Page 105 of The Kidnapped

“No, it’s fine,” Hollis replied. “I’ll text the night nurse to let her know, and I’ll call Mom. She’ll understand.”

“Really?” Raleigh checked.

“I just need to make sure the nurse tells me she thinks Mom will be okay because I can’t trust my mother to admit it if she wants me there. She’ll lie because she wants me to live my life.”

“We can stay at your place. I don’t want to take you away from her.”

“No, it’s okay. And you’re right: we need this, Raleigh. The past few nights have been about my mom, and then my dad calls, and… There’s not been any new news on Eden, and I thought maybe there would be by now… So, let’s just take the night to be a normal couple.”

“A normal couple going to a support group right now?”

“Let’s go to the meeting, and after that, maybe we can go to the diner and have shitty coffee and that pie you like before we go back to your place and make use of the kitchen island, that chair in your living room, your shower, the–”

“Hollis!”

“What?” Hollis asked, laughing.

“I can’t think about all of that right now,” Raleigh said.

“You brought it up,” Hollis argued, still laughing as they got out of the car.

???

“Hollis, anything to share tonight?” Molly asked.

“Oh, no. I don’t think so,” Hollis said.

Raleigh leaned over and whispered, “It’s okay if you want to say something.”

“I haven’t even shared with you yet. And we have plans later. I don’t want to take you out of the mood,” Hollis whispered back.

Raleigh took her hand and softly said, “I’ll still want you. I want all of you, Hollis. This part included.”

Hollis nodded and said to the room, “Actually, can I say something about my dad?”

“Of course,” Molly replied.

Raleigh and the other members of the group listened as Hollis talked about the phone call from her father and the plea deal.

“There’s a part of me that’s glad he’s taking the deal, but there’s this other part of me that’s pissed he could get out in less than four years. He said he wanted to be in my life then. Meanwhile, my mom is dying and won’t even get to be in my life for that long, but he thinks it’s his decision somehow.”

Raleigh held on to her hand as Hollis spoke, wishing she could punch her father in the face and then knee him in the nuts because he’d done this to her.

“Raleigh, anything from you tonight?” Molly asked her after Hollis finished sharing and was offered encouraging words by the group.

“No, I’m okay,” she replied.

And it was true; Raleigh didn’t need to share tonight. They’d come for Hollis tonight, and Hollis seemed to feel a little better now, so the meeting had served its purpose.

“Are you sure?” Hollis asked.

“Yeah, I’m good, babe,” Raleigh said, smiling at her.

???

They’d gone to the diner after the meeting and shared a piece of apple pie. Hollis had ordered the terrible coffee as well, more out of tradition than anything else, and Raleigh had laughed when she’d taken a sip. They’d held hands as they walked back to Raleigh’s car, and when they climbed inside, she’d taken Hollis’s hand back in her own, and they’d driven to Raleigh’s house. Hollis had texted the nurse, and when she called her mother right after, Raleigh had been able to hear Olivia through the phone as she told Hollis to have a good night. There had definitely been something in her tone that had led Raleigh to believe that Olivia knew what they’d be doing tonight.

Inside the house, Raleigh poured them both a glass of red wine and went in search of Hollis because she wasn’t in the living room, where she’d left her.

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