The darkness was too much. I needed to see her beautiful face. Her image formed in my mind’s eye, though it disappeared as quickly as it came.
“Actually, you need to hurry up. I miss you.”
She missed me.
How could she miss me? I was right here.
The pain shifted to my chest. I missed her too.
I tried to open my mouth. It felt as if it were clamped shut.
I had things I wanted to say . . . if I could just remember them.
“I love you, you crazy man.”
She better be talking to me.Why did she sound so far away?
Something pressed to my forehead. For a second, the pain was gone, then it roared back with a vengeance all the way through my body.
Don’t go, Barn.
The whooshing noise in my head was back.
Barn!
Nothing.
Barn!
I strained to hear anything. But there was nothing.
Only pain.
And a hollowness that I was alone . . . again.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
JOJO
“I should begrateful for the silence.”
I’d snuck out of my hospital room for a third time to see Kane. For some reason, I couldn’t shut up, desperately hoping he’d get annoyed and wake up to tell me to be quiet.
The staff wasn’t too pleased with my behavior, but I wasn’t concerned.
Kane needed me.
And I needed him.
“It’s odd when you’re not talking. I hate to admit it, but I miss your voice.” I aimed to sound strong, though I wasn’t sure it was working.
“I could use a good argument.”
If he was back with me, I’d take that over this silence.
“But I can’t really do that when you’ve been shot.”
Alma had shot Kane. A few inches one way, he’d have been paralyzed. A few inches another, he’d have been dead.