Page 78 of Make Me Yours

“Please,” he says, his eyes pleading with mine. “Let me explain, Sully.”

“Give me my sling.”

“Please, I?—”

“There’s nothing to explain. There’s nothing you can say to make this better. Nothing.”

His throat works. “Then, this is it? It’s over?”

“My sling,” I say, fighting to keep from falling apart. “Please.”

I hold out my hand and he presses the fabric slowly, gently into my palm, practically wrenching my heart from my chest as he says, “All right, but please…get out of this town. For your own sake. And if you ever need anything—money, a reference, an introduction to my gallery owner friend in the city—just ask. I’ll do whatever I can to help. No strings attached.”

Eyes filling with tears, I rasp, “Please, just go.”

“I’m going,” he says, tears in his eyes, too. “I love you, Gertrude Sullivan. And I always will.”

And then he’s gone and I’m dropping back to the floor to sob my heart out.

I cry and cry, open-mouthed, nearly silent sobs that sap what little strength I have left in my body after a restless, painful night of sleep. Then I pull myself together as best I can and clean up the mess Weaver and I made on my friend’s floor. But once I’m done, I can’t seem to move.

I’m still sitting on the hardwood, a pile of used paper towels and a spray cleaner bottle beside me when Elaina appears half an hour later.

I peer up at her, my puffy, aching eyes narrowing in my face. “What are you doing here? Who’s watching the café?”

“No one,” she says. “After Weaver left with tears in his eyes, I kicked everyone out and closed up for the day.”

My jaw drops. “But Sunday is one of your biggest days.”

“I don’t care.”

“There are still a few tourists out. I saw them on my way in.”

“Still, don’t care,” she says, settling beside me and wrapping her arm around my back. “You need some TLC, bestie. So, I’m going to run you a bath, get you some pajamas to borrow, and then we’ll snuggle in my bed and watch Anne of Green Gables and eat chocolate until the pain gets better.”

Tears spring to my eyes again. “I can’t. I have to get back to the hospital to visit Gramps.”

“You’ll call Gramps and tell him you that feel like shit and need to rest, he’ll understand,” she says. “If he could see you right now, he’d insist I take care of you, just like he did when we were kids. We can order pizza too, like at our old sleepovers.”

“I loved sleepovers,” I sob, tears flowing down my face again. “Things were so much easier then. Still hard, but so much easier.”

“I know, honey,” Elaina says, hugging me tighter. “But we’ll make them easy again, just for tonight. Just you and me. I’ve got your back, girl. Forever and ever. Boys will come and go, but I’m yours for life.”

She means it, I know she does. And she’s so precious to me. I’d die for Elaina in a heartbeat, but is our friendship and the love I have for Maya and Sydney and my family enough tolivefor anymore? Or have I been ruined by the complicated, damaged, dangerous man who just walked out of my life with the sweetest final words any man ever gave a woman?

“I can’t understand it, Elaina,” I say. “How can he make me feel so safe and wonderful and have nearly taken someone’s life with his bare hands, too? I don’t get it. Make it make sense.”

She sighs. “Oh man. Sounds like we need to talk. But first, your bath. I’ll start it now and grab you a coconut water from the fridge. You need to hydrate. You look like you’ve cried out half your soul.”

“Probably more than half,” I mumble, rubbing at my scratchy eyes.

“Come on,” she says, helping me to my feet. “Come on, my battered little squirrel. A soak will help. Then we’ll get you fed and hydrated and when you’re ready, we’ll talk about sexy sad Weaver.”

“He was really sad,” I agree, fighting another wave of tears. “I think he really loved me.”

“No doubt,” Elaina says. “He’s a very smart man and you’re very, very loveable. But shush. No more boy talk until after you get cleaned up and rest a little. A nap would also be good. I love a mid-morning nap. We can turn on my sound machine and snuggle with stuffed animals like when we were kids. I still have a huge stuffy stash in my closet.”

And so, we do. I soak in the bath until my stomach starts to settle, drinking the coconut water while Elaina bustles around outside, getting the room ready for our healing day. Afterward, I put on a pair of her pajamas that fit just fine aside from being way too short, and we nap and eat and watch television and stay in bed until she pops downstairs to feed the kitties their afternoon snack and clean up the litter boxes.

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