We had two whirlwind days to learn all we could about each other and I drank up everything he shared, everything he gave me, everything he let me hold and touch and see about himself. I felt like a parched man who had been crawling through a desert and had finally stumbled upon an oasis, where I could never get enough, never fill up completely. I knew he would never let me thirst again. Tommy was the first thing on my mind when I woke in the morning, the last thought before I fell asleep, and in every precious moment in between.
When the bugle sounded reveille, I woke up beside him, kissed him awake, murmured that I’d be back and to keep the bed warm for me. Then I slipped out from between the heated sheets and he rolled over, watched me dress in the scant morning light, rubbing the slee
