Page 67 of Never Alone
"With your clothes on, Cole. Just get up here."
A long pause.
The sleeping bag rustled.
He stood, came around to his side of the bed, and sat on the edge. He took off his shoes, set them beside the bed, then lay back on top of the comforter.
He was perfectly still.
I rolled back to my own side.
He was warm. I could feel it through the comforter, the kind of warmth that came off a man who had run hot all his life.
"Cole."
"Yeah?"
"You can breathe."
"I am breathing."
"You can breathe at a volume above mouse."
He let out a breath. Long. Audible.
A beat.
"I'll pick up a pullout this week."
"A pullout?"
"A pullout couch. Folds down. Goes in the corner during the day. Sets up at night. The room reads the way it has to for the GAL. I get a bed."
A beat.
"That works."
"Goodnight, Tessa."
"Goodnight, Cole."
I closed my eyes for the second time that night. He was an arm's length from me, on top of the covers, fully dressed, and the day finally let go of me in a way it hadn't all day.
I fell asleep before I'd told myself I could.
CHAPTER 14
Cole
I woke up at 5:14, the way I always did before a shift.
Tessa had drifted toward me in the night. Her face was a foot from mine. Her hand was on the comforter, palm up, four inches from my shoulder, fingers curled the way a person's fingers curled when they had reached for something and stopped.
I lay still and gave myself one minute to look at her. She was beautiful in the way she was beautiful when no one was looking. The small line that lived between her brows during the day was gone. The corners of her mouth had given up the tightness they held when she was awake.
The minute ran out. I got up slowly, picked my shoes up by the laces, carried them down the hall, and put them on at the kitchen table. I went to work.
I bought the pullout after my shift.
