Krem laughed and smiled, at the playful, teasing kick of sand even, and when Thomas took his hand he laced their fingers together happily. This was good. Better than he would have expected for himself a year ago, two, more than that. He'd never expected to find some sort of peaceable happiness like this with someone else. To be in love was remarkable.

It was late enough that even though the city still made plenty of noise, they were quieter than the daytime ones. They walked quietly for a while.

After a time, Krem softly said, "I'm having a surgery soon. Near the start of August."