Page 26 of Stay With Me
Her sweet, sultry voice always puts me in a better mood.
Swallowing hard, I open my eyes and see her crawling under the door.
“Tripp, what happened?” She kneels in front of me and grabs my hand, worry lines forming across her forehead. “You’re shaking.”
“It’ll pass,” I say roughly. “Just need…a minute.”
Her palm flattens against my half-open shirt. “Your heart is racin’. Take some deep breaths and focus on my voice.”
I nod, slowly filling my lungs.
“You’re clammy.” Her hand moves to my cheek before she wraps her fingers around mine. “What do you need? Water? Fresh air?”
A time machine.
Her hand to never leave mine.
A world in which I’m allowed to touch her.
“Tell me a stupid joke or a story,” I murmur.
“For real?”
“Distract me. Say anything.”
“Okay. Um…Old Man Terry stopped by for a coffee this mornin’ and as he was walkin’ away, he dropped something, so when he bent down to grab it, I saw his whole ass. Worse than plumber’s crack. Looked like Sasquatch. I nearly threw up my breakfast.”
I cough out a laugh. “Who hasn’t seen his ass at this point? I swear, the man doesn’t own a belt.”
“Or underwear.”
I dig my nails into my palm while focusing on her brown eyes. She’s so close and yet not close enough. “What else ya got?”
“Hold on, lemme think.”
My gaze moves to her lower lip when she bites it.
“To no one’s surprise, Wilder’s out there makin’ a whole ass of himself in front of Shannon. Flirtin’ so damn hard and completely blind to the fact Shannon’s not onlyuninterested, but she’s dating a woman.”
Now that does make me laugh because that sounds just like him.Oblivious.
“She’s tryin’ to be professional and polite, but I can tell she’s about to tell him the truth and break his poor heart.”
“Poor heart?” I scoff, feeling some relief in my chest, the weight of an elephant releasing. “He’ll forget her name by the time he leaves the parking lot.”
“That’s probably true.” She chuckles and studies me. “You’re startin’ to look better.”
I lean my head back with my eyes closed, embarrassmentflooding in that Magnolia is witnessing this. “Thanks for distractin’ me through the worst of it.”
“Happy I could help. Does this happen a lot?” she asks softly.
Little does she know, she’s calmed me several times throughout the years. I’d feel one coming on during a family event or when we’d go out to the bar, and the moment I’d find her, a wave of calmness would surface.
“It hasn’t in a while. Right after Billy…yeah. But stayin’ busy helped. Kinda annoyin’ it still affects me after all these years.”
When she grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers, my eyes whip open.
“Grief doesn’t have a time limit, Tripp. Some days it can feel like it was forever ago and at the same time, like it was only yesterday. Did being here trigger something?”
