Page 47 of The Kidnapped

“She’s okay. I mean, she still has cancer, but her head is fine. Having run all the tests, the doctor confirmed what I thought had happened: she lost her balance while getting up from the bed and fell, hitting herself on the nightstand. I’ve now wrapped a few socks around the corners just in case until I can buy something more permanent.

“That’s good news,” Raleigh said, wiping her hands on a dry rag. “And I should probably leave you two alone now. I really didn’t mean to stay.”

“Raleigh, you don’t have to keep saying that. You’re welcome here anytime you want.”

“Girls, would you like to watch some TV with me?” Olivia asked from the living room.

“She means watch something until she falls asleep in, like, five minutes,” Hollis said to Raleigh. “Sure, Mom.”

“I should–”

“She will literally be out in five minutes. If you want to leave then, you can.”

It was true: five minutes after they all sat down, Olivia was asleep. Hollis had to wake the woman to get her to her bed. Raleigh didn’t know if she should leave without saying goodbye or wait, so she decided to just wait. When Hollis emerged minutes later, she looked so exhausted.

“She has meds to take that help her sleep, and I also wanted to make sure she was comfortable. Sorry if it took a while.”

“No, it’s fine,” Raleigh said. “You look beat.”

Hollis flopped down onto the sofa next to her.

“I am. The cot helped, but it was still hard to sleep through the night.”

“Go to bed, Hollis. I can head home.”

“It’s not like sleep comes all that easily in my bed, either,” Hollis told her, turning her head to Raleigh. “I end up thinking about all the times we moved or the times he lied to me about her, and I get so angry. My heart starts to pound, and I can’t fall asleep.”

Raleigh stared into Hollis’s tired eyes and asked, “Do you want me to stay?”

“No, I’ll be okay,” Hollis said, turning away from her.

“Can I at least make sure you get to bed?”

“I still have some work to do. I took the day off, but I have things another researcher wanted me to vet, and–”

“Bed, Hollis.” She patted Hollis’s knee. “All that will still be waiting for you when you wake up tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Hollis agreed with little fight.

Raleigh helped her up by the hands and grabbed her hips to turn her in the direction of the hallway. She kept her hands there as they walked into the bedroom.

“I’m just going to brush my teeth and pee. I’ll be right out,” Hollis said.

“Okay,” she replied, looking around the room she’d been in once before.

That time, Raleigh had been quick, wanting to get back to Hollis with clothes and toiletries as fast as possible. Now, she was really looking at the room, but as she tried to find pieces of Hollis in it, she remembered this wasn’t Hollis’s room; this was a guest room she was sleeping in while she took care of her mother.

“I promise, I’ll go to sleep, okay?” Hollis told her, emerging from the bathroom.

Raleigh turned to see that she’d changed into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt while in the bathroom.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“It’s late. Do you want to just stay?” Hollis asked her.

“No. It’s not that far of a drive.”

Hollis nodded, yawned, and then asked, “Will you stay if I ask you to?”

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