Right Here, Waiting

Chapter Eight

March 20th, 2022

Liliana woke up to the smell of toast wafting from the kitchen, and as she peeled her eyes open in the bright space of Taron's bedroom, she could just about make out his figure stepping through the door, a tray balanced in his hands and a smile plastered on his face.

It wasn't the first time she had woken up in his bed, but each time he walked into the room and saw her wrapped up in his sheets, he could barely contain the excitement bubbling in his belly. He knew that under the covers, she was still naked from the night before when they had made love over and over, only falling asleep when dawn had started to break.

He himself had only pulled his boxers over his legs so that he could go make breakfast without anybody in the flats across the street seeing his naked form. Lazy Sunday mornings in bed were quickly becoming a ritual that Liliana treasured.

Liliana reciprocated his smile, and slowly sat herself up in bed. A yawn escaped her but she only let one eye fall closed again. She wanted to watch Taron as he made his way to the bed and expertly pulled the legs of the tray down so that he could set it on the bed in front of her.

The tray was full. Taron had stacked six slices of toast on one plate for them to share. There were two mugs of tea filled to the brim, a smaller one for Taron and a larger one for Liliana. Her eyes widened in excitement at the sight.

On the smaller plates he'd put on the tray too was a pile of packets of butter, jam, nutella, honey and marmalade that Taron had taken from the last hotel he'd stayed at. He always insisted that he could need one at any given time, and they were helpful to have in the campervan.

'Easier than taking big packs with me every time I want to go somewhere,' he'd insisted whenever anybody asked him why he had so many.

'This is a new tray,' Liliana said as she ran her finger over the light wood finish. The old one had polystyrene balls at the base and wobbled everytime they moved an inch. The new one sat more sturdy and she didn't have to hold onto it whenever she needed to shift herself to get comfortable.

Taron nodded as he climbed back into the bed beside her. 'I bought a new one to make it easier for things like this. That other one was bothering me. I couldn't so much as turn to kiss you without food going everywhere.'

'You bought a new tray just so you could have breakfast in bed?' Liliana asked as she reached forward for her mug of tea. Since she'd started to stay the night at Taron's a couple of weeks before, she'd gravitated to one mug in the cupboard, and he'd quickly donned it hers.

'No, I bought a new tray so that I could make you breakfast in bed whenever you stay here overnight,' he corrected her with a smile.

Liliana shuffled over so that she could rest her head in the crook of his armpit, and Taron leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. They fell into a short silence as Taron shifted the tray so that he could let it go and it wouldn't topple over while pulling the duvet over his legs, covering his bed and the toast he'd made with tea.

'It's not much today,' Taron said apologetically as he plated three slices of toast for Liliana, offering her the butter, 'I need to go food shopping. I've barely got time with being at the theatre as much as I am. And when I'm not at the theatre, I'm with you.'

'I'm sorry,' Liliana mumbled as she grabbed a couple of Nutella packets and the one random Biscoff packet he'd brought out. 'I take up all of your free time.'

Taron dropped the slice of toast he was about to butter and twisted his body so he could cup Liliana's cheeks in his hands. Her cheeks were warm against his hands, and her eyes fell closed for a millisecond.