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Chapter Nine
Maggie
Then
“Try this.” He holdsout a spoon of chocolate chunk ice cream. I lean forward and let him feed me.
“Mmmm.” I raise my eyebrows. “Now your turn.”
I dig into my black cherry ice cream and raise it to his mouth. He keeps eye contact with me the entire time he eats it. His eyes dance. “That’s good.”
We’re sitting side by side on a park bench, people watching.
“How often are you having nightmares?” he asks without looking at me.
“A few times a week.”
He shoots me a pained look. “What happens?”
I breathe in through my nose and shut my eyes. “He facetimed Elizabeth with a gun to my head to get her to come.”
“Jesus Christ,” he says. I open my eyes to see him wincing.
“I just keep replaying that over and over. It feels so real. I can feel the gun pressed to my head. I’ll never forget the way that felt.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and lets me continue. “I dream about when Elizabeth hit her head too. I thought she was dead – there was so much blood.” I look down and poke at my ice cream. I desperately try to blink away the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. He squeezes my shoulder, and I lean into him.
“Are you seeing someone?” he asks.
I shake my head.
“I think you should. It’s not just going to go away.”
I nod. “I’ll look into it.”
He kisses the top of my head. “You can call me whenever you need.”
“I know.” I dig into my ice cream again and resume eating.
When we finish our ice cream, he takes me back to the hotel and makes love to me – again, the second time today. He’s gentle and tender. It’s what I need right now, and he knows that instinctively. He touches me in all the right places and says all the right things.
Afterwards, when we’re both lying on our backs, staring at the ceiling, I say, “Thanks for coming. You’re a good friend.”
He smiles, but it looks forced. “Of course, I’m always here for you.”
