30 Samantha
30
SAMANTHA
H E SLEPT FOR almost six hours. I didn’t want to wake him up.
He didn’t look good. He had dark circles under his eyes. I just wanted to tuck him in and put him to bed.
I wanted to keep him.
I didn’t even care that he was unconscious. I was just glad he was here. That I could cuddle up to him and hear him breathing and feel the warmth of his body. Even Pooter seemed to understand it was nap time. She was quiet and curled up next to him like me.
When he finally started to stir, it was almost one in the afternoon.
He rolled over, still half asleep, and saw me. He looked almost surprised, like he didn’t remember where he was. Then he grabbed me and pulled me into a sleepy hug that smelled like his laundry detergent and his skin.
“I was dreaming I was at work,” he said groggily. “Then I woke up and it was like I teleported. What time is it?” he asked.
“Twelve forty-seven.”
He groaned. “You should have woken me up.”
“No way.”
Pooter climbed over me on a mission to get to my boyfriend now that he was awake. She didn’t want me. I picked her up before she made it and dangled her over my face. “Really? When your daddy met you, he wanted to kill you.”
Xavier took her from me and laid her on his chest. “Well, to be fair, you didn’t have a butthole, sweetie.”
I laughed.
He checked her gums while he was petting her. Looked in her ears. It was so cute. Always on.
He handed me back my purring cat, kissed my forehead, and got up. “I’m going to take a quick shower. Then we can go do whatever you want.”
I propped myself on my elbows. “We need to get something for Mom’s dinner.”
“Okay. And I haven’t eaten anything since pretzels on the plane. Can we stop somewhere?”
“In-N-Out?”
“Sounds good.” He turned for the bathroom.
“Xavier…”
He looked back at me.
“You talked in your sleep,” I said.
His brow furrowed. “I did?”
“Yeah.” I smiled wryly.
“What did I say?”
“You whispered ‘come on Eileen.’”
A grin spread across his face.
“What do you think you wanted me to do?” I asked, tilting my head.
“The same thing I always want you to do. I want you to look at me the way you look at mustard.”
I laughed and he gave me one of his rare, dazzling full smiles.
Then he closed the door.