While I Was Away(61)

Because if I'm here, then I'm somewhere he used to be, and that's good enough for me.





29




“Adele!”

Someone was calling her name.

“Jesus, c'mon, Adele!”

Wow, they sounded really annoyed.

And almost ... winded?

“ADELE!”

She came awake with a start, gasping. Instead of air, though, she sucked in water. She sputtered and coughed, flailing her arms. Her right wrist connected with something hard, and suddenly she was sinking. Water covered her head and she started to panic.

Is this the dream? Is this real? I can't tell anymore! Help me, Jones!

Strong arms wrapped around her waist – they'd been there a moment before, she realized – and she was yanked out of the water again.

“I've got you, Adele,” Jones was breathing in her ear. “I've got you.”

She was still gasping, and she could barely see anything. While he dragged her backwards, she clawed at the hair in her face, pushing it aside. They were in the water. Some huge body of water. In the middle of the night. She struggled to catch her breath and she glanced around. Jones was behind her and he was pulling her to the shore.

“What's going?” she demanded. “Where are we?”

“The lake,” he grunted.

“What are we doing in the lake?”

“You were sleepwalking,” he panted.

She was shocked. In her entire life, she'd never once slept walk.

She wasn't given time to dwell on it, though. The breeze coming off the lake was chilly and she started shivering right away. Once they hit the rocky edge, Jones didn't hesitate – he swung her up into his arms like she didn't weigh a thing, then carried her towards a set of wooden steps.

“You could have died!” he hissed.

“I didn't know I was out here,” she replied through chattering teeth.

“I woke up, and you were gone, and the front door was wide open. I thought maybe you'd left,” he told her while walking them across the road and up his driveway. She winced at the sound of gravel under his bare feet, but he didn't seem to notice it. “I thought you'd left because I was mean to you.”

“I wouldn't do that,” she said, huddling in closer to his chest, trying to soak up his warmth.

“God, you could've died, Adele. Your car was still here, and I heard a noise, and when I crossed the street and got to the top of the stairs, you were just going under. I've never been so scared before.”

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

The door to the cabin was still standing open, and he kicked it shut behind them once they were inside. The fire was crackling away in the wood stove, just as warm as before she'd fallen asleep.

Instead putting her down by herself, Jones simply sat down on the bed with her still in his arms, settling her on his lap. Then he grabbed the heavy quilt from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her as best he could.

“I'm sorry I was mean to you,” he whispered, his hands rubbing over her back and sides. “I'm sorry I don't know how to deal with ... this.”

“I'm sorry, too,” she whispered back, a tear finally escaping. “I don't know why this happened to us. I don't mean to make you feel bad. I never want that. Ever. I just want ...”

She didn't know the words to say. There were too many and not enough, all at once. But Jones nodded in that understanding way she knew so well, then he dropped his head down to rest it against hers.

“I know. I don't ... I don't believe in this kind of stuff, Adele,” he spoke softly. “Yet here you are and here we are, and when I saw you go in that water, I didn't know I could feel fear like that. If I hadn't woken up, you would've drowned. And just thinking that ... I couldn't bear it.”

She closed her eyes and tried to soak up the moment. No more walls, no more barricades. He didn't fully believe in them yet, but he wasn't going to deny it anymore, either. That had to be good enough for her.

For now.

“Adele.”

“Yes?”

“I'm ready to listen now,” he breathed. “Really listen. I won't shut you out again. From now on, it's you and me, until we figure this out.”

She let her eyes drift shut.

“You and me. I'd like that, Jones.”

*





“I DON'T UNDERSTAND.”

“What?”

“The sleepwalking.”

Jones shifted and she lifted herself so he could move his arm to a more comfortable position.

“You said you were walking into the ocean in your dream,” he said. “Your body was just acting it out in real life. Happens all the time.”

Adele frowned and settled her head against his chest, right over his heart.

“But I don't sleepwalk, I've never done that,” she said. He surprised her by chuckling.

“You did in the hospital.”

“What!?”

“Twice,” he told her. “The doctor decided it was best not to tell your family.”

“When? To where?”

“Once right after I started, in the middle of the night – they found you down the hall. They put an alarm on your bed after that, and were pretty excited, they thought you were waking up. But then it didn't happen again for a long time, not until maybe a week or so before you woke up. I had just gotten done checking your vitals and I was leaving. It was almost like ... like you tried to follow me out the room,” he explained. “I turned around and you were right behind me. Scared the shit out of me.”