WINDOW OF TIME by DJ Erfert Read Free Book Online Page B

told you I’m not hungry.”
    “Well, I am.” He went into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.
    The room felt cold, and her head hurt. Lucy didn’t want to change into someone else’s pajamas; she wanted her own nightshirt. She wanted to go to sleep, even if it happened to be in her hotel’s bed where a thousand other strangers had slept before her. As she closed her eyes, Lucy lifted her bare feet and curled up on the bedding stacked next to her, letting the crashing surge of sleep finally overtake her.
    ~*~
    She should’ve waited for the water to warm up some. It had been eons since Lucy had gone swimming in the Pacific Ocean, but she couldn’t remember the last time it had been so terribly cold. She couldn’t stop shivering. Terror seized her chest—she couldn’t breathe.
    “Wake up!”
    She pushed at the person holding her down in the water—trying to drown her—then she opened her eyes. Johnny was holding her under the icy cold stream of the shower. She was shaking, soaked through to the skin. He had an iron grip around her body, holding her upright.
    “What are you doing?” Lucy screamed, her heart racing.
    He hit the water off, and the only sounds left were of the water dripping off their clothes and their combined heavy breathing. Lucy had been frightened, but her emotion spun into anger at being drenched. He abruptly released her, stepped out of the shower, and grabbed a large towel before returning to her.
    “I told you not to fall asleep,” Johnny snapped as he wrapped the towel around her shoulders.
    “Why d-didn’t you j-just wake me up?” Lucy yelled, too stunned to move on her own. He pulled her out of the stall onto a cotton bath rug. “You d-didn’t have to try to drown m-me!”
    Rubbing her arms vigorously with the dry parts of the towel, Johnny dropped his voice, but not his sharp tone. “I tried to, but I couldn’t .”
    “What do you mean?” He let her go, stripped off his wet t-shirt, and threw it on the floor.
    Grabbing a fresh towel, Johnny began to dry off his chest. “I tried for five minutes to wake you up.” He nodded toward the stall. “If a cold shower hadn’t worked …” He dropped down heavily onto the commode, shaking his head. “I would have called for an ambulance.” He caught her gaze and said, “I didn’t know what else to do. I thought you had slipped into a—”
    She couldn’t take a breath. Lucy’s rage fell away into dread. “A what?” The word momentarily caught in her throat. “A—coma?” He didn’t answer her, but he stared at her in contemplation. She knew the look. It was a true reflection of herself. Before he could speak, she adamantly said, “Don’t lie to me.” His dark brows betrayed his thoughts when they rose fractionally at her demand.
    Johnny got up, snatched another towel from a shelf, and wrapped an additional layer of terrycloth around her shoulders, pulling it tightly closed. “I won’t ever lie to you, Lucy,” he said as he pulled her into his arms.
    “Then answer me,” she whispered into his neck.
    “I’m sorry I got your hair all wet,” he said as he pushed her hair back away from her face.
    She laid her cheek against his shoulder and leaned into his body. “You aren’t going to answer me, are you?”
    “There’s no point. You’re … fine.”

 
 
 
Seven
     
    The borrowed pajamas, while slightly too big, were more comfortable than Lucy thought they would be. Either they were very soft and broken in, or it could’ve been that her near-death experience had adjusted her attitude.
    She sat wrapped in the blanket on the couch, sipping hot jasmine tea and watching Johnny work in the kitchen. She’d never learned how to cook. Never had the opportunity to even try, considering she lived out of hotels. Before that, Lucy had lived in a dorm room with only an illegal hotplate to work with. It didn’t matter. She didn’t have anybody to cook for anyway.
    Watching Johnny pound out his frustrations