Page 101 of Bewitched & Bewildered
She shakes in my arms, and all I can do is keep kissing her forehead, her hair, her cheek. Anything I can touch. She leans into each brush of my lips, and I know it’s not enough, but it’s something. I’m giving her everything I can.
She doesn’t let go.
After a few minutes, her breathing calms. She wipes away any tears my shirt didn’t already soak up.
“Sorry,” she mumbles, pulling away to look at me.
“Don’t apologize.” I hold her face and use my thumb to swipe away a tear. “I want to thank you.”
“For what?” She lets out a pained laugh.
“For letting me be here. I know it isn’t easy for you.”
There’s a moment where I think she’ll deny it, but she doesn’t.
“You’re right. None of this is easy. It hurts.”
“It’s allowed to hurt.” I take her hand, stroking the back of it with my thumb. “How are you getting home, baby? I don’t want you driving like this.”
“I’m walking.”
“No. You’re not. Not like this,” I say. “I’m driving you.”
I’m expecting an argument, but she surprises me again.
“Okay,” she says. “That would be nice.”
Juniper is different than I’ve ever known her. In my truck, she looks small and fragile. She’s pushed to the other side of the vehicle, with her cheek pressed to the window. I hope it’s imprinted there forever.
The ride home isn’t long, but I feel better knowing she isn’t walking around with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Do you need anything from me?” I ask as I park outside her house.
She shakes her head. “You already gave me everything I need. Thank you again.”
“Enough of that.” I hold her chin and turn her face so she looks at me. “You really don’t have to thank me. It is an honor to take care of you. I wish you had let me do it sooner.”
She exhales shakily, and then… she smiles. Finally, a smile. My chest grows warm. At the end of her terrible day, she’s smiling forme.
“I’m letting you do it now,” she says.
“You are.”
“I’m going to spend the night… I don’t know. Sleeping. Drinking hot chocolate.” She shrugs. “So, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
There’s nothing she can say to keep me from worrying, but when she opens the car door, I let her go.
Juniper is the one who pauses.
“Hey, Oz?”
My heart pounds. “Yeah?”
“Do you want to come inside?”
She already knows the answer. Shemust. I’m out of the car before I can respond. What if she changes her mind? I’ll survive—but I want to be there for her.
I want her to let me in, and she is.
