Page 96 of Make it Real
I’d already been sleeping poorly, but tonight, I had zero expectations.
“Then let’s get ready for bed.”
She locked the front door and turned out the lights. Then, she took my hand and led me into my bedroom, my brain spinning like a computer that’d frozen up. At my bedside, I tugged on her hand to stop her.
“Callie? What are we doing?”
“We’re going to sleep. You’ve had a rough day.” She pulled her lower lip into her mouth, worrying it. “I won’t stay if you don’t want me to—”
“I want you to.” I never would have asked, but given that she’d offered? I could have fallen to my knees in gratitude.
“Then I will. Do you have something I can sleep in?”
I grabbed the first thing I saw in my T-shirt stash in my dresser and handed it over, still a little dumbfounded by this impromptu sleepover.
“I’ll just get ready,” she said, and slipped into the bathroom.
She came out a minute later wearing my shirt and not much else. I kept my gaze eye-level as we traded places, and I got busy brushing my teeth, trying to settle my unruly thoughts. When I came out again, she sat under the covers in the middle of my bed, the red sriracha sauce shirt billowy on her. She looked perfect and cozy and at home, and the moment felt significant. Monumental.
I prayed my brain was functioning at a high enough level to file this memory away.
Careful not to touch her—or stare too hard at her—I climbed in next to her. She slipped lower into the bed, stirring up her citrus scent. I snapped off the lamp, willing myself to not ruin this whole moment by doing something stupid.
She curled up against me, one hand resting on my chest, her legs tangling with mine. “Is this okay?”
“Better than okay.”
This…this just might wreck me. Sleeping in my bed, Callie’s perfume everywhere, her wearing my clothes. She’d knocked me out, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back up again.
We laid together in the dark, breathing in time with each other. The weight of the day found me again, flattening me out, but I held her close. Like she’d become my talisman, my defender, and could keep those thoughts at bay.
As I drifted toward sleep, she whispered against my chest.
“You don’t have to be alone.”
THIRTY-FOUR
jed
Piecesof the night before came to me before I fully awoke. The hospital, my pop, the crush of fear. My arms tightened instinctively around Callie, and I remembered the rest. Her sitting with me, bringing me home, feeding me. Taking care of me.
My head felt clearer in the morning light. Wasn’t saying a lot, considering the daze I’d been in last night. I’d always been pretty good in an emergency in the Army, but I guess that didn’t apply when it came to my pop. Panic had dug its claws right in, driving out my usual calm.
Callie sighed in her sleep and rolled over, her face a breath from mine. That I’d slept the night through past seven a.m. was a testament to her good heart. If I’d been alone, I suspect I would have lain awake all night letting grim thoughts gnaw at me in the darkness. Instead, she’d held me close and given me her peace. She was sweet and soft and wonderful, and I most definitely did not deserve her.
My phone rang on my nightstand, jolting me out of the last tendrils of sleep. I pulled away from Callie, but my heart beat a frantic pace when I saw the name on the display. I sat up, swallowing down my fears. “June?”
“Hey. Everything’s fine, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Oh, thank God.
Callie had woken, and she sat up, too, her eyes round as she watched me.
“It’s okay,” I said to both of them. Callie visibly relaxed, her shoulders easing back down, and her hand slipped into my free one.
“I’m headed over to see Pop, and I thought you might need a ride. Figured your truck was still over at the farm.”
“That sounds good, thanks.”
