Bring Me Back

He groans. “I have to go and you’re not helping.”

I smile slowly. “Stay.”

“I wish life worked like that.” He shrugs and stands. “Alas, I must get to work.”

I snort and clutch the sheet tighter to my chest. “Who says alas?”

“Me, I guess.” He grins, and there are those dimples I love. He walks over to me and bends, kissing my forehead and then lips. I hold his smooth cheeks in my hands, drawing out the kiss.

At last, he pulls away. “I’ve gotta go.”

“I know.” I sigh as he heads for the door. “Bye. I love you.”

He pauses and looks back at me. His eyes peruse my body and he dips his head in acknowledgment. “I love you too.”

I listen to the heavy fall of his feet on the steps and close my eyes. It’s late, but I’m not really sleepy.

I hear the front door open and the alarm dings before it can close.

Winnie comes wandering into the bedroom and gives me a scathing look, like I personally sent Ben away.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I mumble at her. She merely swishes her tail and jumps up in the window to watch Ben back out of the driveway.

I unwrap the sheets from my body and pull on my robe, standing by the window with her. Ben happens to look up and sees me. He grins and waves. I wave back, pressing my hand to the window.

When his taillights disappear around the corner I head to the bathroom to take a bubble bath. My muscles need it after the day I’ve had. I add a heaping pile of bubbles and salt then light a few candles and turn on some soft music.

I dim the lights in the bathroom and tie my hair up. Letting the robe fall, I step into the warm water. Almost instantly I begin to feel my muscles loosen. I lean back in the water and rest my head on the back of the bathtub. There are so many bubbles that I can’t see anything, and that’s just the way I like it. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

When the water begins to feel cold I step out of the water and dry my body. I change into a pair of pajamas and climb into bed. I open the drawer to my nightstand to grab the remote, but I smile when instead I find a paper crane.

I open it slowly, like it’s a precious treasure—which I guess to me, it is.

My smile grows at his messily scrawled words.

No amount of time will be enough with you. Not a minute. Not an hour. Not a decade. Not a century. But I promise to make all of our time count. I may not tell you I love you every minute of every day, but I try to show you—because true love has to be felt not heard. And our love, B? It’s my favorite feeling. Here’s to tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after that—and all the love that’s shared in between.

—Ben

My phone rings from the bedside table and my brows furrow. It’s nearly midnight. Why would anyone be calling me?

I pick up the phone and shake my head at the name. It’s one of the nurses that works with Ben—her name’s Laura and we went out to dinner with her and her husband a few times.

“Hello?” I answer. “Laura?”

“Hey, have you seen Ben?” she asks, sounding frazzled. “He was supposed to be here an hour ago. I tried calling him but his phone keeps going straight to voicemail.”

I sit straight up in bed, white-knuckling my phone. “He left for work on time. What do you mean he’s not there?” My voice spikes with fear.

I hear a sudden ruckus in the background—Laura and Ben work in the ER.

Laura’s quiet and I hear shouting. Orders for meds and IVs and other things I can’t understand.

Suddenly, Laura mutters, “Oh, shit.”

“Laura—?”

“I have to go.”