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Free of her.
I didn’t want to be. Would’a been happy to sit there in the waiting room of the therapist's office until she was done, no matter how many hours it was.
Just like I was more than happy to sit here next to her now. To sleep on the floor at the foot of her bed. To soak in every ounce of her presence and live off her attention.
The guilt that threatened to swallow me was only kept at bay by the realization that she was holding my hand. My mouth dried up and I felt the need to hold my breath, to keep her from realizing what she’d done.
“Call them.” Her lips ticked up. “Or I’ll make you.”
“Make me, huh? How you gonna do that?”
“I’ll…” Her face pulled into a disbelieving scowl. “I’ll sing.”
Laughter threatened to break loose from my chest. “Sing?”
“It’s not good. It’s horrible. Your ears will probably bleed.”
“I don’t believe you.”
The look she gave me, as she held her hand out for the résumé I was holding, made me worry for my health. I handed it over, but Kelly dropped it immediately, snagging my free hand. She rolled onto her back, holding both my wrists in front of her like they were her microphone as she took a deep breath.
Then she belted out, “He stole my daddy’s pickup truck the same day he took off with my heart. Whoaa whoa. The police couldn’t find him and—”
“Holy shit!” She held tight as I tried to yank my hands free, her lips twisting into a smile that didn’t hinder the absolute atrocity she was singing. That laughter I’d had trouble suppressing earlier couldn’t be held back. It rolled free, and the more I laughed, the bigger she smiled.
It was the best thing I’d seen in my entire life.
Kelly dipped her head toward my hands when she was done. “Uh, thank ya. Thank ya very much.”
“Wow.” I drew the word out through my laughter as she slowly loosened her grip. “Just, wow.”
She twisted in her seat, letting me go in order to fling her hair over her shoulder with an air of confidence I had yet to see in her. Then she huffed on her nails before polishing them against her breastbone. “I’m the karaoke queen. I shut down bars wherever I go.”
“I believe it.”
She scoffed, then lunged forward, pressing her hand into my shoulder as if she could push me away. “Whatever.”
Except, the hand she planted on the couch slipped, the hand she’d pressed against me slid across my chest, and she fell forward. Fell, until she’d nearly face-planted in my lap. Had I been the slightest bit slower, she would have gotten a face full of something that likely would have had her screaming bloody murder and running from my house.
But I grabbed her. Yanked her up. Twisted her in my arms as I shifted to hide evidence of my body’s betrayal and keep her safe.
“I gotcha.”
Her chest heaved with deep breaths as her pretty ocean eyes widened in shock. I held her there, her butt on my thigh, my arms wrapped snugly around her, much like I did each night when her nightmares started up. I breathed her in, the scent of the shampoo and body wash mingling with something uniquely her.
Kelly’s eyes dropped from mine, snagging on the gash across the bridge of my nose before they fell to my lips.
Fell to my chest.
She cleared her throat. Blinked and shook her head. Spread her fingers wide across my chest before peeking back up at me. She licked her lips. “Are you going to call them, or do I have to do an encore?”
Tilting my head, I narrowed my eyes. “Do you take requests?”
She edged back, but only as far as my tight hold on her would allow. I didn’t want to let her go. “Maybe. Depends on if it’s in my repertoire. What’s your request?”
“Don’t ever, ever sing for me again.”
For a moment, I wasn’t sure if she would laugh or cry, the way her lips worked. But then her face crumpled, and something like a sob burst free as she buried her face in my chest. I was so terrified that I’d hurt her, I couldn’t force myself to move. It wasn’t until that sob turned to a full-body shake that I realized, she wasn’t crying at all.
