At Any Turn

Heath rolled his eyes and went over to her rig and closed out the program, shutting the computer down. I noticed the spiral notebook she always kept near her computer, full of notes on the hidden quest from the Golden Mountains. I resisted the urge to flip through it, curious to see if she was getting close.

Heath sighed. “She always leaves it at the log-in screen. Drives me batty, this music playing constantly.” He straightened. “No offense.”

I laughed. “None taken. I didn’t write the music.”

“You want to leave her a note or something?”

I pondered that suggestion, pulled out my phone; still no answer to my text. I tapped out another one.

Over at Heath’s. Dropped by to say hi and you weren’t here.

A few seconds after I hit the send button, I heard a chime from beside her computer. Heath’s head craned around. “Her phone is here. Looks like her bag, too. She must be in her room.”

I went over to her door and tapped lightly. After a long pause, I heard her voice on the other side. But when I opened the door, she was in the dark.

“Heath, I’m sleeping. Who are you talking to out there?” she muttered.

“Adam,” I answered. “I mean, it’s Adam. Can I come in?”

She rustled in her bed, sitting up. I peered into the darkness, just catching her outline. She rubbed her eyes. “Yeah. How was paintball?”

“Good,” I said, stepping into the room.

She scooted aside on her narrow bed and patted the space next to her. “Sit down.”

“Sorry I woke you up. Why are you in bed so early?” I’d never known her to go to bed before eleven. Yet here it was, barely ten and she had been sound asleep for a while.

“Just really tired,” she said, yawning.

I sat next to her and bent to kiss her forehead. She locked her arms around my neck in a tight hug.

“Careful,” I said. “Your roommate shot the hell out of me.”

“Bastard,” she snorted. “I’ll rough him up for you.”

She felt warm. I put my hand on her forehead. “You feeling okay?”

“I’m just so tired,” she repeated.

“Then I won’t keep you…” I said, my voice dying out. But the last thing I wanted to do was leave, goddamn it.

She fell back against the bed, looking up at me. Her dark hair splayed across her pillow. I went to stand up and she clamped her hand around my arm. I hesitated, sitting back down.

With her heavy-lidded eyes and her lazy smile, she was so goddamn beautiful. “Will you sit with me for a little bit? Until I fall back asleep?”

I wrapped my hand around hers. “Sure.”

She rolled on her side, facing away from me to make room for me to lie beside her. I kicked off my shoes and did just that, locking my arms around her.

The smell of vanilla and fresh peaches—that was the smell of Emilia and that longing returned. How much I missed her. “Emilia…” I whispered.

“Yeah?”

I opened my mouth. I miss you. Like I’d miss my right arm. Like I’d miss my own beating heart. Like I’d miss my next breath. “You’d tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn’t you? So I could help?”

She was silent for a long moment. “What makes you think anything is wrong?”

“I don’t, but…just in case.”

She settled herself deeper into my arms. “I’ll tell you exactly what I need right now. Your arms. Right where they are. Holding me tight. The prescription for all that ails me.”

“What ails you?”

A pause. “I told you. I’m fine. Just tired.”

I pulled her against me, mentally beating myself down with a bat to resist kissing her. My body sure wanted to start something—her smell and warmth were too near, too inviting. I reminded myself that I was here to give her what she needed. I wanted her back with me for good and I was willing to bide my time. Sun Tzu might have been proud of my patience.

She was asleep again in less than ten minutes. I held her for another thirty before I got up from the small bed, gently kissing her on the cheek and settling the blankets over her.

When I returned to the living room, Heath was sitting on the couch playing a game on his iPad.

He looked up. “Everything okay?”

“She was really tired.”

He flicked a glance at her closed door and nodded, his face strangely blank. “She had a long week.”

“But she’s okay, right?”

Heath frowned at me. “Did she seem okay?”