Page 59

Charlotte was asleep on a cot at the end of the bed. I could just see her hair and the bottom of the cot. Kevin and hisgirlfriend were also there, in chairs along the wall, their heads resting against one another. Kevin was snoring. I’d heard that snore all too often in the last fifteen or so years. It was like a wet chainsaw.

Cool air touched my fingertips, and I realized I wasn’t as tucked tightly in as I thought I had been. Wiggling my fingers until my hand came loose, I was able to pull it out completely and reach over to the other side, freeing my other arm. A remote device hung just over my shoulder, and I touched it, pulling it so I could see it. A button to make the back lift up into a seated position was at the top, and I touched it.

Silently, the bed shifted, and I had to stop. The pain was immense. But I wanted to sit up. I wanted to be awake. I’d been asleep for so long. I felt like I’d been asleep for a decade.

I pushed the button again and let it slowly bring me to a seated position, gritting my teeth through the pain and hoping I didn’t catch any wires or tubes in the folding mattress. When I was sufficiently sitting up, I glanced around the room again. Everyone was asleep, despite the dim daylight outside. It must have been another long day for them.

A notepad was sitting on the table beside me, and I grabbed it and the pen on top. Then I took the drink and sipped down the water until there was nothing left. It was the greatest thing I’d ever tasted in my life. Simple water.

I opened the notepad, an idea forming in my mind. A snippet of the dream was still bouncing around in my head. A song lyric that wouldn’t go away. A hook to go with it. I had to write it down.

The notepad was one of Charlotte’s, and I flipped to an empty page. Carefully, I took the pen and made the first mark on the paper, the excruciating pain becoming more manageable the longer I used it. It took everything out of me, but I got the lyricdown, and then a few more to go with it. A verse and a chorus. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something. Something productive.

Content that the song of my dream had been given the breath of life by being written down, as if my guitar was a golem, just waiting for sheet music to bring it to life, I laid back in the chair and pushed the button to lie back down again. I didn’t go all the way down, though. Just most of the way. I still wanted to be a little bit upright.

Slowly, I drifted back to sleep, though this time no dreams came to me. No houses or concerts or Thanksgiving dinners filled my mind’s eye. Just darkness and the passage of time. When I awoke, it was morning yet again. The bright sunshine coming through the folds of the curtain were blindingly bright. I shifted in my seat to see Charlotte, across the room. She had the notepad in her hand and was reading something.

I knew what she was reading.

I smiled.

She put the notepad down and looked up at me, seeing me awake for the first time. She smiled back at me. Standing and crossing over, she bent down and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

“Good morning,” she said. “I’m so glad to have you back.”

“I’m glad you came back too,” I said.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Charlotte

Jesse was back to sleep, having been given another dose of pain meds, as most of us settled in for lunch. Logan brought in food from the station, which mostly consisted of various styles of wings, but at least it was something, and they were cooked well. Normally, I wasn’t one for wings, but Logan was pretty darn good as the firehouse cook, so I managed.

Tamara arrived not long after Logan left and pulled me aside as I finished up my wings.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Mom just called,” she said. “Someone is apparently there to see you.”

“Oh God, it’s not Graham, is it? He didn’t change his mind, did he?”

Tamara shrugged. “I don’t know. But Mom sounded weird. I think we should both head over there and find out what’s happening.”

I looked back to Jesse and grimaced. I didn’t want to leave him.

“How long has he been out this time?” Tamara asked.

“Not long,” I said. “But Amber said that he will be out for a while. Probably a couple of hours. I don’t want to leave him, but I don’t like how you said Mom sounded.”

“It could be nothing,” Tamara said. “It might be some salesperson or something. You know Mom; she just lets anyone in to talk. As long as they will eat her food, she will talk to anyone.”

“Yeah, well, we need to work on that. The world is a bit more dangerous than Mom likes to believe it is.”

“So you want to head out now?”

“Let me tell Collin.”

“Wait, Collin’s here?”