Blue Twilight. Maggie Shayne
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you okay?” Max moved to the other side of the bed and stroked Stormy’s hair.
“I’m fine. But it hurt so much in the dream. And once it started, the splitting just kept going—tearing my body in half, splitting my head down the middle, and then my chest, my heart, my belly. I couldn’t stop it. It was so real, Max, this sense of being torn in half.”
Max frowned at her. “Are you in any pain now? Your head, is it …?”
“No, no pain. It was all part of the dream, I swear. I’m fine.”
Max took her hands. “I don’t think you’re being honest with me.”
Stormy’s eyes widened and met hers.
“Something’s different—since the coma. Something’s wrong, Storm, and it’s about time you come clean about it.”
Stormy shook her head slowly. “Never could fool you, could I?”
“So what is it?”
“I don’t know. I just know I don’t feel the same.”
“That’s not an answer,” Max said.
Stormy rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. “It’s the only one you’re getting tonight. I’ll be okay. Go back to bed.”
“Are you sure? I can sit with you if you—”
“Lou, make her go to bed, will you?” Stormy muttered, snuggling more deeply into her pillows.
She looked fine, Max had to admit. And it didn’t seem there was a damn thing she could do for her friend, anyway. She sent Lou a helpless look. He only shrugged, then leaned over to pull Stormy’s blanket up over her shoulder. “Call if you need us,” he said.
“I will.”
He nodded at Max, and they both left the room. In the hallway, she looked up at him. He licked his lips and averted his eyes. “I’m sorry about busting into your room. When I heard her scream, I thought—”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s really not.”
She reached out to him, closed her hand around one of his and then studied it as her thumb ran over his knuckles. “I gotta tell you, Lou, it does me a world of good to know you’d come on a dead run if I were to cry out in the night.”
“I know.”
She nodded. “I’m scared to death there’s something wrong with Stormy. Something big. Major, you know? And no matter what you say, I know I’m right about that. That’s topmost on my mind right now. You catching a glimpse of me in the bathtub is barely a blip on my radar compared to my worry about her.”
He nodded. “I think you’re overreacting.”
“So what’s new? You always think I’m overreacting.”
He sighed, lowering his head.
“Even so, Lou, the only thing keeping me from going off the deep end over this is having you here. Knowing you’ve got my back even if you don’t agree with me. You’ll hold me together if I start to fall apart. I trust you like no one else. I trust you with my life. And with Stormy’s. And I can’t even tell you how glad I am that you’re coming with us tomorrow. Because I’ve got a bad, bad feeling about all this.”
He turned his hand in hers and squeezed. “You, too, huh?”
She met his eyes. “Yeah. Why? Don’t you feel good about it, either? “
“I don’t know why, but my gut’s telling me we’re walking into the lion’s den.”
He sighed. “If I thought I had a snowball’s chance in hell of talking you out of going down there, I’d try. But I know you too well.”
She nodded.
He released her hand. “We should get some sleep. Get an early start.”
“Yeah. Just … one more thing first.”
He looked down at her. She swallowed hard and gathered up her courage—drew it straight up from her ovaries, she thought. “I never thought of you as a gelding, Lou. I don’t believe for one minute you’re too old to react to a little flirting.”
She watched his brows go up. He seemed to be searching for words, so she shook her head. “I’m not trying to put you on the spot for a response to any of that. I just—I thought you needed to know.”
With a firm nod, she turned and walked down the hall to her bedroom and just left him standing there.
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