Page 54 of Hit the Ground
“I want to,” I hurried. “I’d like it a lot.”
Picking up the book, I settled against the headboard and flipped to where I’d left off the night before. Alice was quiet, but I heard her soft breathing in my ear, waiting for me to get started.
So I did.
I read to her for a long time, past when I usually turned off the lights. The book was good—compelling even—but it was the little noises she made that kept me going. She’d read these words on her own dozens of times, but she reacted like it was the first. Gasps and hums pushed me to turn the page again and again, just to hear more.
When Alice yawned, I finally put my bookmark in the crack.
“Tired, Allie?”
“Mmmhmm. You must be too. Don’t you wake up at the crack of dawn?”
My mouth hitched. “I do, and I am. But it seems you’ve got me hooked.”
I could almost hear her smile. “I told you you’d love this story.”
“Yeah, the story…” I replaced the book on my nightstand and rubbed the grit out of my eyes. “Same time tomorrow night?”
“I can’t possibly turn that down.”
“Good. I’ll talk to you then. Night, Allie.”
“Good night, Caleb.”
We had a repeat the following few nights. Spent time talking about our days, then I read to her.
I didn’t dread picking up the phone to call her. It was kind of funny how quickly it became part of my nighttime ritual. A month ago, cracking open a book wasn’t even on my radar. Now,I looked forward to diving into the story with Alice on the other end of the line.
“I’m gonna need book two pretty soon,” I said.
“I’ll save it for you behind the desk,” she replied. “Will you want to read that one to me as well?”
“Probably.” I slid my hand over the protective plastic covering the book in my lap. “Maybe this is why I never got into reading. I needed a captive audience to read to.”
She laughed. “You know, that could be it. Personally, I love being quiet with a book, but I can see how some people aren’t meant for that. Some aren’t solitary creatures.”
“You think you’re a solitary creature?”
“I’m happy in my own company. I spend most of my days around a lot of people, so I enjoy having time to just be quiet.”
“I get that.” It brought up a few questions, but only one was safe to ask. “Do you think you’ll go back to work at Joy’s?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, genuinely puzzled.
“I don’t know…you’ve got a broken wrist. The last thing you need to deal with is drunk assholes in a bar.”
“Fortunately for me, Joy’s doesn’t attract too many of that kind. And when customers get out of line, Joy nips it in the bud pretty quickly. If she’d let me, I’d be back at work now. She’s making me wait until next week.”
I sat up straight, my brows rising. “Next week? You still have a cast. That’s too soon.”
“I’ll be fine. You know Joy. She’ll make sure of it.”
That didn’t reassure me like it should have. Joy was tough as nails. She’d do right by Alice. Still, I didn’t like the idea of her waitressing. Not when she was hurt—and not after what she’d been through.
“If it’s about money, I—”
She cut me off in a hurry. “Believe me, money isn’t a problem. Ilikeworking at Joy’s. If not for that job, I’d spendtoomuch timeon my own. It would be easy for me to become a shut-in.” Her voice gentled. “I appreciate your concern, Caleb. Really, I do. But I promise I’ll be okay.”
