“Down,” he repeated with a hint of authority that would’ve heated my blood in circumstances that weren’t so bemusing. “You’re exhausted. We can talk later. Just know that I love you, Fen. Nothing else matters right now.”
* * *
I came to on the couch in Paddy and Safia’s cosy living room, curled up between Rami’s long legs, my head on his chest. His gentle fingers were tangled in my hair, and Charlie was using my thigh as a bench while he watched cartoons and ate a jam tart.
A deep rumble sounded from my belly. I laughed and Rami snapped his gaze to me. “You’re awake.”
“I am.” I secured Charlie and sat up, sliding him into my lap. “What time is it?”
“Somewhere around half past what in the ever lovingfuckhappened to you?”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. Want to tell me how you came to be deliriously wandering Christmas Mountain with blood dripping down your face?”
“Huh?”
Rami took my hand and raised it to my cheekbone. A sharp sting met my touch. I hissed. “I forgot about that.”
“And your hands too?”
I glanced at my hands. They were grubby and covered in cuts. “I fell…I think. Up the mountain.”
“I know that much,” Rami said. “We saw you. Well, Addie did. I thought you were dead, so…”
“You’d given up on me?”
“Never. It was more I couldn’t see how you could’ve possibly made it out of your house.”
“My house?”
“Yup. It’s completely buried.”
I nodded. “It is.”
“Were you in it at the time?”
“You sure you want to know?”
Rami grimaced. “Seeing as you’re alive and well, I think I can probably cope, but I’m not going to like it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I fucking love you, that’s why.”
So it hadn’t been a dream. He loved me. Even if he hadn’t uttered the words, I could see it in his shiny gaze and earnest smile.He loves me. Damn. Maybe that was why it hadn’t sunk in that I’d probably lost my house.I’m homeless, but he loves me.It was a fair trade, in my eyes. Everything else could be replaced.
“You’re grinning hard enough to give yourself a stroke.” Rami nudged me. “I meant what I said earlier, though.”
“Which part?”
“The part about being sorry that I didn’t get to tell you before the signal cut out yesterday. It’s why I called in the first place.”
“You called to tell me you love me?”
“And that I’m not leaving. I’d have meant that too if I’d managed to say it.”
“Not leaving,” Charlie echoed, sleepy eyes still fixed on the TV.