“Stay. Sleep. For me.”
I couldn’t argue with her. I didn’t have the energy, so instead I forced myself up from the ground and said, “I’ll see you soon. Love you.”
Her reply was a long sigh, but with a quick, “Love you back,” she hung up. Like me, I think Rowen looked forward to our nights together as the only thing that got her through long days trapped in bed.
When I made my way down the hall, I found Garth and Josie camped out at their small kitchen table, eating what looked to be dinner at ten o’clock at night. Garth was more trying not to fall asleep between bites of steak, and Josie was picking at her green beans like she was more interested in making a pattern than actually eating them.
“Hey, sorry about going out like that,” I said, stretching my arms in an attempt to get the blood pumping. “I can confidently say that your dryer is not the most ideal of places to fall asleep if you’re looking to avoid debilitating neck pain.”
Josie dropped her fork, and Garth stopped chewing the bite he’d been working on since I’d walked in.
“Please don’t tell me you’re planning on actually driving ten miles in your current condition,” Josie said, grabbing the empty third plate at the table and moving toward the counter.
“I really am.” I shook my head when I noticed her preparing another plate of food. “Thank you so much, Josie, but I’m not hungry. Your fiancé already clogged my arteries with five pounds of grease, so I’ll be good until next year. Thank you though.”
She threw a hand on her hip, plate still in hand. “You need to eat.”
“No, I need to get home to my wife and then fall asleep.”
“That’s exactly the same thing I told her I needed when she loaded up my plate and ordered me to eat.” Garth scraped his fork across his plate, shuffling potatoes and beans around in an effort to look as though he’d eaten some. “But I’m too beat to even fuck, so I sure as hell am too tired to eat. I’ll keep this force-feeding torture in mind for the next time I order you to eat a bagful of QuikStop burgers and fries, okay, Jess?”
I smiled through the cloud of exhaustion. Josie’s glare and hand-on-hip angle twisted Garth’s way.
“Deal,” I said, waving at them before heading for the door.
“No way. Not so fast, Jesse Walker.” Josie’s voice followed me down the hall. She bounded up, Thermos in hand, right as I was about to open the door. “Coffee. Drink this.” She shook her head when I took the Thermos, thanking her with a smile. “Damn fools. The both of you.” She raised her voice to ensure a certain someone, who was probably asleep in his steak, could hear in the kitchen.
“Thanks for the coffee. Have a good night.” I headed out the door and toward my truck.
“Say hi to Rowen for me, okay? Oh, and would you ask her if she’d rather have pink and blue cupcakes for the baby shower, or if green and yellow would be more appropriate? I can’t decide, and since you two are the ones intent on torturing all of us planning a baby shower and wanting to buy gifts for a gender to-be-determined baby, I’ll leave the cupcake-color decision in her court,” Josie continued as I stumbled up to Old Bessie. I did a few jumping jacks to get the blood pumping, and she was still going. “Oh, and mention the possibility of doing a blue-pink, green-yellow swirl if she likes that idea better. The bakery said they could do that too.”
“Good night, Josie.” I yawned before firing up Old Bessie, successfully ending the conversation with the cacophony of the truck’s engine.
Before even touching the gas, I unscrewed the Thermos lid and took a sip of the coffee to make sure it wasn’t scalding hot. If it was, I didn’t seem to care, because I chugged half of the contents before settling it between my legs and rolling out of the driveway. Unlike the Sterling-Walkers’ driveway, the Gibson-Blacks’ was pocketed with rocks and pot holes. It didn’t take me long to realize I shouldn’t have settled an open Thermos of coffee between my legs. It might not have been scalding, but it still burned when it seeped through my jeans.
Instead of tightening the lid back into place, I downed what was left. The caffeine didn’t seem to hit my system until I pulled up to Willow Springs. I’d barely been able to stay awake on the drive, so of course the caffeine would go into effect now that I was ready to crawl into bed.
Everything was quiet. The house was dark, not even a flicker of a computer glowing in one of my sisters’ rooms. The barn was quiet. Even the night was quiet. When I checked the time on my phone, I saw that if I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow—which was unlikely—I’d get a solid five hours of sleep before I had to be up to help Dad and the rest of the hands with the cattle. Just thinking about it made me more tired—forget the caffeine charging through my system.
Stumbling up the porch stairs, I forced myself through the front door and only realized I’d forgotten to close it when I was halfway down the hall. Getting back to the open door felt like a journey, but after getting it shut, locked, and double-checked just to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, I shuffled into the living room. I wasn’t sure if she would be awake, but if she wasn’t, I’d crash on the couch. I didn’t want to wake her by sliding in beside her. She needed her sleep more than I did.
I’d barely stepped into the living room when her head whipped in my direction. Even from here and even in my beat state, I noticed her eyes widen, followed by a sigh that was brimming with relief.