“So we’ll test the theory,” Jared said. “Starting tonight.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Absolutely not. I didn’t move in with you to have to sleep alone every night.”
“It’s just until we figure this out,” Jared said.
“No.”
“Yes,” Jared said, his tone final.
The air was knocked out of me. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, but I was too tired to argue. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I looked away from him.
“Nina….”
“I get it…it’s okay.”
“Let’s just try it. See if it works. I’ll start out just outside town, and then come a bit closer every half hour. If you have the dream, we’ll know.”
“This is ridiculous!” I said. “How are you going to find the damn book if you’re experimenting with my dream?”
“She has a point,” Bex said.
Jared frowned. “I have to know.”
We tested his theory. The first night, I lay in bed for what seemed like an eternity, waiting to fall asleep. Being alone in our bed felt so cold and depressing. My fingers traced the wrinkles in the sheets, remembering the first time I woke in his bed. That perfect morning, after the night he told me who—and what—he really was, seemed like light years away. A tear formed in the corner of my eye, and slipped over the bridge of my nose to the white fabric beneath me.
Jared began just on the outskirts of Providence. When he felt I was asleep, he made his way to the loft, a block at a time, every ten minutes or so. He was just over two blocks away when he felt my anxiety. In Shax’s building, it was apparent the moment Jared backed off, because my surroundings blurred away, forming into the halls of my old high school.
The alarm bleated, and my eyes peeled open. Two full nights of sleep. My body felt a bit closer to normal. Jared walked in the front door, trotted up the stairs, and crawled into bed beside me, wrapping his warm arms snugly around me. We didn’t speak, we were just still, letting reality sink in.
“Why would Dad do this? It doesn’t seem fair,” Bex said from the first floor.
Jared didn’t answer. He simply pressed his forehead against my temple and sighed.
Night after night, I slept alone. Jared used that time to harass every connection he had, and pursue every lead to learn the location of the book. Seconds after I woke in the mornings, he was at my side.
The days slowly returned to normal. Lectures in class were written down, and my hours at Titan were used for work instead of naps. Beth gladly decreased the number of times she fetched coffee, and excuses to Grant.
One afternoon she brought me a file and sat in the plump, green leather chair in front of my desk. She had bought new clothes, and her auburn hair had a new shape to it. Still short, but different. Embarrassed that I had no idea how long it had been that way, I took the file from her and sat it to the side.
“I love the shoes,” I said.
“Thanks,” she said, picking one foot off the floor to bring the yellow stilettos into view. They boasted a big bow on the side, and the heel, sole and strap were black. “It’s a lot easier to dress for work when you have money. Thanks again, Nina. Things at home have been a lot better since you hired me.”
I shook my head. “You know I don’t mind. You’ve been a huge help around here.”
“Things seem to be better for you, too.”
“I feel better.”
“Have you heard from Ryan? No one’s heard from him since he joined that special thing.”
My mouth turned to the side. Most of the time I tried not to think of Ryan, the sand, or the bullets flying every where while he carried his his pipe bomb backpack.
“No,” I said.
Beth nodded. The desk phone rang and she stood, pushing Line One and answering without hesitation. “Nina Grey’s office…no, that file is in the…oh Lord, Sasha, I’ll just come find it for you. How long have you worked here?”
Beth hung up the phone, and I smiled. “Don’t let her take advantage of you. Do you want me to say something?”
“No. I do plenty of that,” Beth said, winking.
“I’m heading home. Will you lock up for me?” I asked.
“I always do,” she said, waving behind her.
Jared stood beside his SUV with a smile, waiting with arms wide. He had let me fall asleep in his arms the last few weeks and then left sometime after. Jack and Gabe stayed out of my head, and I slept through the night, never realizing Jared was gone. He was getting so good at pinpointing when I would rouse he usually slid next to me just before I awoke. Once again, life was semi-normal.
His hand slid over mind as it rested on the console of the Escalade. “Something came for you today.”
“A letter?” I asked, nervous.
Jared let go of my hand, pulling an envelope from his jacket pocket. Ryan had finally written again.