Whisky Business

by Elliot Fletcher

“Blushing . . . after every filthy thing that’s happened between us.”

“You’re beautiful.”

“So beautiful it’s hard to look at you sometimes.”

“I want you to look at me. I never want your eyes anywhere else.”

“Have I told you how beautiful you are?” he said. “Not today.” “That’s careless of me.”

“You are so beautiful.”

“When I first saw you that night in the manor . . . you took my breath away.” “You ...

“I need you to touch me—I think best when you touch me.”

“Be fair! How can I possibly be annoyed when you say stuff like that?”

“Just let me finish . . . there’s a cosmic

difference between being tempted by sex to scratch an itch and what we have. I literally couldn’t stay away from you, April, even in my sleep I couldn’t stay away. You’ve possessed my every thought for weeks.”

“You can’t stay away, or you don’t want to?” “Both. Jesus, both. It’s always been both.”

“You are the only person to ever make me want to step outside my comfort zone. For you, I want to run from it.”

“Good. You didn’t answer about lunch with your family.”

“We have other plans.”

“Do these plans include me sitting on your face, because I’m so down for that.”

“Princess, having those sweet thighs around my ears is always on the agenda.”

Like me, I thought. Like me before you, princess. That was the moment I allowed myself to admit I was in love with her.

A part of me had loved her since I was fourteen years old.

It was more intense than anything I’d ever experienced in my life, and when I came, a tear rolled down my cheek and fell to the ground, like a wish to the land that I might somehow get to keep her.

As humans, we demanded a beginning and end to make sense of the world around us. But for this, there would be an after, but no end. My love for her was as boundless as the mountain we lay upon. When she left me, my love would remain, burning just as fiercely as it did now.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.

love him. The feeling was so big, I was scared it would come out carelessly, like spilled milk pooling across a counter.

And through it all, I obsessed over the script. I’d read it cover to cover. Twice. It was good. So good that if she got the part, I’d put her on the goddamned ferry myself and strap my heart in beside her.

If my love for this woman had taught me anything, it was the lengths I’d go to keep her happy.

“If you want her to stay, you have to tell her. You have to fight for something eventually, Mal.”

She’d defended me is what she’d done. I never realized how much I needed someone to do that before.

Perhaps I couldn’t give her a reason to stay, but you could be damn sure I’d offer her a home to come back to.

“You love me, or you’re in love with me?”

Are you in love with me?”

“Desperately.”

“You need to leave and I won’t ever try to hold you back. But how about this . . . when you go, what if I just keep on loving you. For the rest of my life. Would that be okay?”

“I get that this isn’t the most healthy declaration of love,” he continued, “but you literally brought me back to life and made me believe in myself like no one else ever has. I wanted to give you something in return. I wanted you to know you’ll always have a

place in the world where someone adores you, a place where someone is wondering where you are and if you’re okay. A place where you’ll be safe if you ever feel like coming back. A home.”

“I leave sometimes . . . only when I have to. But I always, always come back to you.”

“Yes . . . you read the email. I’m needed in London for three days, just enough time to do some chemistry reads. Then I’m coming straight back to you. Acting is my job, but this is my home, Mal, like you said. This place, but more importantly you. I’ve never felt so at peace, so myself, as I do here with you. I love my job, but I’m never going to let it consume my entire life again.”

“You were always coming back?”

“Of course. I love you too,” I cried. “We lost so much time, Mal, I never want to be apart again.”

“Mal, does this mean I can have my underwear back?”

“Oh, princess, that’s never going to happen.”

‘You know tomorrow doesn’t matter, right?’

‘Not in the grand scheme of things. It’s just another day.’ Her sweet voice was a soothing balm. ‘It’s all the days to come, the days we’ll share together, that matter. And I will love you for every single one of them.

No imagined bad luck will ever keep me from you, Mal.’

‘When you make yourself come tonight, imagine me whispering “husband” in your ear.’

‘The wedding and pageantry can be for everyone else . . . but this part is just for us. I knew you’d feel less anxious this way.’ A hand swept into my hair, the other curling below the fly plaid that engulfed me. ‘How are you so perfect?’ ‘Because I’m yours,’ I said simply.

‘I love you . . . I love you so much. I don’t think I’ll ever have adequate words.’

‘You don’t need the words. Not when I...