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“I’ardless,” I add softly “I’m so sorry” In the silence that follows, I feel breathless with growing disquiet
“Perhaps you should return to us ahead of schedule” I blurt it, but as soon as the words leave nize the wisdom of my subconscious Were I really to steal away on Sailor’s ship—the Lord forbid it—ould handle the ill in the e some of it, but she’s more elderly than she once was She can’t prop up a heavy man, for example
I hear him clear his throat “Perhaps that’s not a bad idea”
“I don’t knohen the next ship departs Could you return onboard the Celia? I know she doesn’t always pass our way…but perhaps she could be persuaded to”
The Celia one of only three vessels that pass our ith anything approaching regularity I know fro experience that she departs Cape Town the tenth of each month Today is the fifteenth of June That means he can’t depart South Africa for soives me time to make a plan and carry it out—should I decide to—but puts him back here teeks earlier Perhaps it’s more like sixteen days The Celia is a smaller, quicker ship than the two others
“Are you in need of me?”
I suiding hand cannot be over-valued”
There’s a silence where I feel his ego swelling
“In that case,” he says with pomp, “prepare for my return”
My Carnegie returns frory In the bed, he’s quite hih murmurs, hard kisses, and his stiff sex Before we move into our new position with him at the rear, he holds reatly relieved to find it seems he still craves me I told hihtened off I feel a thrill at that
If he’s perhaps a bit more quiet than even our new normal, I chalk it up to his sore shoulder He so seldoet it bothers hiether, and I see hi at it
“Stay here” I press a kiss against his cheek
Then I hurry to the kitchen, fetching a large Ziploc bag of frozen applesauce, two dish towels, a thin, silk tablecloth, solass of tea with a straw
His eyes are keen on my face as I drape the dish towels over his shoulder, meld the Ziploc over them, and use the table cloth to wrap the cold compress in place He sater, downs the Advil, shuts his eyes