Page 93 of Midnight

The line went dead. Nora flung the phone onto the couch and ran.

Asher had just come out of the alley and headed for her house when he saw her porch light come on.

He started running.

Nora swung the door wide as he came up the steps, and then she was in his arms. He kicked the door shut, turned the lock, then started down the hall, carrying her in his arms.

The covers of her bed were all jumbled from her hasty exit, but sleep wasn’t on their minds.

“Naked,” Asher whispered, and began taking off his boots and then his clothes, as Nora stripped down to bare skin.

“On the bed,” he said, and followed her as she lay down, then he buried his face against the curve of her neck and held her. “Love you, Nora, with every beat of my heart.”

And before she could answer he was kissing her, and then inside her, and nothing else mattered but that mad chase to ecstasy.

* * *

They fell asleep together, and made love again before daylight, and were basking in the aftershocks, when Nora delivered her news.

“I sold the house yesterday to Sonny and Maggie Bluejacket. They bought it furnishings and all for their foreman and his new bride.”

Asher’s eyes narrowed as he ran his finger down the side of her face. “Good for you, and we just gave it a really good send-off. But does that mean you’re leaving town now?”

She hugged him tighter. “Yes, and I’m already trying to wrap my head around the distance between us once again.”

He raised up on one elbow, smoothing away the sleepy tangles off her forehead.

“Darlin’, that’s just temporary. As soon as we get Dad home, which is either today or tomorrow, the only thing I have left to do is organize home healthcare for him until he’s completely healed. We’re not staying, either. I’ll fly in and drive you back to Austin with your things.”

“We’ll figure all that out after we’re both back in our homes. All I need is a place to hang my clothes and a room for an office and I’m in business.”

“What about your furniture? Your special things?”

Her eyes welled. “I just sold my special things to Sonny Bluejacket.”

He brushed a kiss across her lips. “Then we’ll make other special things, and they will be ours,” he said. “We’ll be going to Amarillo sometime today. We all need to tell Dad in person about Mom and the money, and why he was shot. It’s going to be a jolt. Not sure how he’s going to take it.”

“And I have to clean out the food in the refrigerator, then pack. Let this be our goodbye until Austin. I can’t keep saying goodbye. I need the next time to be welcome home,” Nora said.

“Then it will be. Promise to call me when you get there, so I’ll know you arrived safely,” he said.

“I will. You’re flying home in the chopper, right?” she said.

“Yes, and I’ll let you know the moment we land. Once we’re sleeping under the same roof every night, is when the rest of our lives begins. Stay under the covers where it’s warm. I’ll turn the lock before I let myself out.”

She nodded, too overwhelmed to say more, and watched him dressing, then blowing her a kiss as he walked out the door. She closed her eyes, following the sound of his footsteps, until she heard the door open and close, and wished she could just will herself home, without the long hours of driving to get there.

She heard the SUV start, and then heard him driving away.

Until we meet again.

Then she got up, stripped the sheets and put them in to wash so that everything would be clean and fresh when Chris and Ellen moved in.

She made coffee one last time. Ate a bowl of cereal, using the last of the milk, then washed the dishes by hand, dried them, and put them up in the cupboard.

After emptying all of the food in the refrigerator, and dumping it into the garbage bin, Nora pulled it to the curb, then ran back in out of the cold.

The washer had stopped, so she put the wet sheets in the dryer and went to finish packing. By the time the dryer went off, she had everything she intended to take with her loaded up in the back of her car.