Which wasn’t much.
I couldn’t think about that right then. Being there for my husband was the only thing that mattered. He may not realize it yet, but this is how it was supposed to work. He’d always been there for me, and I was going to be there for him.
He wasmyperson.
Always had been.
The need to comfort, to make it better consumed me. I softly shifted my hands through his hair and whispered gently. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. What you all went through was unthinkable, but I know you did everything you could.”
I didn’t need to know all the details to know that about the man in front of me. That was just who he was. He’d gone to the end of the earth to care for me and Griffin. He would do it for his family, and I knew he would have done it for his friends.
“I can still hear them dying every night when I fall asleep.”
His sobs continued, a few sentences coming here or there. He had to be tired and needed to sleep. I had to help him. But would he let me? It was two in the morning, and there was still time to rest.
“Let me hold you while you sleep,” I told him softly.
Jett’s head snapped up, and he dropped his hands from my hips, his eyes wild and uncertain. “Patience, I said I could have hurt you. If you were right next to me…” His head frantically shook back and forth. “I would never forgive myself if I harmed you in any way.”
I moved my hands to his cheeks and stared down at him. “I know you won’t harm me. Not being able to help you or be with you is the only thing that hurts me. Please let me do this?”
My eyes implored him to say yes, and when he nodded, a breath of air I didn’t realize I’d been holding rushed out of me. I dropped my hands and crawled into the bed, placing my back against the headboard. Then I patted my legs.
After some hesitation, Jett climbed up next to me and laid his head on my thighs. I began running my hand through his hair, down his back, and then started all over again.
Silence loomed in the room until Jett said, “You sang to me.”
Stiffening, my hand paused in its momentum. I didn’t realize he'd noticed, and it was only a little bit of the song—a song I wrote about him.
“Did you write a song for me?” he asked quietly.
I felt my cheeks flush as they heated. Obviously, I hadn’t thought it through when I’d opened my mouth, making myself vulnerable. But Jett had let himself be too when he’d let some of his feelings out and trusted me with his tears.
“Yeah, it was for you.”
It was hard to admit, and my insecurities rose within me, but this was Jett—the boy, the man, my person who I could have told anything to. Except how in love with him I’d always been. Now the cat was kind of out of the bag if he’d picked up on all the words.
“Would you sing the whole thing for me?” He lightly squeezed my calf. “Please, Roo?”
I could hardly think as his warm breath swooshed across my thighs when he spoke. My body tingled with other feelings, and I had to push them away. It wasn’t the time. My best friend, the man I loved, my husband, was asking for what he needed, and I was going to give it to him.
The words poured from my mouth and bled from my heart.
Jett’s body settled, a sigh rushing from his lips, and as the song came to an end, he slept.
No nightmare to be heard again.
A soft snore fluttered to my ears, and my eyes blinked open.
Looking down at the man whose head still rested on my legs, his strong arm wrapped around them, my heart warmed at the peaceful look on his face. He’d slept for hours. I found myself wondering how often he went without sleep and if he’d let me comfort him every night.
“I can feel you thinking up there.” His deep, gravelly voice made my butt jump against the mattress.
My neck was stiff from sleeping sitting up all night, but it was worth every kink my body would have that day or even for days to come. I’d do it for him as long as he wanted me to.
Jett stirred, releasing his hold on my legs, and moved to get off the bed as he spoke. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
The worry in his tone was similar to last night when he thought he’d hurt me, just not quite as intense. I was going to shut that down really quick.
