. Jamie was fast asleep, judging by his snores, which Perry didn’t mind. In fact, he rather liked falling asleep to the sound. Each snore was like the sweep of a lighthouse beacon, telling him where the darkness ended and Jamie began.

He went in and sat on his own side of the bed.

Jamie woke immediately. “What? Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Perry’s heart twinged at the sound of Jamie’s hypervigilance. “It’s Sunday morning, though barely.”

There came the sound of beard rubbing. Then the soft white light of Jamie’s phone screen appeared. “Christ, you’re up early.”

“Any more messages about the big secret?”

Jamie shifted in the bed. “Which secret’s that?” he asked, his voice now pointed at Perry. “The bad one, where my dad’s a murderer, or the good one, where my boyfriend’s a smoking hot cam model?”

“I suppose the one does put the other into perspective.” Perry flexed his bare toes against the hardwood floor, waiting for Jamie to answer his question. “Any messages we need to deal with?”

“Dunno.” Jamie switched off his phone with a click. “I always block non-urgent notifications overnight. Being bombarded with bad news is a shite way to wake up.” He patted Perry’s pillow. “Come back to bed?”

Perry lay down and pulled the duvet up over them. The muffins could wait.

He slid an arm over Jamie’s waist. “By the way?”