She frowns. “Um… I’m at your house?”
“What city?”
“Tw… Twin Cedar, um, Pass,” she stammers but looks like she’s fully coming back to herself, which leads to an embarrassed groan. “Crap. I’m so sorry you saw that.”
A somewhat hysterical laugh falls from my lips, and I gather her into a tight embrace. “You really need to stop apologizing when you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I know, it’s just… I bet it’s awful to see,” she mumbles against my shoulder.
“How often do you have nightmares?” I ask, rubbing soothing circles on her back.
In a small voice, she utters, “Every night.”
“Seriously?” I blurt, rocking her gently side to side. “You said you got them, but not that they happened every night.”
She sniffs, her face pressed against my shoulder, and I feel her words against my skin as she murmurs, “Saturday night-- when you all stayed over-- it was the first night in years I slept... peacefully, I guess is the best word for it, through the night. At least you woke me up. The real bad nights are when I don’t, and I’m stuck.”
A violent shiver runs through her, and her fresh tears drip down my chest.
“Do you…” I hesitate.Shit, this is probably a bad idea. “Um, do you want to stay here for the night-- with me? That way I can wake you up if you’re having another nightmare.”
She nods, and I release a pent-up breath.
“Why don’t you text your aunt that you’re staying here, while I set up something on the TV for Felix when he shows up?” I suggest, really praying this doesn’t bite me in the ass.
She nods again, pulling away to wipe at her eyes. “Right, yeah,” she sniffs again, her voice thick. “Thank you.”
“No problem. One of us. Your shit is our shit. Yadda yadda yadda,” I reply, badly quoting Donovan and offering up a smile that feels forced on my face, but hopefully makes her feel better. “What do you think Felix would like to marathon?”
Callie gets up to dig through her backpack that’s next to the kitchenette table. Distractedly, she mentions, “A few years ago, I was in the hospital a lot. There was a show I liked to watch… Crap, what was it called?”
Her casual drop of some of her awful past kicks me in the stomach. I want to ask for more, but it doesn’t feel like a good time. I want to make her feel better, not worse.
She snaps her fingers a few times. “It was on rerun. Kind of a crime procedural, only with weird science.”
“Don’t know,” I tease, grabbing the remote to start the hunt.
After texting Mildred, Callie walks back over and watches me flip through shows. “Fringe!” she exclaims, pointing at the screen. “That. Start that. He’ll love it.”
I laugh, and set it up for autoplay, making sure all the settings don’t require any input until I shut it off in the morning.
“Ready?” I ask, heading for the stairs, and watch her blanch.Right.
She starts squaring her shoulders, getting that ‘just power through it’look, and she’s had more than enough of that today.
Shaking my head, I walk up to her. “Wrap your arms around my neck.”
“Why?” Suspicion narrows her eyes.
“Because I’m carrying you up the stairs,” I answer, bending at the knees and hoisting her bridal style up in my arms. “You can be brave tomorrow.”
She shrieks with surprise, scrambling to get her arms around my neck.
“You’re safe,” I promise, approaching the stairs. “Now, close your eyes, and we’ll be at the top before you know it.”
She bites her bottom lip, closes her eyes, and buries her face in my neck.
And I’m not thinking about how great she feels in my arms right now.
