Until Then (Cape Harbor #2) - Heidi McLaughlin Page 0,81

and poked him in the chest. His mom had to work to get the tiny bit of blood out of the white shirt, and Rennie felt so bad that she told Graham he could stab her back so they’d be even. He never took her up on her offer but would have liked to right about now.

They pulled into the marina parking lot. Graham parked and shut his car off. The only sound around them was the strong wind coming off the ocean and waves crashing against the rocks. Overhead, a lamp softly illuminated the space inside the car. He took off his seat belt and angled his body toward Rennie, only to find her asleep. He sighed, got out of the car, and made his way to the passenger side. He opened the door slowly and made sure he caught her before she fell out. Graham reached in and pushed the red button on her seat belt, untangled her, and somehow found a way to scoop her up into his arms. She whimpered.

“I’ve got you,” he said as he kicked the car door shut.

Carrying a full-size human down a single-person ramp was not easy, but he managed to do it, and when he approached his door, he did so without a clue of how to get her inside without waking her up. On the off chance he forgot to lock his door, which he did often, he used the small outside table his mother insisted he put out for decoration to prop his leg up to support Rennie’s body weight so he could safely wiggle his arm out from under her legs. He sighed again, this time in relief, when his door opened. He repositioned again and was able to carry her inside.

The stairs to his bedroom were daunting, and as much as he wanted to carry her up there, it would be impossible. He’d surely whack her head or legs, waking her up, and walking up sideways was unmanageable. The couch was the only answer, at least until she woke up, and then she could move up to his room.

“We’re at my house, Ren,” he told her as he laid her on the couch. “When you wake up, if you want to go to Brooklyn’s, I’ll take you.” He said the words as though she could hear him. Graham covered her with an afghan his grandmother had made many years ago and kneeled next to her, brushing her hair away from her eyes. “I don’t know what he did, but I’m here when you need me.”

With those words, he went outside and back to the car to get her things. When he walked back into his houseboat, she was on her side, her back facing him. He was tired, but his concern for his friend outweighed his need for sleep. Instead of going upstairs to sleep, he brought his weighted blanket and comforter down from his room. He added the comforter to Rennie, knowing the afghan wouldn’t be enough, and he settled into the chair for what was going to undoubtedly be the most uncomfortable night of sleep he had ever had.

NINETEEN

Rennie woke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, the sound of birds squawking, and the . . . ocean. It took her a long minute to remember where she was, and when she rolled over to verify her surroundings, she almost fell off whatever she was sleeping on, her back screaming in protest, and her legs flailed about until one planted firmly on the ground. She sat up and looked around for Graham and saw him sitting on his patio, reading the newspaper. The sliding glass door was open a smidge, enough to let the cool ocean breeze in. Next to the couch sat her suitcase. She stood, picked it up, and made her way to the bathroom, afraid to turn on the light. The last thing she wanted to see was how wretched she looked or what Graham had to see when he picked her up last night. Rennie closed her eyes, flipped the light switch on, and braced her hands against the ledge of the counter.

When she opened her eyes, she saw pain, suffering, and anger staring back at her. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, her cheeks stained with makeup.

When she stared at her reflection, she thought back to the last twenty-four hours and how everything fell apart . . . or had it? Maybe life had finally come to fruition. Maybe there