Page 77 of The Kidnapped

“Sleep?”

“Yes,” Hollis replied. “Not the best date ever, huh?”

“Let’s go to bed early.”

“I can’t. I should get home.”

“I thought there was a night nurse.”

“There is. But it’s her first night.”

“Hollis,” Raleigh began, swiping her thumb tenderly over Hollis’s bottom lip. “Text her and tell her that you’re spending the night elsewhere and that she can call you if there’s an emergency. Then, let’s go to bed.”

Hollis pressed her forehead to Raleigh’s this time and said, “I didn’t bring anything.”

“You can wear my band T-shirt to sleep in, and I can find another shirt for myself.”

Hollis laughed softly and said, “You want me to wear your band shirt? Like a groupie?”

“Well, you’re dating the drummer now,” Raleigh teased. “You are, right?”

“Dating implies more than one date…”

“Then, let’s do that.”

“Okay,” Hollis agreed.

“And you can only sleep in my T-shirt, if you want. I have a shortage of pajama pants. It’s the strangest thing in the world. They all disappeared right before you got here.”

Hollis laughed again and pulled out of Raleigh’s grasp.

“Come on,” Raleigh continued. “I’ll put the wine back in the bottle, and we can go to bed.”

???

Hollis couldn’t sleep at first. Raleigh lay there with her head on Hollis’s chest, and it was as if they’d done this a thousand times before. Hollis’s hand played with Raleigh’s hair to soothe her to sleep, but as exhausted as Hollis was, she couldn’t seem to fall asleep herself. Even though her mom had been the one to suggest that they get nurses to help Hollis, Olivia hadn’t liked the first several night nurses the agency had sent over. The first one had no bedside manner. The second one had been late on her very first night and hadn’t offered an explanation. The third one had made her mom wait for over five minutes when she needed to get to the bathroom because she’d taken a call from someone. Hollis could only hope that this nurse would take the job seriously.

The day nurse had been the only winner so far. When Hollis went to work, her mom was only by herself for about an hour before the nurse arrived. The woman also stayed until she got home, so that made Hollis feel a lot better about going to work for eight hours a day. She’d been about to tell Kenna that she either needed to work from home or she’d have to quit because her mother was getting worse and needed her more. Thankfully, Hollis had done research into her mom’s insurance plan, and after several calls where she’d demanded to speak to someone above the idiot who had kept telling her that things weren’t covered, she finally found someone who told her that she could get nurses for a certain number of hours a week covered. That allowed Hollis to cover the rest of the hours herself since she didn’t have to quit her job now.

“Hollis?”

“I thought you were sleeping,” Hollis said softly.

“You’re not,” Raleigh pointed out. “I can feel your heart going crazy. I’d like to take that as a compliment, but I’m not sure it has anything to do with me.”

“I’m sorry,” Hollis replied. “I’m a little tightly wound right now.”

“Do you want to go home?”

“No,” Hollis said quickly. “No, I don’t. I want to be here.”

“But you’re worried about her?”

“Yes, but no. I’m always worried these days, but I’m just thinking too much, and I can’t seem to stop it.”

“Do you want my headphones? You could put your meditation app on.” Raleigh lifted up to look at her.

“I don’t think that’ll work.”

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