For a long, lingering moment, Slide did not understand what he was asking or even what the joke was. It clicked when they both smiled at each other, the way humans often smile when a dog does a stupid trick.
“Oh,” he said, the words falling out of his mouth like stones. “Yes, yes, of course. I would love to.”
Cannon pulled him in for an embrace. It was tight and warm. Slide closed his eyes as the doctor placed a bandage and ointment on his neck. Cannon pulled away, booming with laughter.
“Now, let’s find you a bed, big boy.”
Cannon took Slide to a hotel across the street from the hospital. He kept asking Cannon if he had heard anything about Ember’s surgery, but Cannon kept reassuring him she was going to be okay.
Slide wanted to trust him, but he had just met him. He told himself tha
