She bit her lip, stifling comments born of hurt feelings. Maybeshe should be happy that her family helped each other so readily and that Seantook his responsibility to their family seriously. But a part of her wantedthem to need her. Sean yawned and pushed back into the couch as if trying toget comfortable again.
“Okay. Let’s get some sleep.” She stood and tapped him on thefoot.
“You’re staying?”
“I’m here. No sense driving back to my condo now. I want to checkon them tonight and again in the morning.”
He pulled the other blanket off the back of the couch and tossedit to her. She dropped it on the recliner, where she’d catch a couple hours ofsleep. Sean rolled over and faced the back of the couch, demonstrating anability to fall back into sleep that Jacqueline hadn’t had since she was aworry-free teenager.
As she stood there listening to his snores, she replayed the lastseveral hours. She’d driven home as quickly as she could, hearing her father’sand Casey’s warnings in her head as she traversed over Monteagle Mountainfaster than was probably safe at that time of night. She knew they were fine.Sean had told her as much on the phone. Neither would even be admitted to thehospital. But still she worried all the way home that something had gone wrongsince she last spoke to him. She struggled sometimes, knowing that someday shewould go off on a trip and her father wouldn’t be there to tell her to be safe.Hearing Sean tell her that her father was at the hospital had reminded her thatshe wasn’t ready for that day. But it would come whether she was ready or not.And she’d be left with only the memories of how she spent this time—right now.She’d made some poor decisions in that regard lately, and she wasn’t quite surehow she would fix the situation, but she was determined to try. For now, sheneeded to see him—to see them—and to know they were okay.
She eased open the door to her father’s room first, relieved whenshe saw him. She’d take a closer look at his burns tomorrow, but Sean had saidmost of the water had missed him and splashed on the floor. He’d been left withsome blisters and reddened skin. Casey and Sean had taken him to the hospitalto be safe.
She paused outside the guest room—her childhood bedroom. Shedidn’t hear any noise from within and shouldn’t risk waking Casey. But shepushed the door open a crack anyway. Casey lay sprawled out across the bed.She’d stripped the bed of all but the sheet, and even it was folded andrumpled, as if she’d been restless. Her right leg stuck out, but a bandageobscured her calf. Jacqueline’s chest clenched at the thought of even minorburns marring the skin beneath. Casey began to roll over, but when her left leglay against her right, she whimpered and flipped onto her back.
A bottle of pills, probably for pain, sat on the nightstand nextto the lamp. Jacqueline didn’t want to disturb her, but she didn’t seem to begetting restful sleep anyway. She headed back to the kitchen for a glass ofwater.
*
“Sweetie.”
Casey felt Jacqueline’s hand on her forehead, heard her softwhisper. She fought her way through the fog and opened her eyes. She thoughtshe’d been dreaming, but Jacqueline sat on the edge of the bed next to her.
“Jacqueline?”
“I’m here. You looked like you were having trouble sleeping. Isit time for another one of those?” She nodded toward the pills.
“Probably. I need some—”
“Water.” Jacqueline lifted a glass Casey hadn’t noticed she’dbeen holding. She set it on the nightstand and picked up the painkillers. Caseysat up while Jacqueline shook a pill into her palm. “More?”
“No. Just one. I’m trying not to overdo it.”
“The bottle says two.”
“One.”
“Stubborn.” Jacqueline gave her the water.
“Yes.” Casey smiled, then tossed back her medicine. “What are youdoing here, anyway? Sean said he told you we were okay.”
“My family is here.” Jacqueline shrugged. “Besides, I wasthinking I’ve never slept in Dad’s recliner, and he always seems to reallyenjoy it.”
“Jacq—”
“Don’t bother. I’m staying.”
Casey could spend half the night arguing with her or just acceptthat they would have a full house and get some rest. She took Jacqueline’s handand tried to pull her into bed. “Come on. You can sleep with me.”
Jacqueline resisted. “Casey—”
“You’re not sleeping in that recliner all night. Please, don’targue with me. I’m too exhausted, and from the looks of you, so are you. It’snot like either of us has the energy for anything but sleep.”
Jacqueline nodded and stood. She took the glass from Casey andset it back on the nightstand, then circled to the other side of the bed,straightening the sheet as she went.
Casey scooted back down, being careful as she adjusted herinjured leg under the covers. As soon as the painkillers kicked in, she’d becomfortable enough to drift off again. She lay on her back, in deference to herleg, and rolled her head to the side, coming face-to-face with Jacqueline asshe stretched out next to her.
“Are you okay?” Jacqueline glanced toward Casey’s legs.
“I’m fine.”
“God, if anything happened to you.” Jacqueline’s voice sounded asif she’d forced the words through broken glass. She closed her eyes and Caseytouched her cheek, wanting them open again—needing to see what those beautifuleyes gave away. When they did, she found a depth of pain that surprised her.
“Hey, I’m fine. It’s a minor burn.” She stroked her thumb alongJacqueline’s cheekbone and curled her fingers against her jaw.
Jacqueline covered her hand and held it in place. “I know I saidI’d give you space to think and we would talk later, but tonight—getting thatcall from Sean—only made me realize what I probably should have already known.I can’t do any of this without you in my life.”
A traitorous bubble of hope clogged Casey’s throat. She shouldn’tdo this now. She’d had a stressful day and would likely react too emotionallyto anything Jacqueline said. She pulled her hand back, depending on mere inchesof mattress to be a good-enough barrier between them. “Can we talk in themorning?”
“Yes.
