I take another drink of water.
She doesn't move.
I should say something. Apologize. Explain. Give her something that makes sense of why I'm here, why I came to her door instead of calling the family doctor.
But the words won't come.
So I just drink my water and watch her watch me, and neither of us says a goddamn thing.
Marina
I take a step back from the bed. Then another.
"I'll leave you alone," I say. "To do what you need to do with that."
I gesture vaguely at the bottle on the nightstand. My cheeks burn. This is not a conversation I ever imagined having with Dante Castellani.
He nods once. His face gives nothing away.
"If you need anything," I continue, already backing toward the door, "just call out. I'll be in the living room."
"My phone."
I stop. "What?"
"Where's my phone?" His voice is rough. Strained from the effort of staying conscious.
"Your jacket maybe?" I remember Dr. Marchetti peeling the blood-soaked leather off him, tossing it aside to get to the wound. "The doctor took it off. It's in the living room."
"Bring me the jacket."
I turn and walk out of the bedroom without another word.
The jacket is draped over the arm of my couch. Dark leather, expensive, ruined now by the blood that's soaked into the lining. I pick it up by the collar, holding it away from my body like it might bite.
Back in the bedroom, I drop it on the bed beside him.
Dante reaches for it with his right hand, keeping his left arm pressed against his wounded side. His movements are slow.
He finds the phone in the inside pocket. Pulls it out. The screen is cracked but it lights up when he touches it.
"When you need to reach me," I say, "you can text. I'll write down my number."
Dante looks up at me. Something flickers in those dark eyes.
"I have it."
The words hang in the air between us.
I stare at him. "You have it."
"Yes."
"You have my phone number." I hear my voice go flat. "The phone number I got two years ago. After I moved to Denver. After I changed everything about my life specifically so that?—"
I stop myself.
Close my eyes.
