Page 39 of Shadowing You

As much as he wanted to look into her beautiful eyes, she needed her rest.

Lord, get us home. Lead us and protect us and guide us every step of…whatever it is we’ll be doing.

He needed more information so he could make a plan.

She shifted, then stretched. Her eyes opened just long enough to meet his, then closed again.

“You’re staring,” she murmured.

“Maybe.”

“Creepy.”

He touched her, just a fleeting brush of his fingers against her cheek. “Husband…ly.”

“If you say so.” Her voice was gravelly, her eyes still closed, and her breathing settled into rhythm again.

He didn’t want her to sleep. He wanted her to wake up and talk to him and tease him. He wanted her to be the Mei Lin he’d fallen in love with.

After a minute, she cracked one eye open. “Have you been awake long?”

“Define long.”

She huffed a sound close to a laugh, and a knot of fear loosened in his chest.

“You didn’t sleep.” She said the words like an accusation.

“I slept…” He weighed his answer, going for honest, if vague. “Some.”

“Define some.”

He chuckled.

She rolled onto her back. “Good doctors know they need to sleep.”

“I’m an excellent doctor.”

“Humble too.” She faced him again, propping on her elbow. “You went to medical school, then?”

“I’m an ER resident in Virginia.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened a little. “I thought you planned to stay on the West Coast.”

“After you…disappeared, I was…” Was he really about to tell her how hard his life had been? “Anyway, I wanted to go back.” He hadn’t had any family in Virginia anymore, but his mom’s house in Arizona certainly didn’t feel like home.

Without Mei Lin, he hadn’t had any family at all. At least Virginia had felt familiar, and it was an easier place to rebuild. He’d had friends there, a community that knew him. He’d made a life for himself. A half-life, anyway. He’d never thought he’d feel whole again without Mei Lin.

And here she was, in his bed, just inches away.

He wanted to kiss her. Maybe do more than kiss her.

He wanted to pull her into his arms and make them both forget the world outside. But it was too soon for any of that. They needed to reconnect in other ways before they reconnected in that way.

He fell onto his back. “I’m gonna shower.”

“Okay.”

“You need the bathroom first?”