Page 105 of The Brave and the Reckless

“I need to apologize,” she huffed. Her face was flushed bright pink, tiny beads of sweat cresting above her brows.

“We can talk later, Esra. You should really be lying down.” I knelt in front of her and tried to take her shoes, but she kicked my hands off.

“No, look, I had a whole apology mapped out. It’s on my phone.” She patted her pockets, only to realize there was no phone. Her glassy eyes moved to the front door.

“I’ll get it,” I said.

“Stop. Will you just stop? I’ll do it myself later. Just sit down and let me tell you that I’ve fallen stupidly in love with you.”

I froze. “What did you just say?”

“Oh, you heard me, Young,” she snapped and squeezed her eyes shut, bending forward. She gripped the edge of the sofa cushions until her knuckles turned white. “Nowcan I please apologize for leaving the way I did?” She yelled those words into the space between her knees as she tried to keep her body from swaying. A little dizzy spell was one thing, but she couldn’t even sit upright.

“Listen to me, you stubborn woman,” I sighed and sank down in front of her again. This time, I held her feet firmly enough so she couldn’t shake me off. I pulled her tennis shoes off first, then the ankle braces. “You’re sick. You’re actually acutely sick. So I’m going to take care of you, and you’re going to let me. Because, right now, you need someone to look after you and make sure you get better. That has nothing to do with me being overbearing. I’m used to being the one who takes responsibility, so sometimes you might have to roll your pretty eyes at me and tell me to relax. But you’ll have to accept that sometimes you just need help. And I’m going to be here to help you because I love you too, so you’re stuck with me.”

“Fine,” she mumbled and slowly blinked through tired lids, “but you might have to repeat all of that tomorrow.”

“I’ll repeat it every day if you need me to.”

“God, I hope this doesn’t last that long.”

“I’ll be right back, okay? I’m going to get you something to drink.”

By the time I came back with a cup of water, Esra lay sprawled out on the sofa. She flipped the hem of her shirt up and down to cool off, but soaked strands of hair stuck to her face and the flush had spread from her cheeks down her neck. When I brought the cold compress to her forehead now, she didn’t try to fight me off.

“I thought you were at Yale today with some wannabe boat murderer.”

Her eyes cleared for just a flash. “Have you been keeping tabs on me?”

“Yes.” No point in lying.

“I don’t know if that’s creepy or sweet,” she muttered. “I was touring the campus, but I just couldn’t see a future in that kind of place anymore. I guess I never did. It had always been about the end goal, but grad school was never going to make me happy. It was so stifling.” She gulped down some water, then lay back with her eyes closed. “I got the first flight I could to Nashville and Adriana picked me up from the airport. I went home, but you weren’t there.”

Home. She thought of Bravetown as home.

Whatever kind of apology she had drafted on her phone, this was already more than I’d ever expected of her.

“I moved in here a couple days ago,” I explained.

“You don’t even have a hot shower.” Her face contorted and I smoothed the tension back out with my fingertips.

“I didn’t want to live next to anyone that wasn’t you, princess.” I climbed on to the sofa and draped her legs over my lap. “Besides, I bought a makeshift electric shower. It’ll do for now.”

“Huh. That wasn’t on the to-do list.”

“I added it and then I crossed it off.”

“Good.”

Esra slipped into a quick sleep. For a short while, I just watched her. I was worried she’d wake up and spit the water back up when she really needed those fluids. I also considered that I was merely hallucinating her and if I looked away, she’d be gone again. Only when I was somewhat certain that neither was the case did I leave her to go have a conversation that was long overdue.

Sanny picked up on the first ring. “She’s with you?”

Jumping right into the deep end. Not sure how he’d come to that conclusion, but it saved me the preamble. “Yeah.”

“Good.” He let out a long breath. “She’s not picking up her phone and Dad’s going berserk.”

“She left her phone in the car.”

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