Page 63 of The Kidnapped

“I was just about to start,” Hollis replied.

“Good. Want to help me with this?” Raleigh told her more than asked before she just walked through the living room and into the kitchen like she owned the place.

Hollis was left standing at the door, wondering what was happening. Then, having let out a big sigh, she closed and locked the front door and followed Raleigh into the kitchen, where her unexpected guest was already unloading the groceries she’d brought over onto the counter.

“Raleigh, what–”

“Hollis, you didn’t let me explain the other night. You just left.”

“Can we maybe not talk about this now? My mom–”

“If cooking won’t wake her up, you and I talking about this won’t, either,” Raleigh interjected.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to explain.”

“Hollis, you are the first friend I’ve made since I lost Eden. I have other friends, but I don’t see them anymore. I’ve tried. We had a dinner party or a night out for drinks. They all just tiptoe around me because they no longer know how to talk to me. It used to be about work, Eden, and my relationship with Millie – either how it was going or talking about how it had ended – but then it just turned awkward, so I stopped going. I stopped making an effort. Then, you show up, and you just get it.” Raleigh finished unloading one bag and took the other one from Hollis. “You don’t tiptoe. You don’t get impatient when I cry for the thousandth time in a day. You let me talk about her, but you don’t force me to, either. And we can talk about what we’ve both gone through, but we can also talk about everything else. I haven’t had that.”

“So, you want to just be friends,” Hollis concluded. “I get it.”

Raleigh stopped unpacking and turned to her.

“Hollis, it’s not that I don’t feel it.”

“You don’t have to say–”

“Oh, my God. Shut up.” Raleigh laughed and rolled her eyes. “Let me finish a damn sentence.”

“Sorry,” Hollis said, smiling and shaking her head at herself.

“I do feel it. There’s a pull.”

Hollis nodded once.

“It’s been there since the beginning,” Raleigh shared.

“Yeah,” Hollis agreed.

“But I can’t.”

“Okay.”

“I just don’t think I can be with anyone. I don’t know what’s going to happen if we never find her. Maybe I’ll end up like your mom. She never remarried. From what you’ve told me, she rarely dated in thirty years. Maybe that’s what’s in store for me.”

“God, I hope not,” she replied. “Raleigh, the situation is different. My mom married the man who kidnapped me. The man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with changed, and when they divorced, he took me from her. I don’t blame her for not trusting anyone else like that again.” Hollis paused and tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “I don’t want that for you. Even if it’s not me, even if it’s not now, Eden wasn’t taken by your ex-husband or anyone you loved like that.”

“But she was still taken, and I can hardly focus on anything other than that right now. My work is suffering. I lost a good client the other day. I just don’t think I have the strength to start a relationship with anyone, least of all you, because you…” Raleigh took a deep breath. “Hollis, you’re too important to me. I can’t lose you as a friend. I know that’s selfish, but it’s the truth.”

“Okay. Then, you won’t,” Hollis stated. “I’ll be your friend.”

“I wish it–”

“No, don’t do that,” Hollis interrupted her this time. “Let’s just cook dinner or something, okay?”

Raleigh nodded and said, “Okay.”

CHAPTER 21

Dinner with Hollis and Olivia had been great, although Olivia was clearly not as spunky as she’d been the last time Raleigh had seen her, which made Raleigh feel even worse for Hollis. Neither of them knew how much longer Hollis’s mother had, of course, but Raleigh wished she could just give the gift of time because she’d give Hollis forever with her mother if she could. When they’d said goodnight after dinner and dishes, Hollis had walked her to her car, which had been a direct instruction from Olivia, so the woman still had some spunk left in her. Hollis had stood feet away from Raleigh, though, with her hands tucked awkwardly in her pockets, and where, previously, they would’ve hugged, this time, Hollis only gave her a small wave. Raleigh hated it.

---