Page 119 of Always Love You More

She drops her gaze, grinding her cigarette out in the ashtray.

“What?” he asks.

They lock eyes, and she shrugs.

A sad smile comes to his lips, his eyes going glassy, before he turns and leaves the room.

I lower down beside her, and Billy takes a spot at the foot of the bed.

“You okay?” I ask. “I mean … not that you’re …” I shake my head. “I don’t know how to—”

She reaches for me. “You’re fine. And I’m …” She trails off. “I should, um … I should call my sister.”

I watch as she starts to move for her purse on the desk, but she stills when I hold out a hand.

“Like I said, I can call her for you.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “No, it should be me.”

I glance at the alarm clock on her desk, seeing it’s just past 2:30 a.m. “You could wait till morning.”

She drops back on her heels. “You think?” Looking between me and Billy, she asks, “That’s not bad? If I wait? I’m just so …” She blows out a breath, shaking her head. “I don’t even know.”

“It’s not bad,” I tell her, knowing she’s not in the space for anything else tonight. She just started to settle down, and I know this phone call will only tip her back over the edge.

“Not bad at all,” Billy confirms.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should …”

I take her hand. “It’s okay to give yourself some time. To not wake her up with this.”

She bites her lip, thinking, before she finally nods.

“Do you think you can sleep?” I ask. “Or at least try to close your eyes for a bit?”

“Maybe, if you …” She lowers her eyes to the spot beside her.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

She looks over at Billy.

“And I’ll be right over there.” He motions to the empty bed.

“Okay,” she answers. “Yeah, okay, I can try.”

I move the ashtray from the bed and slip off my boots before climbing in next to her, pulling the blankets over us.

Billy flicks off the light, and I hear him settle into the bed on the other side of the room.

Wrapping my arm around Sam, I pull her against me, lightly brushing my hand over her skin.

“Jamie?” she whispers.

“What, baby?”

“Thank you for taking care of me,” she breathes. “I don’t know what I would have …”

I lean into her, kissing her shoulder. “Always.”