Page 41 of Derek

Derek stroked her arm and back as he held her securely in his strong arms, and she thought she could fall asleep right there. Derek broke the silence with, “Now, tell me how you’ve slept the last week.”

“Huh?” His words startled her.

Derek chuckled. “Don’t play dumb. Answer the question, baby.”

“I slept like I always do.”

Derek pushed against her shoulders so he could look her in the eye and made a disapproving sound. “If you slept a solid seven or eight hours a night, you wouldn’t look this haggard.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Derek gave her a blank stare.

Sonja conceded, “Normally, I sleep about four or five hours a night.”

He cocked his head in a ‘tell me more’ gesture, and she sighed.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Have you always slept so little?”

Sonja chewed on that question for a bit. “Frankly, I can’t remember the last restful night of sleep I had before I spent the night with you.” But then she recalled something her grandmother used to say. “But Gran told me I slept like the dead.”

“So your short nights of sleep started after your grandmother passed away?” Derek appeared to be deep in thought. “Right after?”

Sonja nodded then amended, “Not until I moved out of the house and was sleeping in my car. It’s not the most comfortable place to sleep, and I had to be careful where I parked. I gotrousted by the police every now and then. I was still living out of the car when I met Carol.”

Derek patiently held her until her trembling subsided. “I’m sorry you went through that, baby.”

Sonja released a trembling breath and leaned back to look up in his face. “I don’t get why I sleep like a baby when we’re in bed together but not when I’m alone.”

“Actually, it makes sense.” Derek explained. “Our prehistoric ancestors used to sleep for short periods during the day. Their usual pattern was to sleep for a few hours at night, wake up, and sleep a few hours during the day. A big portion of our brain is built the same way. When a person isn’t feeling safe, the primitive brain takes over. After four or five restful hours, yours tells you to wake up and take your turn watching over the group.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I’m not happy you have trouble sleeping, but I’m glad your brain tells you it’s safe with me around.” Derek kissed her on the forehead. “Now, tell me how you want to spend the rest of our evening.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Three weeks ago, Sonja had feared she would be the third generation in her family to fight breast cancer. Instead, she was floating high in a relationship with a gorgeous man.

She arrived at the Smokehouse for the munch a few minutes before six. Derek had called to say he was running late and would meet her there. She saw Kate talking to Ruby and Molly, so she went over to say hello.

Molly saw her first and broke away from the other two. “Sonja, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve been worried about you. I hope there’re no hard feelings about the other week. I meant well.”

“I know you did, Molly, and everything is great between Derek and me. It’s probably good you interfered. I’m not sure I would have told him at all if it weren’t for you, and it would have put a wall between us. The biopsy was negative, so I could have rationalized keeping Derek in the dark indefinitely.”

“That’s great news! I’m so happy for you! I’m so glad to hear you’re okay on both fronts. Is Derek coming tonight?”

“Yes, but he got held up at work.” While they talked, more people arrived.

“Mitch was right. We’ve got a lot of new people here. I guess mingling is the order of the evening. Shall we?” Sonja said.

“Together or separately?” Molly asked.

“I think I’ll solo for a while. Some of these folks look a little nervous. Double-teaming might scare them off.” Sonja left Molly and said a quick hello to Kate and Ruby before noticing a person standing alone by the appetizer table. Sonja approached and said, “Hi, I’m Sonja. Is this your first munch?”

“Lynn. Yes, it is. I’m not sure I quite fit in, though. Everyone seems older.”

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