Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Rushing inside, I go straight to the bedroom to find her stuffed animal taking up space like she still lives here. If I can’t have her, I’ll take the wallaby. Who knew a stuffed wallaby would provide me with the relief I needed most right now? Second to Sosie, of course.
I make a cup of coffee, predicting a long night ahead, and pull out my laptop to work in the living room. I’ll do anything to keep my mind from running wild with the fuckery she’s facing on her own. Should I have gone?
She’d hate that. Not because of me, but it would make her feel bad. She’s stronger than she knows. I know that. I just hope she remembers.
When I look up, the sun has set, and darkness rolls in like a fog around me. My eyes don’t adjust quick enough after staring at the glowing screen for the past few hours. I caught up on some emails, but when I blink and rub my eyes, the burn only reminds me of other aching body parts.
I tap the phone next to me only to find it blank of texts or calls. Catching the time, I’m heading into three hours since I came home to an apartment without her or word of her return. Is she alright? Fuck.
I close the laptop and walk to the window to stare in the direction of the nearest hospital. I know her father won’t be taken there, but it does have me thinking. I overreacted. Like she said, it was an emergency, not some ploy to steal her back. Right? Her absence is felt along with concerns still raising my hackles.
I walk down the hall, needing to keep my body moving, then turn around and walk in the other direction to repeat the pattern. It’s not until I see the little tree on the nightstand that it finally makes sense to me.
It’s not them or me. I know she’ll choose me. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need to find peace with her parents and put that part of her life to bed. I could have just supported her instead of opening my mouth and letting my fear drain out. Feeling shittier now than before won’t fix this. I have to do the work, too.
But how?
I eye the stuffed animal as an idea takes form. Going into the closet, I grab her carry-on from the shelf and prop it open on the bed. I dig through the clothes hanging in the closet and grab a top and a pair of jeans. I have no idea what underwear she would choose for this kind of outfit, but I’m not going to overthink this. Let’s hope none of these clothes are needed, and she comes back to me. But if she does get stuck, I want her to have some clean clothes and tell her what I should have said the first time before she left.
After writing a note and sticking it inside, along with a few of her bathroom toiletries, I close it, but something across the room catches my eye, and I get it. I turn it over in my hands because it meant everything to me at one time. She means more. I tuck it inside the suitcase and latch it tight.
Downstairs, I catch a cab, and since there’s only one hospital where the Stansburys would go, that’s where I head. With my phone resting on my leg so I don’t miss a text from her, I stare out the window thinking about how an emergency has triggered all this. It only took Sosie seconds to feel the need to visit, her heart way more open than mine. If they hurt it, I’ll take matters into my own hands.
No lessons need to be learned. She knows who they are and how they operate. So why go? The one piece I didn’t put together before. Closure.
And here I was, warning her because of my own insecurities about losing her again. I’m not losing her, though. I know that. What we share is too strong to be deterred by threats anymore. We’ll fight against anything thrown our way. Together. Sosie knows that.
I just wish I had realized it earlier. She didn’t go for her father. She went for herself. I drop my head forward as the shame of my wrong assumptions might have fucked things up. It did for her, and I let her walk out feeling that way. Who’s the asshole now? I am.
I get out of the cab and look up at the sign for the visitor’s entrance. Holding the handle to her carry-on, I’m about to go in when someone calls, “What are you doing here?”
“I should have known,” I grumble under my breath. I glare at Gregory with no patience for his shit. “I should ask you the same.”