The door swings open, and she smiles at me in pleasant surprise. “Jack Robbit! What on earth are you doing here?” Icross the threshold into the entryway without a word, pulling the door shut behind me.
“Are you okay?” she asks, a small crease forming between her eyebrows. “Aaron should be home any minute…” she mumbles, glancing at her watch. I see her face pale–she must have been expecting him hours ago.
“Abby,” I murmur, a wave of nausea threatening to spill the contents of my stomach on the hardwood. “Let’s sit down. We need to talk.”
“I think I’d rather stand if you don’t mind,” she breathes. “Please just tell me.”
“Aaron was in an accident,” I say, voice quivering. “We did everything we could.”
She sways, gripping the entry table to steady herself. “You have to say it Jack,” she whispers. “I need to hear you actually say it.”
I gulp painfully, desperately wishing these words didn’t have to leave my mouth.
“He died at the scene of the accident. I’m so sorry, Abby.”
She slides to the floor with a guttural, blood-curdling wail and I quickly stoop down, snaking my arms under hers and helping her to the couch. She crumbles in on herself, pulling her knees to her chest and screaming in a way I know I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
“Jack? Jack, wake up.”
Abby shakes my shoulders, voice breaking through the nightmare. I sit up bolt right, the scream in my throat dying before it gets all the way out.
“You’re okay, Jack,” she says, hands reaching up to grip my face. “It was just a nightmare. I’m here.”
Chapter 21
Abby
Twenty Weeks
At first, I’m not sure exactly what woke me up. Fighting the groggy confusion, I strain my ears. I hear Jack mumbling loudly in the living room, sounding distressed.
I jump from the bed, heading down the hall, anxiety rising in my throat with every step. When I reach the living room, I find him tossing fitfully on the couch, the sheets twisted around him.
He yells, my hand flying to my chest as I jump at the pained sound. Rushing toward him, I kneel on the couch and shake his shoulders, desperately trying to free him from whatever nightmare Is gripping him.
“Jack? Jack, wake up,” I say firmly.
He shoots up with a gasp, shaking as he looks wildly around the room, trying to get his bearings. In an attempt to calm him down, I do the first thing I think of.
Pressing my palms to his cheeks, I turn his head to face me. “You’re okay, Jack,” I murmur soothingly, stroking his face gently. “It was just a nightmare. I’m here.”
He blinks at me slowly, his chest still rising and falling rapidly. After a few breaths, he leans back onto his pillows, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes with a groan.
I run my hands up and down his arm gently, a tangible reminder that he isn’t alone, that I’m right here with him. I see tears begin to leak out of the corners of his eyes and my heart cracks in two.
“Jack,” I whisper, my voice cracking along with my heart. “Come here.”
Grabbing his hands, I pull him up until he’s sitting again, then settle in next to him, laying him back down with his head in my lap. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” he croaks.
“Okay,” I say, running my fingers through his hair the way my dad always did for me when I had nightmares.
After a long period of silence, he speaks again.
“We got a call tonight,” he says quietly. “It was a car accident.”
My stomach bottoms out, my hands stilling.
