Excerpt Day: Southern Comfort by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Southern Comfort by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox
Release Date: June 6, 2009
Publisher: Torquere Books
Publisher Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2005

Blurb: When Sully gets a call from Denny while he's at work, he figures it has to be something serious. And when it turns out that Sully's mother has fallen ill, Sully tries hard not to panic. Through the fast trip to get to the hospital, all the waiting and all the tests, Denny is there for Sully, offering up the kind of comfort only Denny can give. Will it be enough to see them through?

Excerpt:

Denny got Sully by the arm and pointed toward a chair. "Ain't room for three people right there," he murmured. Savvy was giving Daddy a hug before talking to Mama. "You sit down and drink your coffee. I got something for your head if you need it." He put the coffees down on the little table between the chairs and the bed. "I didn't come all this way to watch you make yourself sick."

Sully folded himself down into the chair and looked up at Denny. His Denny. "Come sit with me?" he invited, holding his hand out to Denny. If they'd been at home, Sully would've pulled Denny down into his lap and held on. Here, he couldn't even touch.

Denny looked like a man going to his execution, he was so pale and taut, but he just hung his cane over the back of Sully's chair and said, quietly, "Everything's gonna be fine." He took Sully's hand in one of his and then sat down on the arm of Sully's chair, petting Sully's hair back from his face. His expression softened a little as he looked at Sully, and then more, until Sully could see how much Denny loved him written there. "If your mama's heart's anything as strong as yours, she's gonna be fine," he whispered. "Promise, Sully."

Oh, God. Sully'd needed to see that, to hear it, since he'd come home from the track today. He hadn't dared hope for it, though. Just Denny coming with him today was more than he'd had any right to expect.

He held onto Denny's hand, just breathing real slow, and then reached up with his other hand to touch Denny's jaw with his fingertips. "You just keep on tellin' me that, okay?"

"I will." Denny looked over his shoulder, at Daddy leaning down to kiss Mama on the forehead, watching as Daddy smoothed her hair back and fussed with her blankets a little. "I know that look," he said quietly, turning back to Sully. "Seen it on your face last time I was in the hospital." He squeezed Sully's hand. "I was fine. Your mama's gonna be fine, too."

She had to be.

Forgetting himself for a moment, Sully brought Denny's hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to it. He rested his cheek against their joined hands and watched Daddy and Savvy huddled around Mama's bed.