Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“I didn’t want you to be by yourself,” he said, taking her hand.
“She’s not by herself,” a voice said from the door.
Jamie turned to see a short Black woman standing there, holding a bottle of water.
“Hey, Edgar,” she said. “Been a long time.”
Edgar’s eyes went wide, and a slow smile crept across his face. “Cameron, hey. I—hey. Welcome back.”
He moved to her stiffly but relaxed when they embraced.
Cameron handed Allie the water and turned to Jamie. “You Jamie?”
“Yeah.” Jamie was thrilled that they had rated a mention. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Cameron. I’ve known these two forever.”
They shook hands. Now wasn’t the time to ask Cameron what the Lovejoys had been like when they were younger, but Jamie wanted to later. Cameron sat in the chair next to Allie’s bed and pulled a paperback out of her bag.
Edgar and Allie exchanged information in a sibling shorthand that Jamie had never shared with their sister.
“I guess it’ll be a while,” Edgar said apologetically to Jamie.
“I’m good,” Jamie assured him. They squeezed his shoulder and felt the muscle relax.
Soon, Allie was drifting off, and Cameron stood and motioned them out the door. They trooped to the family waiting room and found a cluster of seats.
Cameron reached into her bag and pulled out a manila envelope, which she handed to Jamie.
“If you need a distraction.”
Inside the envelope were dozens of crossword puzzles. Actual newsprint ones, razored from the paper itself.
“Don’t you want to do them?” Jamie asked, not wanting to waste Cameron’s stash.
“I do them. But my grandmother sends them to me every week, so I have a lot. Go ahead.”
“Awesome, thanks.”
Cameron said she was going home to shower and change and pick up Allie’s phone charger and would return.
“Take care of her while I’m gone,” she instructed Edgar.
“I always do.”
Cameron regarded him for a moment before giving a single nod.
The second she was gone, Jamie turned to Edgar.
Edgar leafed through the crossword puzzles, then stood up and paced the waiting room as he spoke.
“We grew up with her and her brother. They lived across the street when we were little. She and Allie kept in touch after she moved, but I haven’t seen her in a while.”
Edgar kept pacing for a while before dropping into the chair next to Jamie’s. He pointed at the crossword.
“Eiderdown. Forty-three across.”
Jamie inked in the letters and rested their other hand on Edgar’s thigh.
As they were debating the square shared by twenty-five across and sixteen down, someone ran through the door.
“Where is she?” he bellowed.
Edgar’s head snapped up, and he stood, crossword puzzle floating to the floor.
The man wore faded black jeans and an elbow-cracked black leather jacket. He was smaller than Edgar and slighter, with the same dark hair falling in a tangle of waves down his neck. His brown eyes were ringed with kohl.
Edgar swallowed audibly, and Jamie almost missed the word he choked out.
“Poe.”
18
Edgar
“Eddie. Where is she?”
It was the first time Edgar had heard his brother’s voice in three years, other than a saved voicemail that he played sometimes: Happy birthday, bro. Hope it’s a good one. And no one had ever called him Eddie except Poe.
Edgar had texted Poe on the way to the hospital and once they’d found Allie’s room but hadn’t heard back from him and certainly hadn’t expected him to be close enough to be here this quickly.
Questions swamped Edgar: How did you get here? Where have you been? Why haven’t you answered any of my texts recently? Why didn’t you call?
But then he registered his brother’s face. Edgar had been so caught up in trying to map the changes the last few years had wrought in Poe that he hadn’t noticed Poe’s eyes were wild. His mouth was slack on the left side where a small pucker of scar tissue—the result of an ill-conceived fence-climbing adventure when they were children—tugged it out of line with the rest of his face. He looked terrified.
“Are you okay?” Edgar asked.
“Allie? Is she—she’s okay?”
“She’s doing fine. Didn’t you see my messages?”
Poe fumbled in various pockets and frowned. “Um. Yeah, no, I… Okay.”
He visibly forced his breathing to level out and tucked his hands in his armpits before slouching in the doorframe.
His hair was long and his frame lithe now rather than skinny, but Edgar could still see the little boy who’d shoved his hands under his arms so no one would see them shaking.
“She’s sleeping right now,” Edgar said, trying to infuse reassurance into his voice. Poe would never accept outright comfort. “But I’m sure she’d want to see you.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Poe didn’t move. “Well, I’ll let her sleep. As long as she’s okay.”
Edgar took a step toward his brother, wanting so badly to fold him into his arms, feel the solidity of Poe’s body for himself, prove to himself that he was actually here. But Poe didn’t unfold. He leaned a tiny bit closer to Edgar and allowed his shoulders to be clasped for just a moment. He felt rigid beneath the leather jacket, muscles bunched like a panther ready to run. Edgar let him go and sat back down.