Page 12 of Zane

“Okay. But I want to see him again before we go.”

“Of course.”

When Kelsey returned to Zane’s room, his parents said they’d leave her with him for a bit. Relieved to finally be back with Zane, Kelsey sat down in the chair and took his hand.

“I’m going to go home for a bit,” she said. “They’re telling me that’s what you would want. I hope they’re right because I really don’t want to leave you, but I’m so tired.”

She sat in silence for a moment, feeling emotion rise within her. This would be the first time she slept in their bed without him since their marriage.

“I need you to get better. I need you so much, Zane. You got me used to being an us. I don’t want to go back to being just me. I love you. Fight. Please fight.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she lifted his hand to press her cheek to it. Her anxiety was pulsing again at the thought of leaving him. What if something happened while she was gone?

Finally, when she felt herself falling asleep again, Kelsey got to her feet and leaned over to press a kiss to Zane’s lips. She rested her forehead against his for a moment, then straightened.

“Goodnight, love. I’ll be back in the morning.”

The hardest thing in the world was to walk away from Zane and leave his room. Anxiety swelled inside her, but Kelsey breathed steadily, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other. The sooner she left, the sooner she could come back.

In the waiting room, she found Lee huddled in conversation with his parents. Rori spotted her first and smiled.

“Ready to go?” Lee asked as he got to his feet.

“Not really,” Kelsey said. “But I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready, so I might as well go now.”

“We’ll call if anything develops,” Mrs. Halverson said.

“Thank you.”

Kelsey wasn’t sure what would happen if a major decision needed to be made for Zane while he was still unconscious. Would they let her have any input?

“We’ve booked a nearby hotel, so we’ll go there to check in once we’ve dropped Kelsey off, then we’ll come back to get you guys,” Lee said, then the three of them headed out of the hospital.

The ache in her heart grew the further away they got, but Kelsey managed to hold her composure. Total privacy was within reach. Then she wouldn’t have to contain her emotions any longer.

But was that actually a good thing?

Kelsey wasn’t sure.

She gave Lee the address of the apartment building, which he then put into the GPS in the car that they’d rented.

When they reached the building, he pulled to a stop at the curb in front of the door. “We’ll come back and pick you up in the morning. Just text me when you’re ready to go.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Kelsey said. “I might end up wanting to go in fairly early.”

“Okay. Just let me know if you need a ride.”

“Thank you for everything today.” Kelsey opened the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“We’ll be praying for you,” Rori said. “I hope you sleep well.”

Kelsey wasn’t sure that would be the case, but she didn’t argue with her. Just said goodnight and got out of the car.

Once she reached the apartment, the silence was oppressive, but she tried not to dwell on it. Though it was still quite early, not even six o’clock, Kelsey decided to take a shower, maybe eat something, then go to bed.

As she stood in front of the shower a few minutes later, waiting for the water to warm up, the tears began to fall. She didn’t know how it had happened, but they’d gotten into the habit of showering together, and now she was going to have to do it alone.

Sobbing, she stepped into the warm spray and let it pound down on her and wash away her tears. But nothing could stem the emotion that rushed out of her, so she didn’t even try.

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