Progress, perhaps.  Though as I wrote in that rules for writing meme, I feel like I keep writing more but don’t get closer to the end…I’m just asymptotiing out, and “to infinity and beyond” has somehow become the chapter length.  But anyway… CLEAVING.

They sat there a moment in the bank of cheerfully colored plastic chairs bordering the hospital hallway, Nathan slowly recovering on Zach’s lap.  They would need to leave soon.  Get on with their evening, distract themselves from the fact that their lives might be changing significantly over the next day or two, and they probably wouldn’t get any more input.  They’d made their decision.  They just had to wait for Leah to make hers.

“We could write a letter,” Chris said quietly, as if he could read Zach’s thoughts.  “People do it when they want a house; this is way more important.”

“Maybe,” Zach agreed.  “She thanked me for not pressuring her, though.”

“Right,” Chris said with a sigh.  Zach leaned over and kissed him on the temple.  Chris was usually the more patient of the two of them… trusting the universe to pay back his positive attitude and kindness.  It wasn’t like him to want to push things.

“So what should we do with the rest of the evening?” he asked, finally, wanting to pull his boys out of their brooding.  “It’s too late to make pizza, but we could go to Stella Barra on the way home.  What do you say, Nathan?  Sausage pizza and a side of crispy brussel sprouts?”

Nathan shook his head against Zach’s chest.  “Side of ‘tato chips,” came the muffled counteroffer.

Zach bit back a smile and looked at Chris.

“How about both?” Chris suggested, rubbing Nathan’s back.  “We need some veggies, I think, but it also seems like a house-made potato chip kind of night.”

Nathan nodded, his face still hidden against Zach’s chest.

Zach stood, still holding Nathan and expecting Chris to follow, but he startled and dug his phone out of his pocket.

“It’s Monica,” he said, reading a text.  “Wondering if we’ve left yet.”  He quickly texted something back and then looked up at Zach hopefully.  “She says to wait.”