Page 132 of Never Alone
"I was scared it would do something to him. To see you with the bruises."
Cole nodded. Small. He was watching me.
"Jamie said he's been at the window for an hour."
The almost-smile came back. Different this time.
"Yeah."
"He's been asking for you."
"Bring him."
"Cole."
"Bring him. Let him see I'm here. Let him see I'm fine."
"You're not fine."
"He needs to see I'm here, Tessa. He needs to see I didn't go anywhere."
I closed my eyes for a beat.
Of course, he needed that. Of course, Cole had thought of that. Of course, the man in the bed with the kidney they were watching had thought, before he had finished waking up, of what a nine-year-old boy at a window needed to be able to sleep tonight.
"Okay."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'll call Jamie."
"Good."
I leaned forward. I put my forehead against the back of his hand for a second. I straightened. I wiped under my eyes with the heel of my other hand.
He was watching me.
"Tessa."
His voice was thin again. The drift was coming back. The painkillers were pulling him.
"Yeah."
"Stay."
His eyes had closed.
"I will."
His hand was loose in mine.
I sat with him.
I meant the room.
I meant tonight. The chair beside the bed, the lights staying on, the hand staying in mine.
I didn't let myself mean anything else.
