Belief in Miracles (completed)

Chapter 27: Summer

27 Summer

I woke to sunshine on my face, and the realization that I was in my own bed. Bolting upright, I threw the blankets off and padded across the room, my thoughts shifting to Sebastian and whether he'd made it home okay. I couldn't believe I'd fallen asleep on him. I frowned, however, when I slid down the stairs and saw his coat still hanging in the hallway. Stepping into the living room, I saw the blanket had been folded and laid carefully over the back of the couch, and our mugs and pizza from the night before were gone. My pile of Bass Crawford books were stacked neatly on one corner of the table, A Single Day set on top.

Smiling, I breathed deep, suddenly noticing the smell of food and soft sounds of music, and turned to cross the foyer into the kitchen, where I stopped dead in the doorway. Sebastian had his back to me from where he stood at the stove. Wearing my grandmother's pink apron from the pantry, he had one hand in the air, swaying to the worship that was playing from his phone, which he'd propped against the side of the fridge. The other hand was tending the skillet before him. There was a stack of paper towels on the island with a layer of crisp bacon on top, two empty mugs set before two empty plates in front of the stools.

I was beside myself with amazement over this man, and leaned my shoulder against the doorway to watch him. He was still moving to the music as he picked up a spatula and scooped out a pancake, added it to the others I noticed to his right.

"It's your breath... in my lungs... so, I'll pour out my praise..." He was singing again, and my heart melted as he lowered his hand to his chest, as though to emphasize. He swayed gently as he dumped more batter into the skillet, then shook his head on a sigh as he began to pray. "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... your breath alone sustains these wary lungs and keeps me alive, and my praise shall ever be yours until that breath subsides."

My throat tightened, and I swallowed as I took a step forward. "I hope that won't be for a while."

He startled, dropping the spatula to clatter onto the floor. Swiveling, he pressed a hand to his chest again as he gasped. His cannula, I noticed, were missing again. "You scared the heebie jeebies out of me."

"Sorry..." I eased into the room and rounded the island to pick up the spatula, set it on the counter beside him. "Where's Eustace?"

"Still sleeping." He said on a grin, then folded me into his arms. "I was gonna wake you once everything was done."

I shrugged, keeping my arms around him as I leaned back to look up at him. "Beat you to it. Did you stay all night?"

He nodded, then let me go to flip a pancake. "Is that okay?"

"Of course. Was the guest bed okay?"

He shrugged. "No idea, but the couch was comfy."

I rolled my eyes. "Why didn't you go in the guest room?"

"I didn't know it was there. But I was alright, Skittles even came and slept on my feet for a while."

I paled, and turned at the sound of crunching to see my fat cat stooped over her bowl, eating. "She did not!"

"Oh, yes she did. Kept me warm." He turned away to scoop off the pancake and add more batter.

I was horrified. "Sebastian! Why didn't you kick her off?"

He shrugged. "She was okay. I even held her for a minute to move her out of the way when I put you to bed."

"But your allergies..."

He turned to me and took my face in his hands, looked deep into my eyes. "It's okay. I took an allergy pill just in case, but really, she didn't bother me like I expected her to."