MARTY WENT to bed early, and Eddie didn’t hear anything more out of him. It was almost midnight before he was calm enough to go to bed. On his way, he peered into Marty’s room. He was curled up on the bed, the covers wound around him. God, he remembered that. Marty always rolled around when he was upset and ended up a burrito in the center of a covers. But as Eddie watched, Marty began to roll and fight, trying to get out.
“Hey,” Eddie said softly. “It’s okay.” He sat on the side of the bed, and Marty sat right up, his eyes wide. “You’re not alone.”
“They were after me….” He took a deep breath and seemed to come awake. “It was just a dream, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Go back to sleep. I’m here, and the house is locked up tight.” He stood as Marty unwound himself and began straightening out the bed. Marty seemed to have forgotten that he was only in his underwear, but Eddie sure didn’t. Marty was still as lean as he always was, but now he was a man, and Eddie smiled to himself as he stood and went to leave the room. “I’ll see you in the morning.” It took all his willpower not to tug Marty into his arms and guide him down the hall to his own bed.
Lord knows he’d thought about doing that enough over the years. It had been a mistake to leave Marty behind. He should have insisted and done whatever it might have taken for Marty to feel welcome in his life. Eddie should have just been honest with everyone—including himself—about what he truly wanted. But he’d been lured by the lights, fame, and money of Hollywood, though just as quickly as fortune smiled at him with good parts, she had also turned away again just as quickly.
Eddie hesitated in the hallway before finally going to his room and getting into bed. The truth was that he could have tried to bring Marty to his bed, but he wasn’t positive that Marty would come with him. So he rolled over and listened as Marty moved around in his room, and then all was quiet. Eddie lay still, listening intently. He wasn’t sure what he hoped to hear—maybe Marty’s footsteps in the hall or his door opening as Marty came inside. It was definitely what he wanted, but Eddie had learned that he didn’t always get that.
Andrew grew up in western Michigan with a father who loved to tell stories and a mother who loved to read them. Since then, he has lived throughout the country and traveled throughout the world. He has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works in information systems for a large corporation.
Andrew Grey
