While I Was Away(62)

Adele was shocked. She sat up so she could look him in the eye.

“I thought coma patients couldn't do stuff like that!”

“They can,” he assured her. “It's not common, but it happens. People in various kinds of vegetative states have been known to do all kinds of things, like laugh, cry, sit up.”

“I didn't know ...” she breathed. Then his arm curled around her shoulders and he gently pulled her back down to the bed.

After she'd stopped shivering, Jones had unwrapped her from the quilt. While she'd gone to change into a second t-shirt of his, he'd gotten rid of the damp blankets they'd been sitting on. By the time she'd come back, he'd spread a different quilt on top of the mattress.

Then she'd climbed beneath the covers, and without hesitating, Jones had slid in next to her. They'd stayed on their separate sides of the mattress for a while, him just listening while she went over her coma dream again. But as she'd gone into more details and he'd asked more questions, they'd drifted together.

It felt natural to be close to him; for them to touch and hold each other, and thankfully he was no longer trying to resist those feelings. So she'd pressed herself against his side and he'd willingly wrapped his arm around her, giving her a squeeze while she'd described the gray party.

Eventually they wound up wrapped around each other without even realizing it. She had one leg twined around his, and an arm draped across his waist. His free hand was drawing lazy circles on her forearm, and it didn't feel strange at all to be so intimate.

“You better not tell my brothers about my little hospital walkabouts,” she finally said. “They'd be pissed.”

He laughed again, the deep sound echoing through his chest and into her mind.

“They always seem pissed,” he joked. “And they were there when you opened your eyes one time.”

“That's when I saw Ocean,” she guessed, then felt him nod.

“Yeah. He got to you just before you closed them – he practically knocked your friend over in the process.”

“He's always been a little overzealous when it comes to me.”

“Understandable.”

Adele watched his fingers for a moment as they moved back and forth over her skin.

“Jones.”

“I love that you use that name,” he breathed, and she felt her cheeks grow warm.

“What happens tomorrow?”

He paused for a long time, then lifted the hand he had cupped around her shoulder. She felt his fingers in her hair, slowly combing through her dark strands.

“We wake up and we see, okay? This is weird, and it's not normal, but we have to find out what's going on. We have to see what this connection is.”

She smiled and snuggled in even closer to his side.

“Are you saying you believe now?”

She couldn't see him, but she knew he was smiling, because she knew him that well.

“I'm saying ... my mind is open to the possibility of the fantastic.”

“Jones,” she snickered.

“What?”

“You talk too much.”

“You know, for some reason, I don't think that fact surprises you.”





30




Ocean had never smoked a day in his life, but that morning, he found himself craving the smell.

She was smoking when you walked down to the coffee shop. Then she blew a cloud of smoke in your face before hopping on a bus. It's her that you're craving.

He'd never been a fan of cigarettes, but he actually didn't mind Zoey's habit. She didn't do it all the time, she'd never left the hospital in the middle of a visit or anything. The cigarette was almost more like an extension of her attitude, and Ocean liked her attitude.

He liked everything about Zoey.

“Yo!”

He turned around at the sound of the shout. River was jogging across the street.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” Ocean said.

“Yeah, I missed you at the thing last night.”

“I ducked out early. I never heard back from Auggie about coffee this morning – is he coming?”

River glanced at his phone.

“He might be a wreck, but he'll be here,” he nodded.

When the youngest Reins brother finally made an appearance, looking like death warmed over, they all headed into the cafe.

“Where the fuck did you go?” August croaked after he'd gotten his coffee. “One minute you were there, the next you were gone.”

“Yeah, I didn't see Zoey there, either,” River added. Ocean scowled. River had always been too observant for his own good.

“Blanke had to go home, so I offered to walk her there.”

He'd tried to sound casual, but his brothers knew him better than he liked to admit. Both perked up – not an easy feat for someone as hungover as August.

“You walked her home, hmmm?” River questioned, rubbing at his chin.

“Like all the way home?” August pressed further.

“Guys, c'mon,” Ocean tried to stop it.

“Like to her front door step?” River was now giving him a shit-eating grin.

“Or like to the front of her panties?” August went straight to the point. Ocean grimaced and threw a napkin in his face.