Chapter 5: Three in the Morning

At three in the morning, Neil's stomach turned over and he barely made it to the bathroom.

He knelt on the cold tile with his forehead against his arm.

The door opened without a knock.

"Go away," Neil said.

"No."

Jude came in barefoot, in sleep pants and nothing else.

He knelt down behind Neil and gathered the hair off his forehead with one big hand.

"Don't," Neil said, and was sick again.

"I've got you."

"I hate that you heard me."

"The whole house heard you. Winifred's cane hit the floor twice." Jude rubbed his back in slow circles. "Breathe."

Neil breathed.

It took a long time.

When the worst of it passed, Jude wet a cloth at the sink and wiped his face with careful hands.

Neil sat back against the tub with his eyes shut.

"This is humiliating," he said.

"This is Tuesday for half the women in town."

"They didn't spend twenty years trying to sink your boat."

"I sank yours first," Jude said. "Third year of high school. Ask anyone."

A tired laugh slipped out of Neil.

He opened his eyes.

Jude was very close, crouched on the floor, with his hair in his eyes and the cloth in his hand.

His bare chest was warm.

There was a scar across his ribs from a boat hook, and Neil had never seen it before.

Jude's eyes went to Neil's stomach and stayed there.

Neil nodded once, and Jude laid his palm flat over the place where the baby was.

His hand was huge and hot through the thin T-shirt.

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