She didn’t answer, just lay there.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “Tired.”
“Why don’t you take a rest?”
“I can’t. I’m worried about AJ. He ran off. My friend from AA chased after him. No matter what, he’s still a person and now he’s drinking again. I can’t stop thinking about how I could have done something differently.” She stopped for a breath before she went on. “And I can’t stop thinking about your note and the necklace—it was so breathtaking, both of them were—and now they’re gone.”
Bess’s whole body shook as she dissolved into tears, trying to speak but unable to for her sobbing. Tears slid down her face, dropping to fall on Brooks’s fur where he curled up beside her.
“Bess, it’s fine. It’s insured,” I said into her ear, trying to steal this moment for the two of us. May was still busy clinking some glass in the kitchen, picking it out of the garbage. I was too busy to ask what the hell that was about.
“But the letter wasn’t insured.”
I grabbed her hand and brought it to my heart. “It doesn’t matter, it’s imprinted right here,” I told her.
Brooks stood and circled in place, interrupting the moment.
“I don’t know when he was last out,” Bess said.
“I’ll take care of him if you promise to close your eyes and try to rest. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
I stepped out onto the porch, gently closing the door behind me. Dawn was coming and the air was moist.
“Take your time, buddy,” I told Brooks as he ran to a tree.
I sure as hell needed a few minutes to figure out what the fuck just happened.
I’m not going anywhere?
Well, I couldn’t stay here forever, even if I wanted to.
Imprinted right here...in my heart?
It might very well be, but my heart was only half the heart she deserved. There was a black cavern of lies deep within it.
And now my brother was involved with Bess, and he had a habit of killing everything.
