Page 47 of Breathless
Rawlins shook his head. “I see your point.”
“I’ve let my guard down. I got so wrapped up in volunteering at The Village that I forgot all about the trial. My nightmare is a clear reminder that I can’t ever forget what I went through.”
“I don’t think you have. You just focused your attention on better things than the bad,” he pointed out. “Do you think you can get some sleep now?”
“No. I’m a sweaty mess. I have to go shower and change before I can even think of falling back to sleep,” Chaney explained as she crawled out of bed.
“I’ll wait for you then. I want to make sure you can get back to sleep without having another nightmare once you close your eyes,” he said.
“Thank you. I won’t be long,” Chaney said. She hurried into her bathroom and took a quick shower, washing vigorously under her arms where she felt she’d perspired the most. Getting out, she dried off before stepping into her connecting closet and snagging a clean night gown because all her PJs were dirty. She slipped it and the lightweight matching robe on, tying the belt at the waist before returning.
The overhead light was off, and the bedside lamp was on when she came out. Rawlins was sitting with his back to the head of the bed on the opposite side where she slept and she noticed he’d changed the bedsheets.
“Were they that damp?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Thank you again,” she said and spotted a small glass of water on the bedside table. “For me?”
“I thought you might could use a drink.”
Her heart melted at the gesture. He really had taken such good care of her since coming here and this proved to her that he was going to make one heck of a husband and father one day. His mother had trained him up well.
She drank all the water, not realizing she had been that thirsty before getting back in bed, leaving the robe on. She reached for the light and tapped lightly to turn it to low beam leaving the room in a soft light then scooted down in bed.
“I’ll stay until you fall asleep,” Rawlins said.
“If you feel you need to,” she said, pleased that he wanted to do that, contemplating whether she should milk it for what it was worth to get him to snuggle up to her. But she decided against it.
Instead, she turned to her side and closed her eyes, testing the waters to see if she immediately had flashbacks of her nightmare episode. When it seemed like she was going to be okay, she relaxed and began to drift off to sleep.
Rawlins watched over her until he felt his eyes growing tired and knew he needed to return to his own bed. He inched his way off and left the room, leaving the lamp burning low. He had just laid back down in his own bed when he heard whimpering cries, and he went back down the hall to Chaney’s room to find her asleep. He lay down beside her and waited to see if she cried out again but fell asleep before he did.
Chaney was surprisedto find Rawlins sleeping beside her the next morning. She’d thought he’d said he was only going to stay until she fell asleep, but had he fallen asleep before she had?
She slipped out of bed and was dressed by the time he woke, looking embarrassed to be found there.
“Sorry, I left, but you were whimpering, so I came back.”
“Like a puppy or something?” she asked.
“Like cries,” he said.
“But once you returned you didn’t hear it again?” she asked.
“No. I must have fallen asleep.”
“Obviously.”
“Again, sorry.”
“No need to apologize. Maybe I needed to feel the presence of another human in the room with me while I slept,” she said. “You definitely have gone above and beyond the call of your duties last night.”
“I’ll hurry and get ready to go. Don’t you have an interview this morning?”
“I do. With job services. It’s that agency that Hank recommended to help find me a job that best fits my skill set,” she said.
“I bet they’ll make you take a personality test where they ask you the same question ten different ways throughout the questionnaire. I hate those,” Rawlins said. “They make you feel like you are under a microscope.”
