“Theo?” she mumbled, barely there.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered. “Go back to sleep.”
She relaxed almost immediately, trusting in a way that did something unsettling to my chest.
I carried her up the stairs slowly, mindful of each step. The house was quiet. Still. Nothing like the chaos of earlier.
In the guest room, I nudged the door open with my shoulder and crossed to the bed. I laid her down carefully on top of the covers, trying not to jostle her too much.
She turned slightly onto her side.
At the foot of the bed, the soft minky blanket Lucy had insisted I buy last winter was folded neatly. I pulled it up and draped it over Nora, tucking it gently around her shoulders.
She let out a small sigh.
Content.
Safe.
My chest tightened at the sound.
For a moment, I just stood there in the moonlight coming through the window. It caught in her hair, highlighting the curlthat had fallen across her cheek. Her face looked softer in sleep. Like the night hadn’t nearly taken everything from her.
I told myself the heaviness in my chest was just leftover adrenaline. Protective instinct. The same feeling I got when I checked on Charlotte at night to make sure her breathing was steady.
That’s all this is.
But when I reached out without thinking and brushed the curl away from Nora’s face, my hand wanted to linger.
And out of nowhere, I suddenly had the urge to bend down and press my lips to her forehead. The way I always did with Charlotte when I tucked her in.
But Nora wasn’t my daughter.
She was a grown woman. My sister’s best friend.
My employee.
And I was already walking a line I had no business approaching.
So I stepped back.
Let the moment go.
Then I slipped out of the room, easing the door shut behind me.
27
NORA
I woke slowlythe next morning, the kind of wake-up where your brain lags a few seconds behind your eyes.
The ceiling above me was unfamiliar.
The walls were the wrong color.
For a brief, disorienting moment, I wondered if I’d accidentally crashed at a friend’s apartment and forgotten how I’d gotten there.
But then it all came rushing back.