Page 144 of Never Stop

My brows arched. “All of it.”

“No, I mean if you could have one relief, what would you want it to be?”

“My feet. It’s annoying as fuck.”

“Okay. Come sit down, and I’ll figure something out.” Easton gestured for me to sit in my usual spot on the couch.

“How?” I asked.

“I just will. Sit down, okay?”

I nodded and sat. My pacing hour was almost up anyway. Easton returned a few minutes later with a Styrofoam ice chest.

“What’s that for?”

“Your feet,” he said and put the box down on the floor by me.

“My feet?”

“There’s warm water in it. Let’s see if it works.”

I sat up and placed my feet into the water. It instantly soothed my freezing feet. “Thank you.”

He stood and kissed the top of my head. “Let me know when it gets cold, and I’ll refill it.”

I tossed.

I turned.

I stood and walked.

Back and forth…

Back and forth…

“It’s never going to end.”

Easton looked over from his phone. “It will.”

“It’s been nine days. It’s never going to end.

“It will end. I promise. Come lie back down.”

“Will you rub my head?”

He smiled. “Of course.”

I lay in bed, my head on his chest as his fingers ran along my scalp. I was still in pain, but it wasn’t like when I first came home from the hospital. I wasn’t certain if I should be off pain medication. I knew I wasn’t going to start them again because the hell I was living in wasn’t worth it.

Before I knew it, I was asleep in my husband’s arms.

“Are you feeling better today?” Easton asked.

I looked up at him from the couch. “Yeah.”

“See? Told you. You just had to give it time to get out of your system.”

“I guess,” I agreed. I was still weak, tired, anxious, but it was subsiding.

“Want to go for a walk?”

“A walk?” I questioned.

“I read that it might help.”

I didn’t feel like taking a walk. I wanted to lie in my divot on the couch.

“Come on. Fresh air will be good for you.”

In the last two months, I hadn’t been out of the house except for a handful of times. When I stepped foot out the door, it was like stepping into heaven. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and I knew I had survived.