“Always,” I answer, leaving her with a slight kiss on the head.
A second later, her hands fall from where they were latched on the arm I have across her. She tilts her head up at me. “Are you sure Merle’s okay alone tonight? We can always go back to your place for the night if you’d like.”
Taking one look at her, I shake my head. “My brother’s in town; he’s got it covered. Besides, you’re already in your pajamas, and I know you’d hate going out after you’ve already gotten into night mode.”
What Raleigh considers pajamas are some of the nicest matching silk sets you could ever imagine paired with some very tasteful slippers—as tasteful as slippers can be when they’re bright pink.
“You know me so well,” Raleigh croons, reaching up and pinching my cheek between her fingers. She escapes my grasp after that, retrieving our drinks.
Moving to the couch, she opens the curtains, giving way to the lights of a typical Nashville night. She sighs at the first sip of whiskey. “I’ll never get tired of this view.” She says it as if that’s a problem, like never wanting to move anywhere else would be an issue.
Stepping up behind her, I peer out over the streets and try to decipher my own answer. When I take a step back and catch a view of Raleigh’s outline, rimming with the neon and the slight drizzle that’s begun to patter against the window, I come to my senses quickly.
“As long as you're in it, I’d be okay with it being my view for the rest of my life.”
Her head whips toward me, but somehow she holds her glass perfectly still. Her nose scrunches at the cheesiness, but I don’t care. It’s the truth. “I’d appreciate you seeing it from my perspective.” She holds out a hand to me and I take it gratefully. She coaxes me to her side. It’s no use looking anywhere but at her. She’s not backing down; her face lifts to mine as if the proximity of us is a challenge to her.
I’m caught up in her eyes. They’re dark green in this low light, like a vast evergreen forest caught in the dead of night. The wind slowly picks up within them and soon she’s up against me.
Her lips crash into mine then, whiskey crashing over the edges of our glasses. Careful not to drop mine as she forces me backwards toward the couch, I place it on the table. Still caught up in her breathless kisses, I take hers as well.
The moment her beloved glasses are safe, she launches herself up at me, and I finally meet her where she is. She leaps into my arms and wraps her legs around my waist; her slippers fall to the floor with a clack. I effortlessly hold her there as she wraps herarms around my neck and takes a break from showering me with kisses.
“You might as well be a tree,” she says in between the swirling of my hair between her fingers. “Does anything shake you?”
I don’t tell her that meeting her is the only thing that’s truly ever shaken me up. “No,” I answer instead with a shrug. She shrugs right back.
“Well, we‘ll see about that.” She goes in for another kiss, this one sultry and slow. When I finally wake up from the shock of the change of pace, I fall back onto the couch and roll her underneath me. At the sound of her sigh, I’m lost to the world.
Chapter 37
Raleigh
I REGISTER THE DISTANT buzzing of my phone at the same time that Dalton shifts in bed beside me. The next moment, Dalton leaps from bed and curses. My heart begins to beat furiously, and I know before even opening my eyes that something’s happened.
“What is it?” I ask the darkness.
“Raleigh, it’s bad,” Dalton says from across the room. “There’s been some sort of accident. I missed a call from Amanda, but she texted me.” Dalton returns then, turning his screen toward me.
Amanda:I bet you’re asleep but something massive is about to break. I can’t say much out of fear of confidentiality, but you might want to get yourself down here to Nashville General as soon as you read this.
I immediately reach for my phone and let the horror wash over me. All the pleasure and happiness from mere hours ago washes away as I furiously scroll through the notifications on my lock screen.
There are no words to form as heavy anxious breaths threaten to take me over. Dalton is quickly there with a hand on my back giving me the small window to choke out the truth. “She’s in the hospital.”
That soothing hand freezes for only a moment before he bolsters me. “Let’s go,” he says before finding my hand and helping me from bed. I quickly rove toward my dresser and throw a sweatshirt over my pajamas.
I’m moving on autopilot. It’s only 4:45 a.m and my head is having a hard time processing what’s happening. All I know is that Mae is hurt and I need to get to her. Grabbing my phone, I’m halfway to the front door when Dalton stops me.
“You need to wear shoes, Raleigh.” I hadn’t realized I was barefoot. I scan the room quickly finding my slippers where they’d slipped off earlier. They will have to do.
Meeting Dalton back at the door, I find that he’s gathered my purse and car keys. I nod in passing, not sure what I could say.
Out in the lights of the hallway and then the elevator, I finally start to wake up a bit more. Dalton’s hand finds my lower back and moves in calming circles as we descend. He has his phone in his free hand.
“What happened?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he answers sternly. “Did anyone try calling you?”
