Page 29 of Keep On Loving You

He pressed two fingers to his mouth before lightly touching them to Kat’s lips.

“Andy?” Her eyelids fluttered a little. “Is that you?”

“It’s me.” He reached for her good hand and squeezed a little. A dopey, drugged smile crossed her lips as she finallyopened her eyes to look at him. Whatever Charli had given her was strong. “I’m here.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“You don’t need to thank me.” He spoke softly. “Go to sleep, and you’ll feel a lot better in the morning.”

“Will you be here when I wake up?”

He didn’t want to lie to her, because the truth was that it would be better for both of them if he left and found somewhere else to spend the night.

“Don’t think about me, Kat,” he said instead. “Just get some sleep now.” She closed her eyes, so he slid his hand out from under hers and took a step back. But her voice stopped him.

“I do think about you, Andy.”

His gaze searched her face, but her eyes were still closed.

“I think about you a lot.” Her words were slurred, only barely comprehensible. “A lot, a lot.”

“Ssh, Kat. You’re just?—”

“I love you, Andy.”

He froze.

She’s medicated,he reminded himself.

“I love Charli, too,” Kat continued. “And Craig and Asher, even though he can be…” She lifted her hand a little and dropped it again. “And Chase,” she added after a moment. “And you.”

Right.

“You’re on some pretty good drugs.” He grinned. “Go to sleep, Kat. I’ll see you…I’ll see you soon.”

He waited a few more minutes until her breathingevened out, signaling she was asleep, before he slipped from her room. He was in the guest room, packing up his overnight bag, still unsure where he should go, when the text from Charli came in with her friend’s number.

Charli: Call her!

It felt like a sign, and not just because he needed a place to stay. Maybe it was time he grew up and moved on. He was too old to play thesehappy for nowgames. Especially with Kat, when there could never be a future with her.

He finished packing up his bag and was about to slip out the front door when another text message from Charli came through.

Charli: I’m glad you’re there with her, Andy. It’s good that she has family to take care of her.

Family.

Right.

It was another reminder that Charli and the rest of the Carlson clan—with the very notable exception of Kat—thought of him as family. And that was important.Reallyimportant.

He locked up and shut the lights off in the kitchen and the living room before once more heading up the steps to the guest room. He glanced at Kat’s bedroom door but resisted the urge to poke his head inside, lest he be unable to walk away again.

Instead, he dropped his bag on the floor, flopped down on the guest bed, and picked up his phone to call Charli’s friend.

She answered on the first ring.

Chapter Twelve

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