CHAPTER 28

“I saw your car in the driveway,” Hollis said when she walked into the house and noticed Raleigh sitting on the sofa with her laptop.

“Hey. How was work?” Raleigh asked, looking up and giving Hollis a smile.

“Fine,” she said, sitting down next to her after dropping her stuff by the door. “A girl could get used to this, you know? Coming home to her girlfriend on the sofa like it’s a totally normal thing.”

“I know I said I was leaving by lunch, but your mom asked if I could stay. The new day nurse is okay, but she’s still new. I told her I’d just work from here the rest of the day and order in something for us all to have for dinner. I got her the chicken noodle soup from the deli and a couple of sandwiches for you and me. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course, it’s okay. But you don’t have to work from here. If she doesn’t like the new nurse, I could have come home early from work. Or, you could at least work out of the guest room or something.”

“I’m good out here. There’s a TV. I’ve been watching daytime television while I work. It’s a guilty pleasure I don’t usually allow myself.”

“Yeah? What guilty pleasures do you allow yourself?” Hollis asked with a sexy eyebrow lift.

“Oh, I don’t feel guilty about those,” Raleigh told her.

“You don’t?” she asked seriously. “Really?”

Raleigh leaned over, kissed her on the lips, and said, “No, I don’t. I can’t live how I was forever, babe. You’re too important to me to give up because of guilt. And I’m going to call the doctor Molly recommended.”

“You are ?”

“I think it’s time. It’s been over a year. While group helps, I don’t want to not get help, and I don’t want to risk ruining this because I do something like what I did at the restaurant.”

“Hey, we’re good. You don’t have to worry about that,” Hollis said.

“If I go, the doctor might ask you to join me for a session because we’re together and you’re working through this with me.”

“Sign me up. Whatever you need,” Hollis replied.

“Miss Richardson,” the nurse said as she walked into the living room. “Your mother is sleeping. I just gave her a round of fluids because she hasn’t been drinking much today, and she had her last dose of meds for the night. She might sleep all the way through, but she might wake up in four to six hours. If she does, can you make sure she drinks something? Preferably, something with electrolytes.”

“Of course,” Hollis said. “Thank you. The night nurse comes at ten, so I’ll pass it along.”

“Oh, great. I wrote everything down but wasn’t sure if you had someone for the night.”

“Thanks again.”

“I’ll just get my things,” the nurse replied.

Then, she left.

“Would it be very selfish of me if I asked you to stay over again? I know I’ll have the nurse here, but I’d feel a lot better if–”

“I just need to go home and get some stuff,” Raleigh interrupted. “Want me to drive there now? You can deal with the food when it arrives, and I’ll be back by dinner.”

“I don’t know if she’s going to wake up for dinner.”

“That’s okay. We can reheat it for her if she’s hungry when she wakes up,” Raleigh replied, kissing her on the cheek. “Thirty minutes, tops.”

“I’ll clean up the kitchen while you’re gone.”

Raleigh closed her laptop, placed it on the table, leaned over, and kissed Hollis again.

“Why don’t you take a nap while I’m gone? ”

“What about the food?” Hollis asked.

“I’ll message in the app and tell them to leave it at the door. I can get it when I get back,” Raleigh told her. “Get some rest, babe. I’ll wake you up when I get home.”

Hollis smiled.

“Yeah, I heard it, too,” Raleigh said, standing up.

After kissing Raleigh goodbye at the door, Hollis went to her mother’s room to check on her. Unfortunately, it looked more like a hospital room than a bedroom these days. The day nurse was pretty clean, but Hollis still straightened it up a little, making sure it wasn’t a mess when her mom woke up. She lay down next to her mom in bed and pulled out her phone, checking her emails and messages. The prosecutor had called again, and there was a missed call and a voicemail she hadn’t noticed earlier. The number was unknown, so she clicked into the voicemail message and put the phone to her ear.

“Heidi, I know you’re mad at me,” her father said. “I know you think that I took you away from your mom, but you’re not even letting me explain. My lawyer is letting me use his phone because you won’t accept the calls from the jail. Honey, I love you. You need to know that, okay? I’ve loved you since before you were born; since the moment your mom told me we were pregnant.” He sighed. “I hated having to do what I did, but she left me no choice. I know she’s sick now, and I feel bad about that, but don’t let that cloud your judgment, okay? Will you please visit me or, at least, return my lawyer’s calls so we can figure out how to handle this trial? I need you there as a witness and sitting in my corner, Heidi.” He paused. “Sorry, I know you’re going by Hollis now. Anyway, please return his calls and visit me. Bye.”

Hollis deleted the message without any hesitation and turned to her dying mother, who was paler than she had been a week ago. A tear ran down Hollis’s cheek, and she wiped it away and thought about her father’s message. She still hadn’t decided what to do about the trial and hated that everyone was putting pressure on her to make a decision. All she wanted to do was spend time with her mother and explore this new thing with Raleigh. She didn’t want to have to worry about anything else. Hollis closed her eyes and thought of her mother handing her that balloon in the park when she was little. Then, she fell asleep.

