CHAPTER 14 #3
Theo gave a little jolt underneath his covers, too excited to stay still. I laid a hand on his tummy.
“Once upon a time, in the middle of a dark and endless sky, there was a moon,” Jamie began. “It was a quiet moon. It stayed far away from the other planets and stars because it didn’t like being seen.”
“That’s dumb,” Theo muttered. “The moon is surrounded by tons of stars.”
I combed his fiery hair out of his face. “Shh, Theo. Listen.”
“But one day, a little planet drifted close. Closer than anything ever had. The moon had never seen a planet like this one before. It spun too fast and glowed too bright and carried whole oceans on its surface.” Jamie paused, the next few words almost a whisper.
“Even from far away, the moon could tell the little planet was full of life.”
I continued to gently push Theo’s hair back, letting my fingers slip across his skin as if I was trying to hypnotize him.
“And, without meaning to, the moon started orbiting the little planet.”
Theo twitched a little beneath my touch, and I closed my eyes in case he opened his. Jamie’s voice continued in the same calming tone, transporting me to the scene of his story.
“Every time the little planet moved, the moon moved too. It couldn’t help it.
The closer the planet drifted, the stronger the pull became.
” Jamie let the silence linger for a moment, as if savoring the story—or making it up as he went.
“The moon liked watching the little planet. It liked the way the sunlight reflected off its oceans. It liked the storms and the seasons and even the dark parts nobody else saw.”
I could practically see it in my mind—the lonely moon circling something bright and alive.
“But the moon didn’t want to scare the planet off, so the moon was quiet.
Content to chase the planet through space while it continued its adventure.
A moon and a planet can only be so close, though, before gravity makes them collide.
But if they collide, it could be dangerous…
so the moon kept the planet just out of reach. ”
Jamie enunciated each word slowly, deliberately, like casting a spell.
It wasn’t just Jamie’s voice that lulled me now, but the soft breaths he’d take between the words, as if he was right beside me and murmuring the planetary tale in my ear.
I felt myself slip further, wrapped up in Jamie like it was his arms around me instead of his words.
And then that was the picture that conjured behind my eyelids: Jamie’s arms, tucking me close to his chest. The image was soft, comforting, just as Jamie always was.
Cold hands and a warm heart—that was my Jamie.
I imagined us curled up just like this, his voice soft in my ear, my warm hands closed over and thawing his.
Falling, falling—both asleep and something else.
Jamie, Jamie.
“Daisy, Daisy,” a soft voice whispered, threatening to pull me deeper toward darkness. “Daze, did I lose you, too?”
I jolted, eyes flashing open, revealing Theo’s dark bedroom.
My phone was still on my chest, and I realized it wasn’t a voice beckoning me to sleep—it was still Jamie.
“I’m here,” I whispered back, glancing at Theo, but he was out.
Lips parted, drool already dribbling from the corner of his mouth.
I picked up my phone, turned off speakerphone, and tucked it between the small pillow and my ear.
My eyes, unbidden, slipped back closed. “Has anyone ever told you that you have a dreamy voice, James Brighton?”
“Dreamy?” His chuckle was soft, like a breath in my ear. “No, that’s a new one.”
“Did the moon and the planet end up together?”
“You missed that part, huh?” There was a soft flicking sound on the other end, like a page turning. I wondered what he was looking at in my room, but didn’t wonder enough to ask. “Yes, the moon continued to orbit the little planet til the end of time.”
So they didn’t end up colliding. Perhaps that was a happy ending—but, on the edge of sleep, I couldn’t help but think it was sad.
“Thank you for putting the gremlin to sleep.” I let out a short breath, darkness ebbing at my vision.
I knew Jamie was back in my room waiting for me, but my body felt too heavy.
“I don’t think I should get up—I’m afraid I’ll wake him. ”
“Mm.” Jamie’s voice was still soft, whispered in a way I wasn’t sure he’d ever spoken before. It lulled me further, just as his palm had on my back. “What do I get for helping you? Again? There are only so many freebies I’ll allow, Daisy Carmichael. I think I need something in return for this one.”
It had to be the fact that I was nearly asleep, surely, but Jamie’s voice almost had a flirty lilt to it. A sweet tingle spread through my limbs. “Sleep on it,” I murmured, the syllables rushing together. “I’ll give you anything you want… tomorrow.”
Jamie’s ghostly chuckle filled my head. “If you hear a crash outside, it’s just me falling from the tree as I crawl back out your window. Don’t get up.”
“Mm…kay.”
“Goodnight, Daisy Carmichael.”
Goodnight, James Brighton, I said, or maybe I thought it, or maybe I dreamt it.
My sleepy thoughts melted and melded together, losing their meaning as I sank even further. And just before I truly fell asleep, with Jamie’s soft voice still echoing in my mind, I had one last nonsensical thought:
If feelings were pencils, I wanted to draw with whatever color Jamie made me feel.