Page 106 of Never Forget
"What do you mean?"
He was quiet for a beat. "I went back to it after you left. Slept there that first night because I thought that was where I lived. I lay there in the dark and realized I didn't know when that had stopped being true."
My throat did the thing it had been doing all night.
"Sam."
"I picked up every buddy shift I could after that. Couldn't stand the quiet."
I reached up and pulled his face down to mine and kissed him. It wasn't a kiss that would go anywhere. It was the kind of kiss you give someone when you're trying to put a thing into their mouth that you don't have words for.
When I pulled back, he kept his forehead against mine.
"I'm glad you're home," he said.
"Me too."
He kissed me once more, slow. Then he pulled me back down against his chest and tucked me under his chin, and his hand found its place on my back again, and after a while I felt him slip under.
I followed him a few minutes later.
CHAPTER 27
Jamie
Being back in Havensworth set my mind back to work.
I'd kept the list in my head the whole flight home, and I'd woken up with it this morning still intact. Hire a lawyer for Jack's LODD. I'd been turning it over for weeks, and now that I was home I could actually do something about it. Find someone who knew how to fight the city. Get the paperwork started. Stop letting the wordinsubordinationbe the last thing said about my brother.
Danny had gone to the deputy chief about the proposal. I was waiting to hear what came of it. Megan had told me he wanted to tell me in person. I was trying not to read into it but I was failing at it.
The insurance company had been trying to reach me about the claim on the house. I had two voicemails from the adjuster and an email chain I hadn't opened yet.
And the moving truck was delayed. The company had left a message about the weather somewhere between here and New York. The things on the truck would get here when they got here. I wasn't going to think about it today.
I had work to do, and I was ready to do it.
I poured myself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter.
"Morning."
Sam crossed the kitchen and kissed the side of my neck.
"What time is your shift?" I asked.
"7:00 a.m."
I checked the clock over the stove. It was 6:15 a.m.
"I'm seeing Megan and Danny for lunch today."
"Yeah?"
"Danny has an update on the proposal. He went to Graff last week. He's been waiting to tell me in person."
Sam nodded.
"Let me know how it goes?"
