“I don’t want to. I want to stay with you.”
His eyes went soft.
“Then, yeah, you can stay.”
“You need to ask.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re not in charge here.”
“No, but my cousin is. Trust me, you can stay.”
“Okay. I’ll stay then. But I’m gonna let you visit with your family first.”
“Okay,” he agreed, but pulled my hand until I leaned over him. “Thanks for coming to save me.”
“Thanks for not dying,” I said, getting a little laugh out of him.
His lips pressed to mine softly, but I pulled back quickly. “I’ll go get your family.”
Someone from Hailstorm led me to a small break room in the hospital ward where I made myself a coffee as I waited, then led me back to the room once Rune’s family headed out.
When I made it back to the room, another bed was already butted up to Rune’s his good side. And he had my phone in his hand, smiling at the screen.
“There she is,” he said, smiling as he panned the phone toward me to reveal my sister’s face.
My eyes widened, but I tried to force a convincing smile.
“Hey!” God, that sounded fake even to my own ears.
“Is that blood on your shirt?” Sofia asked as I made my way across the room, kicked off my shoes, and climbed into the bed beside Rune.
“It’s a long story,” Rune said.
“A long story that ends up with you guys in a hospital. Again.”
My sister might have been very go-with-the-flow, maybe even sometimes a bit naive. But she wasn’t stupid.
“Yeah,” Rune said.
“I have time. Hammy and I are quite comfortable in our hotel room. We are all ears.”
“You know, sweetheart, I think this might be a conversation we should have in person,” Rune said, surprising me.
“Little problem there being that I am basically a whole country away from you right now.”
“I was thinking maybe Carmen and I could come visit. Once I get the all-clear to fly. We will grab a hotel so we don’t cramp your style. Then we will tell you everything you need to know about what’s going on.”
“On the one hand, I’m very excited at the prospect of you guys visiting. On the other, that sounds ominous as hell, and now I’m stress-sweating.”
“I’m not going to go into details over the phone,” Rune said. “But you can trust me when I say there will be no more trips to hospitals that you have to worry about. We’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to your sister.”
“O…kay. I mean, I trust that you can take care of her. But I’m going to need to insist you visit ASAP if you’re going to be so cryptic.”
“As soon as it’s safe for me to fly,” Rune said.
“And I’m going to be extra clingy with the texts and calls until we get this all squared away.”