I Can See for Miles (20 page)

“Do you think we’re gross?” Josh said, turning his face in Charlie’s direction and grinning.

“Absolutely,” Charlie replied, sounding wrecked and fucked-out, which was exactly what he was. “But I don’t mind.” He reached out for handfuls of Josh’s hair and pulled him up to kiss him soundly. “In fact, I kinda like it.”

“Me too,” Josh mumbled against Charlie’s lips, then swiped his tongue across the sensitive inner flesh of Charlie’s lower lip. “But she is right about one thing. We do need to get up.”

“
We
?” Charlie huffed, leaning up on his elbows. “I’ve been up since six, Donald. You’re the one who molested me.”

“Yeah, ’cause it’s always
so
difficult to molest you,” Josh chuckled, slapping Charlie’s naked thigh before he eased himself up and off the bed.

“You are a truly horrible person.” Charlie sighed, pushing his shaking legs back into underwear he had first put on three hours earlier. “Remind me again why I love you?”

“Because I’m ridiculously handsome, I don’t take none of your shit, and I can suck your brains out through your dick,” Josh replied without missing a beat.

“Oh yeah,” Charlie replied, his own chuckle joining Josh’s. “It’s going to be so busy this week, Josh. We’ve got twice as many kids as usual. I just hope we haven’t bitten off more than we can chew.”

“Everything is going to be fine, Mr. Paranoia,” Josh retorted, opening the bedroom door. “Every
t
is crossed and every
i
has been dotted. You have left nothing to chance. Even you couldn’t be more organized for this week than you already are. Just loosen up and go with the flow.” When Charlie tapped his cane against Josh’s, he reached out and pulled him into a loose embrace. “The Butterworth Foundation was so impressed that they personally recommended us to the Wester Academy. So will you chill, please? All you do is freak yourself out. It’ll run like clockwork, as usual.”

“I wish I could be as confident in my ability as you are.” Sighing, Charlie laid his head on Josh’s shoulder, thanking his lucky stars once again that he’d found this man.
His
man.

“Charlie!” Maggie’s voice drifted up the stairs. “Line two, it’s Frank Morgan!”

“Frank? He’d better not be calling to cancel this evening. He said he would be here for the barbecue,” Charlie threw over his shoulder at Josh as he walked back across the room to pick up the phone from the nightstand. “Hey, Doc, this had better not be a Dear John call.”

“Ha-ha, Cooper. Josh must finally be rubbing off on you—your sense of humor is improving,” Frank deadpanned. “It is and it isn’t, since we
are
going to be spending the evening together, just not at your house. I need you to get to the clinic as soon as you can.”

“What? Why?”

“We have a donor.”

Charlie’s knees gave way, and he sank down onto the mattress, his fingers gripping the receiver tightly. “But we’ve got the welcome barbecue. Momma’s made peach cobbler… Dad’s making his special sauce for Josh.”

“Charlie, what’s going on?” Josh said, his voice full of concern, and Charlie knew he’d immediately picked up on the change in his tone.

“Frank can’t make the barbecue,” Charlie said, his tone flat. He felt numb. Hell, he didn’t know what to feel.

“Charlie, give me the phone,” Josh urged, reaching out to find Charlie’s hand and pry the receiver from his fingers. “Frank, it’s Josh. What’s going on? Charlie is freaking out.” There was silence as Josh obviously listened to what Frank had to say. “So he’ll be in for how long? Five days? Okay, I’ll make sure he has enough. You do know you’ll have to put me up too, don’t you?” His soft chuckle seemed to wake Charlie up again, and he took several anxious breaths. “We’ll see you in a few hours. And Frank,
thank you
.”

“Did you tell him we’re too busy to go today?” Charlie said, standing up and running a shaking hand through his hair.

“What? No, of course I didn’t,” Josh replied in stunned amazement. “I’m calling Mom and Pop, and then we’re going to pack the big sports bag and get you to the clinic.”

Charlie began to pace up and down a four-foot-square piece of carpet. “But we’ve got the new kids coming in, and there’s so much to do. It’s not really a good time to be going off to the city.” His tone was rising with each word, panic fluttering through every syllable.

“Okay.” Josh snapped his phone shut and walked across the room to collide with Charlie. “Talk to me. Whoa there, cowboy. I gotcha. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, it’s just that we’re so busy this week,” Charlie tried to dislodge himself from Josh’s arms, not entirely sure why he was bothering. He should already know Josh wasn’t letting go.

“We’re too busy to get you new eyes?” Josh said slowly, his tone incredulous. “Nope, you’re gonna have to do better than that.” Charlie trembled against him. “Charlie,” he soothed, pressing his face into Charlie’s hair. “I know you’re scared, baby. But we’ve been waiting for this for two years.”

“But we’re happy, aren’t we, with things just how they are?” Charlie blurted out, unsure if he could fully explain to Josh the fear that was gripping him. “Don’t I make you happy?”

“Of course you do, you know you do,” Josh replied, puzzled. “But what has our happiness got to do with you being able to see?”

“What if it goes wrong? What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we’re in exactly the same place as we are now.”

“But what if it
does
work?” Charlie sighed, burying his face in Josh’s neck, the warmth of Josh’s skin against his lips grounding him. “It’ll change everything.”

