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I look over my shoulder.
“Gwenna, right?”
I nod.
“They need you down the hall.”
My stomach flips. “Which hall?”
She laughs. “The other way.” She waves across the room, toward the other double-doors. “The one with all the patients.”
I push through that set of doors with clammy hands. Is something wrong? I’m met mid-hallway by Nancy, one of the nicer nurses. When I see her face, my head goes airy.
“Gwenna.” She looks troubled. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m not exactly sure.”
I grab out for the wall, leaning against it as her dark brows draw together. “Barrett is awake, which is phenomenal, but he’s…”
“What?” I snap.
“He’s very upset. We can’t seem to get him calmed down. The charge nurse, Sue, is in there now and has paged the on-call, but…I think it’s psychological rather than physical. Honestly? I think he’s having some kind of flashback.”
I suck a deep breath in and start off toward his room. “I’ll know what it is.”
Nancy trots along beside me. “He has said your name a few times.”
I burst through the door to find the room still dark. Barrett’s on his side, curled up and shaking with soft, muffled sobs.
“Barrett?” I reach his bed, then freeze. My head is spinning so hard, I almost feel dizzy. I reach out for him, my hand touching his arm. “Bear? It’s Gwenna.”
I can’t breathe as I lean there against his mattress. So surreal…
I see his shoulders shake a little, and the shock of seeing him in motion wakes me back up.
“Beary… Hey, it’s Gwen.” I squeeze his shoulder. “You all right?”
With a knot in my throat, I look behind me at the nurses, and then climb carefully up on the bed.
“I do this at home,” I murmur to them as I move in close and wrap an arm around him. He’s so thin. He’s shaking. God, my Barrett. It’s so weird to feel his body moving…
My clumsy hands sift through the sheets, feeling the smoothness of his shoulder, then his neck, his face… His throat still sports a small bandage. I stroke alongside that, the way I always used to when I’d try to wake him up.
“Bear? It’s Gwennie.” My voice cracks on my name. What if he doesn’t know it? I inhale as his head comes to rest against my shoulder. “Bear.” Tears fill my eyes. I cup his warm neck. “We’re okay…”
I can feel his face against my shoulder, feel his body pause…
His forehead tips back, eyes rising to mine. “Pig?”
A little sob slips out, mixed with a crazed laugh. “Yes.”
Bear’s arms come around me, pulling me to him. It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever felt.
Epilogue
Barrett
