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She wasn’t going to hug the edge and act like she was scared to death of him. Because she wasn’t.
She must have been more tired than she thought she was, because she never heard him come back in the room.
It wasn’t until the bed tilted down on his side that she opened her eyes and realized she’d fallen asleep.
“Mark?”
“Sorry. I heard your breathing and figured you were asleep. I was trying to be quiet.”
“No. It’s okay. I can’t believe I fell asleep. I hardly ever do that.”
“Sleep?”
“No. Fall asleep while reading.” She felt around for her phone, realized it was on her chest, and grabbed it, reaching over and setting it on the nightstand.
She settled back down where she was as Mark adjusted himself on the other side.
“I never even thought about your charger. If you hand your phone to me, I can plug it in.”
“No. It’ll be okay until morning. You’re leaving, and I’ll have time to charge mine tomorrow.”
“All right.” He was quiet for a minute, and then he said, “So we can put something down the middle of the bed if you want to? I thought about doing that myself, but when I decided you were asleep, I wanted to do as little as possible to wake you up.”
“I’m okay. I know you’re not going to do anything.”
“I was talking about protecting myself actually.”
“You’re so ridiculous.”
“This has to be your new favorite word. I think you’ve used it several times tonight, and all in conjunction with me. I don’t get it. I’m a serious, respectable, elderly person, you know.”
“You’re not elderly.”
“I’m older than you.”
“You remind me of that all the time.”
“Because you forget. When you call yourself old, you’re calling me older.”
“All right. I’ll try to remember.”
“Anyway, I haven’t slept with anyone...in decades. A long time ago, I was told I tossed around a lot. Just wanted to apologize in advance if that’s what happens.”
“All right. Same. Although, I don’t think I snore, and I don’t think I will move a lot, but in case I do. Sorry.”
“Now that we have that settled, you still good?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Good night.”
“Good night,” she said. Wanting to tell him that she appreciated everything he had done for her over the past two days. But not wanting to start a new conversation about that. He was tired, and he needed his rest.
It seemed like she barely closed her eyes when she opened them, and it was light out.
She was warm and comfortable and felt like she had the best sleep that she had in years, if not decades.
She didn’t want to wake up, cocooned in feeling more safe than she felt in she couldn’t tell how long.