“Hey, babe,” Raleigh whispered. “I don’t want to wake you, but dinner’s here.”

Hollis felt a soft hand running through her hair.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Your mom’s still out. Should I wake her?”

“No, let her sleep,” she said, standing up and pulling Raleigh in for a long, tight hug.

“Are you okay?” Raleigh checked.

“I just needed a hug,” she replied.

“Come on. Let’s eat, and you can hug me all night long, if you want,” Raleigh told her.

“That sounds nice,” she said.

◆◆◆

“I like taking baths with you,” Hollis said as she lay her back against Raleigh’s front.

“If your mom wakes up and finds us like this, though, it’s on you. I’m just hiding my face behind your back and pretending like you forced this upon me,” Raleigh joked, kissing Hollis’s bare shoulder.

“I needed this,” Hollis said. “I love having you here when I get home. Is that wrong?”

“No, I think we’re supposed to like spending time together,” Raleigh replied, running her hands up and down Hollis’s arms. “Now, want to tell me what you were avoiding telling me at dinner?”

“No, because you’re not supposed to know me this well yet, so I should have more time before you figure out that I’m not telling you everything,” Hollis replied, resting her head back against Raleigh’s shoulder .

“Too late, I think,” Raleigh said, kissing Hollis’s cheek. “But you don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s my dad. He called and left a message.”

“What did he say?”

“He wants me to visit and decide if I’m going to help him or not.”

“He’s pressuring you?”

“I won’t talk to his lawyer, so this is the next step, I guess.”

“I think it’s important you know something,” Raleigh said.

“What?”

“That whatever you decide is the right decision.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Because it’ll be what you need; what’s right for you . You’re the only person who matters here.”

“My mom matters. My–”

“She’s already told you what she thinks, Holl. And she’s an amazing mother. She understands you’re her first priority always and that whatever you need here should come first.”

“You called me Holl.”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve never called me Holl. No one has, I guess.”

“Your name is a mouthful.”

“And ‘Raleigh’ just rolls off the tongue?” Hollis said, giggling.

“Now, we’re talking about my tongue? Are you sure you want to be in the bathtub right now? My tongue rolls pretty well somewhere else.” Raleigh wrapped her arms around Hollis’s middle and squeezed.

“You know I wish we could just go to your place and have sex on every surface, right?”

“I know,” Raleigh said. “And ditto. But we need to be here, and that’s okay.”

“Are you sure? You have work. You have Eden.”

Raleigh kissed Hollis’s shoulder again and said, “Would you like to be introduced to my normal nightly routine tonight?”

“What does it entail?” Hollis asked.

“Her Facebook page and the website. I also make weekly calls to the cops and the FBI, and I’ve been bugging Dylan too much already.”

“Can I help?’

“You can just be there next to me,” Raleigh replied.

“Deal,” Hollis said, looking up at her. “And anything else you need.”

“You. Just you,” Raleigh told her, leaning down and kissing Hollis on the lips.

“You have me already.”

After finishing their bath and changing for bed, Hollis went into her mom’s room and woke her up, wanting to make sure she had something to eat before the night nurse arrived. Raleigh heated up the soup and brought it in for Hollis to help Olivia with.

“You both have wet hair, and I don’t think either of you took a shower in my bathroom,” Olivia said between bites.

“Mom!”

Raleigh just laughed and sat on the bed next to Olivia, telling her about her day with her client calls. Hollis filled her in on the research she was doing for the show. When Olivia was done eating, she asked if they’d stay and watch some TV with her before they went to bed, and they squeezed into bed beside her. Hollis felt her mom’s hand in one of her own and then Raleigh’s in the other as Raleigh’s head went to her shoulder. That nearly made her cry, but she managed to hold it in. When the night nurse arrived, they gave her the details from the other nurse, and Hollis made sure her mom had a few good sips of water before they left the room so that the nurse could take her vitals.

“So, I usually start with Facebook. It’s basically just people sending me prayers and well-wishes. I reply to all of them and thank them, but we don’t get leads from here. The website has a contact form, but there’s also a little community where people can post anonymously without having to provide an email. I had some tech guy set it up for me. It’s supposed to make it more likely that people will share if it’s someone they know and they feel bad about turning them in. If I get a lead, it usually comes from here. I also have to call the billboard company back because they told me they’d give me an extra month for free because it’s a missing child. I’m hoping I can afford two months on my own and their free month, but I need to call them back to arrange it.”

They were on Hollis’s bed now, with Raleigh sitting between her legs. Hollis was looking over her shoulder at the laptop, wishing she could just bring Eden home to her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, moving Raleigh’s still-damp hair away from her neck.

“Me too,” Raleigh replied.