Page 63 of The Rom-Commers

I closed the distance between us—very glad now that I’d brushed my teeth and tied back my hair—and I looked up into Charlie’s curious face.

I put my hand over my chest like I was about to start the Pledge of Allegiance. “Can you just put your hand here like this?”

Charlie nodded, and put his hand over his own heart.

“Not on yourself,” I said. “On me.” I clapped my hand against my chest to show him where.

Charlie’s eyes widened a little. “You want me to put my hand…” His eyes dipped down. “There?”

“This is for medical purposes,” I said. “I think I’m having a problem.”

“Is it a problem we can usewordsfor?”

“Yes,” I said. “But I also need a physical assessment. If you don’t mind.”

He did mind. He clearly minded.

But he did it anyway, bringing his hand toward me with the energy of someone who has to reach down to fish something out of a garbage disposal.

He slowed as he got closer, like he might chicken out, so I grabbed his hand, pulled it the rest of the way, pressed his palm against my chest, and held it there.

“Can you feel that?” I asked.

Charlie looked a little panicked. “Feel what?” he asked.

“You tell me.”

Charlie held still for a minute, his gaze resting on our two hands. Then he said, “Are we talking about your heart beating?”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Yes,” I said. “Exactly. This is what woke me up.”

“Your heart beating is what woke you up?”

I nodded, likeHow crazy is that?“It was beating so hard, it was shaking the bed.”

“That’s why you thought there was an earthquake?”

“But it’s still going. You feel it. Right?”

“I feel… something.”

“Do you think I’m having a heart attack?”

“I don’t know much about heart attacks.”

“Can I feel yours?” I asked.

“Feel my what?”

“Your heart,” I said as I reached out to press my free hand against his chest.

Charlie blinked, like he couldn’t quite catch up to what was happening.

“Your heart’s beating, too,” I said.

“Yeah, well,” he said. “They do that.”

“But I mean, thumping. Pretty hard. Like mine is.” We couldn’t both be having heart attacks, could we? That seemed statistically… improbable. Could we have been—I don’t know—poisoned? Or something?

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