Page 39 of The Kidnapped

“Have you been home at all, Hollis?”

“Not yet. I just want to be here when she wakes up.”

“Let me stop by and grab your keys.”

“What? Why?”

“I can go to your house and pick up some clothes or your phone charger or something.”

“I bought a cheap charger in the gift shop.”

“Clothes, then,” Raleigh said. “And stuff to clean up in the bathroom with or something.”

“I’m okay. It’s only one more night. I don’t think I smell that great, but it’s a hospital – the whole place smells like antiseptic anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m okay.”

“If you change your mind, will you call me?”

“Sure.”

“You don’t mean it, do you?”

Hollis laughed and said, “I do.”

“Okay. I’ll let you go, then. I’m glad she’s okay, Hollis.”

“Me too.”

Raleigh hung up, but she didn’t feel right about Hollis being there alone. Hollis had been there for her. It was time Raleigh showed up for her now.

CHAPTER 14

“Hollis?”

Hollis’s eyes snapped open when she heard her name, thinking it was a doctor or nurse trying to tell her something about her mom. Instead, she found Raleigh standing next to the chair she’d fallen asleep in. Raleigh was smiling down at her, and it was only then that Hollis noticed Raleigh’s hand was massaging the back of her neck.

“Sorry. You were sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you, but I thought you should know that I’m here.”

“Hey,” Hollis said, yawning instantly and turning away from Raleigh because her breath could not be good right now. “Is everything okay? What are you doing here?”

“You sounded so tired on the phone, and you’ve been here for over thirty-six hours,” she replied, still massaging Hollis’s neck. “I brought you some magazines and a book. I don’t think people still do that for people in the hospital now that smartphones exist, but it was the only thing I could think of bringing. I also stopped at the gift shop on the way up and got you some snacks, but I really think you should eat something real. Can we go to the cafeteria and get you something? It won’t do your mom any good if you’re so hungry when you leave here, you can’t drive home.”

“I can’t drive home anyway,” Hollis replied. “I rode in the ambulance with her.”

Raleigh nodded and said, “Then, you can call me when it’s time for her to be discharged, and I’ll pick you guys up.”

“No, I can’t ask you to do that. We can just order a car,” Hollis said, rubbing her tired eyes.

“You literally stayed the night at my place because I asked you to stay until I fell asleep. Don’t think I didn’t notice you passed out at five in the morning when I woke up to go to the bathroom,” Raleigh noted, smiling at her. Then, the neck massage stopped, and Raleigh asked, “Why did you leave before I woke up?”

“Work. I needed to get home to change. You were sleeping so soundly; I didn’t want to wake you up. I figured you probably had a regular alarm set, so you’d be okay for work.”

Raleigh gave her a small nod and said, “Come on. Let’s get you out of this chair. Your back cannot feel good right now.”

“It doesn’t,” she admitted. “But they were nice enough to let me stay, even though the visiting hours were over, so I didn’t want to ask for a cot or something.”

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