I didn’t know about that. I just knew that tears leaked from my eyes, and he kissed them away, not seeming to be freaked out or concerned by them. Instead, he slowed down, our embraces getting longer and more languid as the minutes ticked on.
I’d had no idea it would feel like that. I held him to me. My head didn’t quite want to turn back on. But the sadness that was always with me these days seeped in, despite my wishing it wouldn’t.
“We… we almost didn’t get to do this together. If you hadn’t found me. I’d never have known.”
He smoothed a hand over my forehead. “I know. It was always going to be everything when we did this kind of thing together. But it’s even more so. It’s everything. Made even more sacred because I almost lost you.”
How did Jeremy always know the right thing to say?
That was the last thing I thought before the day just turned off for me for a while.
A knock on the door roused me sometime later. The sun must be setting. I could see the light through the window had changed color. Jeremy lifted his head and then kissed my cheek, pulling the sheet up over me that we must have kicked off. I so rarely needed blankets. The Lents were heated enough.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “Stay right there.”
I rubbed my eyes. “No. I should get up. We’re sleeping the whole day away.”
“I think we both need it.” He grabbed his underwear from the bathroom, calling toward the door. “Just a second.”
“Sorry.” It was Phoenix on the other end. “I’ve tried to be patient, but she was attacked and I haven’t gotten to see her. I really… I really need to see that Alatheia is okay.”
Jeremy nodded, not that Phoenix could see that, and swung open the door.
“Hey.” Phoenix stared at me from the doorway. “I’m sorry. I know you were sleeping. It’s important. But, yeah, I needed to see you. They came at you with a van and tried to kidnap you while I was in session.”
Jeremy patted him on the back. “Not going to lie, it took years off my life. But she’s okay, and we got to her. That’s why it’s good we’re a team. You rescued her in the City from the PI. We take turns.”
I groaned. “I would love not to need rescuing.”
“For real.” Phoenix walked in and kissed me, gently. “You should probably come see Granny soon.”
We really did need to. I sat up. Getting nearly kidnapped and then what Jeremy and I had done had distracted me. I had needed the nap, but it was time to go see her.
“Thanks for getting us up.” Jeremy headed toward the bathroom. “I might have been playing denial. Needed a little time. But, yeah, we should get moving.”
He was absolutely right.
It wasquiet in the house. Their granny was asleep. Everyone sat around quietly. Rosalind was knitting. She looked up when we came in and smiled but didn’t comment. Eric walked over and hugged Phoenix. I didn’t know who was more surprised by it, Eric or Phoenix himself. He stood stunned for a second before he gently hugged his bio-dad back.
“You okay?” he asked in a low voice. “I wasn’t gone very long.”
Eric shook his head. “No. I’m not. Neither are you. But I’m so proud of you, and I just wanted to say that.”
Barrett patted the seat next to him, and I sat down in it. He and Julian seemed to be playing a game on their phones. It was some kind of card game, and they were doing it silently. I’d never thought a second about what went on in the room when people were passing. But if they were sitting there all day, then it wasn’t surprising that they were actually doing quiet activities while they sat with their loved ones.
I rubbed my arms; goosebumps had broken out on them. This was their granny and their mother and mother-in-law. I loved her, but I had known her so brief a time. It was a little bit like I was an intruder, even though I knew they wouldn’t say that.
I let myself look at them for a second each. Obviously, their parents had known of her illness way before the boys had known. I could see the strain on their faces. Kit stared out the window, not looking at her right now. He had a lot on his plate all the time, which now included me. It really would have been easier on them if the guys had fallen for someone easier than me.
I chewed on my bottom lip. Of course I would want to kill her because they were mine. Even if that made no sense. It didn’t have to.
Eric stood by his mom’s bed, his gaze alternating between staring at her and then back at the monitors in the corner that showed her vitals. I didn’t know what any of it meant, but Eric did. He frowned and I looked away. I wasn’t staring, just trying to take them all in.
Stephen was staring at his phone. I didn’t know what he was reading or if he was just blankly staring while Daniel had his head down on the table in front of him, resting his head on his arms.
Jeremy plopped down next to me. He had a coffee cup in his hand, which he sipped. Phoenix walked past us to stand next to Kit by the window. They stared out together.
“She hates it here,” Kit said, which made Daniel lift his head. He had clearly not been sleeping.
