“Did it hurt when they did the procedure?” she asks.

“No.”

“Do you like it?” Abby’s forehead furrows as she studies the buttons, the screen, and then the tube that connects the pump to inside my body. Abby’s aware this was a tough choice for me and I can tell she’s trying to be careful with the conversation and her exploration.

“Some days yes. Some days no. More days I like it than not.”

“Fair enough.” Abby’s caress leaves the general area of my insulin pump and wanders to my chest.

“What happened to playing it safe?” I ask.

She laughs. “You’re the one that lifted your shirt.”

I lower it, she scowls, and I kiss her lips. Not long, but long enough that I miss her taste when I pull away. Long enough that I’m already thinking of kissing her again.

Her eyebrows rise and that mischievous glint that I’ve missed lights up in her eyes. “What happens to the pump when we make out? Like when we ditch here and we can seriously kiss like we’re supposed to?”

Those words hit me straight like a defibrillator and conjure up images of my hands on Abby’s skin. “If it gets in the way, I can remove it.”

“Is that hard to do?” she asks.

“No. Can do it now if you want.”

“Will that mess up your insulin?”

“Could.”

“Then no.” Abby sags and it’s not in a bad way. It’s the way that says the turkey just caught up to her. Possibly the past six months have caught up to her. “Will you take me to see my Grams?”

First place I planned on taking her was the cemetery. Figured that’s where she’d want to go. “Yeah.”

Abby flexes her socked toes then meets my eyes. “Do you mind if I go to sleep?”

I go to move so she can head upstairs, but Abby places a hand on my arm. “I mean with you. Do you mind if I fall asleep on you?”

Kissing Abby is heaven. Knowing we’ll be very alone soon is even better, but so is knowing that she’s here with me and I can hold her while she sleeps. Be the first person she sees when she opens her eyes. Life is how it’s supposed to be.

I kick off my shoes, lie on the couch, stretch out my arms and hug Abby tight to me as she cuddles in, closes her eyes, and drifts off to sleep.