“Of course it will—for the better. How wonderful will it be, Charlie? To be able to go to
our
place and not have to view it from memory. To stop having to get shop assistants to tell you what color shirt you’re holding in your hand. Not to mention the little things, like being able to shave just the once and not several times because you’ve missed some. To see Thor soar high above the clouds again.” He turned his face and kissed Charlie’s temple. “Do you have any idea how many on that list would sell their souls to be where you are right at this moment, me included?”

“That’s just it. What about you? What if it changes how
you
feel?” Charlie held his breath waiting for Josh’s answer. There, it was out there. He’d said it. Would Josh resent him if he could see? He’d rather stay blind than have to cope with causing Josh pain.

“What? About you? Because you’ll be able to see and I’ll still be in the dark?” Josh said, and Charlie winced at the incredulity and underlying anger in his tone. “I should kick your ass for saying that to me. If you think that, then you’re blind in more ways than one, Cooper.” Josh pushed him away and cupped Charlie’s face in his palms. “If you remember, I fell in love with you
before
you lost your sight, numb-nuts. Whether or not you can see is not going to stop me finding that grinding thing you do with your teeth in your sleep any less annoying. It won’t make me stop wanting to slap you stupid every time you leave wet towels on the bathroom floor. And it won’t make the way you feel against me any less perfect, or change the fact that being with you has made me want to be more than I ever thought I could be again. Are you getting my point? Or do I have to drag out the violins and wax lyrical about the softness of your lips?”

“I think I get it,” Charlie murmured, his lips lifting at the swell of love that washed over him at Josh’s words. Raising his chin, he sighed when he felt the press of Josh’s lips to his, and he opened his mouth readily, wrapping his arms around Josh’s neck and sliding his fingers into thick curls. “I love you, Josh,” he said softly. “Before I met you, I was already in the dark. You’re the one who brought me into the light again and gave me so much more than I could ever convey in words. You taught me how to love again, how to live again, and I’m going to enjoy spending the rest of our lives thanking you for that.”

Josh’s arms tightened around him, and he kissed the tremble from Charlie’s lips until they were panting softly into each other’s mouths. “I love it when you channel Oprah,” he chuckled softly, slipping his hands into the back pockets of Charlie’s jeans. “Come on, gorgeous, let’s make that phone call and pack that bag. The sooner we get to the clinic, the sooner you can look at my ridiculously handsome face and finally realize exactly how lucky you are.”

C
HARLIE
groaned lightly. His head hurt, and his eyes ached horrendously. Not to mention that his throat felt like he’d been gargling with broken glass. He frowned, immediately regretting it as the throb in his temples increased. The light on the other side of his closed lids was so bright it was painful.
The light?
His stomach bottomed out, and his heart began to pound in his chest.

“Do you need some pain relief? Do you want me to call the nurse?”

“Josh?” Charlie croaked, sliding his tongue across his unbelievably dry lips.

“You were expecting someone else?” Josh chuckled. “How do you feel?” He lifted Charlie’s hand and kissed his palm gently.

“Like my head has been in a vise,” Charlie replied grumpily. He swallowed past the lump in his throat he was pretty sure was his heart. “How did it go? Have you spoken to Frank?”

“It went well.” Frank’s voice came from his right-hand side. “I’m very happy with the way the procedure itself went.” Charlie let go of the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Frank sounded confident enough. Was that a good sign? “Your eyes are going to be sore for a few days, but I think we’re about ready to remove the tape and take a little peek.”

“Right now?” Charlie said incredulously, feeling Frank’s warm hand on his shoulder.

“No time like the present, son,” Bill said from the other side of the room.

“We’re right here, baby,” Sharon added, squeezing Charlie’s foot to let him know where she was.

Charlie’s grip on Josh’s hand tightened, and he took a deep breath, swallowing hard. “Okay.” He felt the soft sweep of Josh’s thumb on the back of his hand and then the pull of Frank removing the dressing covering his eyes. “Now?” he asked throatily, after Frank had wiped across his closed lids with damp cotton balls.

“Now, Charlie,” Frank said firmly.

Slowly, Charlie opened his eyes and blinked several times. The light was so bright it felt like he was looking into the sun itself, and he blinked until the room began to swim into focus. Tears welled up in his eyes when he turned his head to the left and looked at the man who was his world as he sat beside the bed, their fingers still entwined.

“Charlie?” Josh’s voice was hesitant, unsure.

“You’re right,” Charlie murmured, lifting his other hand and pushing wayward curls back from Josh’s forehead.

“I am?”

“You
are
ridiculously handsome.”

Charlie thumbed away the tears of relief rolling down Josh’s cheeks and pulled him down to bring their lips together in a tender kiss. He could hear his parents’ soft, joy-filled sobs as they embraced each other, but all he could see was Josh and the new road they had started on together.

About the Author

L
ISA
W
ORRALL
lives in a little seaside town on the south coast of England that boasts the longest pier in the world. She is the single mother of two children of the hair-graying ages of nine and seven and is currently petitioning for there to be more hours in the day, because there never seem to be enough.

She has been reading and writing romance since she was awarded a gold star in composition by her head teacher (Mr. Croucher) some… erm… years ago and has been listening to the voices in her head on a regular basis for the last few years, once she realized they were not going away. She likes nothing more than bringing together two people in interesting and sometimes bizarre ways, and hopes that her readers enjoy her characters’ journeys as much as she does.

Lisa received an Honorable Mention and Perfect Score for
Unshakeable Faith
in the 2012 Rainbow Awards.

You can contact Lisa through:

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.lisaworrall.com

Also from
L
ISA
W
ORRALL

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Also from
D
REAMSPINNER
P
RESS