iloveyoudie

When it came to wedding planning George had only cared that everyone would be there, that the food was good, and that they looked better than anyone else in attendance.

George watched his posture, the rigid annoyance in his spine, the way he thrust his hand angrily into his trouser pocket. George couldn’t hear him talking but Ronnie was gesticulating forcefully after a few words and his brow was drawn taught, his lips pressed tight and thin and sour.

Halfway across the room he heard it again, a sound that he knew now was absolutely his name being yelled and he sidled up to the window to look outside. It was hard to see with the glare of the lights on the glass so he rattled the old window open just in time to have a small pebble of gravel hit him in the nose.

The girls wandered away to leave Morse and George just leaning in silence against one another until something must have pinged in George’s head and he rolled in close to murmur it to Morse. His hand rested on Morse’s shoulder, just near his open collar and loose tie, Morse’s still slung around George’s hip, and Box felt a growing burn of annoyance deep within him.

For some couples sex was unnecessary, negligible, a treat or something to be scheduled. For Box and Fancy it was a requirement.

Ronnie Box had never in his entire life felt as helpless as he had the first time he’d seen George cry.

Morse hovered silently by Jim Strange’s kitchen window and peered out into the back garden with that look of his that meant he was puzzling something out.

George couldn’t help admiring him with the sun glowing over his profile, a border of nearly blinding and gorgeous light. Looking at him never got old.

He breezed past the strangely named contacts of his dating graveyard. There was ‘Fingers???’ and ‘No!!!’ and ‘Psycho’ and ‘Queen Bee’ and ‘Royal Arms’. Oh he was fit, he remembered him. But George reversed and scrolled back up and let his thumb hover over ‘Hotbox’, the DI’s personal mobile (not to be confused with his work mobile listed very clearly as ‘DI Ronnie Box’), and after a moment’s hesitation sent a message.