Page 84 of The Kidnapped

“What?”

“Apparently, this is normal. People go through a ton of nurses, I guess. I assumed we’d get one, and she’d be here for the long haul, but the agency said they could send someone the day after tomorrow. I’m working from home tomorrow, and the lawyer agreed to come here, given the circumstances.”

“Where’s the night nurse?” Raleigh asked. “Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

“She had a patient emergency,” Hollis replied.

“What?”

“She works a swing shift and then the night shift. The swing-shift patient went into cardiac arrest, so she was dealing with that, and I told her to take the night off,” she explained. “I’m here. It’s fine.”

“When was the last time you slept?” Raleigh asked, turning Hollis toward her.

“I slept really well the night before last, actually,” Hollis smirked.

Raleigh laughed, moved her arms around Hollis’s waist, and asked, “And last night?”

“Not that well. But the nurse was here, so I got a few hours, at least.”

“What if I stay over tonight and just work from here tomorrow? I can help you with your mom tonight so that you can get some sleep, and then be here with the lawyer tomorrow and help with her, too. You could focus on work when you need to, and it would give you a little break.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Hollis said.

“You didn’t. I offered.”

“Raleigh, you already have so much going on. This is the part that’s complicated. I don’t want you to have to take on even more.”

Raleigh leaned in, kissed her sweetly on the lips, and said, “As if you haven’t taken on more of my stuff with Eden. If we want this, Hollis, it has to be all of it. We can’t do it halfway. We can’t not talk about the stuff that’s going on, but we also can’t be surrounded by it all the time, either. You were right that night at the restaurant: we need the moments, the nights where it’s just us, two people who are dating and getting to know each other. Still, we can’t just ignore the fact that your mom is sick while you’re trying to deal with your dad’s trial, and I’m losing work clients at an alarming rate, and my daughter is missing.”

“It’s just so much…” Hollis sighed.

“I know,” Raleigh said. “I wish we were just two people dating and none of this was going on, but we can’t ignore it.”

“Can we ignore it for, like, five minutes, maybe? I haven’t really kissed you yet.”

“You noticed, huh? I got one lousy peck when you opened the door, but then I just got put straight to work drying dishes,” Raleigh teased.

“Please allow me to remedy this immediately,” Hollis replied as she wrapped her arms around Raleigh’s neck and pulled her in. “I missed you.”

“Me too,” Raleigh told her.

Hollis pressed her lips to Raleigh’s and kissed her slowly, missing the taste of her, even though it had only been just over a day since they’d kissed goodbye at Raleigh’s front door. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been standing there, but Raleigh turned them until her back was pressed to the counter, effectively trapping herself between Hollis’s body and the sink. Hollis moved her lips to Raleigh’s neck, breathing her in as she did, and just as she was about to suggest they stop because they couldn’t take things further in her mother’s kitchen, Hollis heard a throat clear. She turned her head and saw said mother standing right there in the kitchen.

“Mom!”

“I just needed more water,” Olivia said. “And hello, Raleigh. It’s nice to see you again.”

Raleigh wiped her mouth and said, “You too.”

“So… I assume there’s something Hollis hasn’t told me?”

“No, it’s not–” Hollis tried and stopped. “It’s new. It just happened. But you had your appointment, and I didn’t want to–”

“Bother me with the news of your new relationship?” Olivia said.

“It’s not– I mean, we haven’t–”

“Yes,” Raleigh interrupted. “It just happened the other night. I was a jerk on our first date. Did she tell you that?” Raleigh moved out of Hollis’s grasp then and over to Olivia, whom she helped to one of the kitchen table chairs. “And I was lucky enough that she forgave me and gave me another chance.”

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