smiled at me lazily. He was losing his fight against sleep.
I sat next to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Well, I do. In fact, I care so much, I actually—”
The sketchbook! The only thing I thought I would have left of Charlie. Had it been lost in my stupidity?
“My bag, where is it?” I tried to dive from the bed but Charlie caught me before I could secure a landing. Concerned, he plopped me back on the bed and stood up, but he never took his eyes from mine. I held out my hands like an expectant child while he handed me the soaking bundle. I clapped my hands excitedly. Although the cover was wet, and the edges of the first few pages were damp, the sketches themselves were still intact.
“What—?”
“I wanted to take something of yours with me,” I admitted sheepishly. Though I was embarrassed, it was minimal compared to the amount of relief I felt at knowing I hadn’t destroyed the last sketches Charlie had on board.
Charlie looked down at the floor. He seemed sad again, although I didn’t understand why. I half expected laughter and pointing, but sadness seemed like the last response.
“This is my favorite…”
I was more confused than ever until he flipped open the back cover of the sketchbook and handed it back to me. I was taken aback by the first drawing with its abnormal shading and underlined attention to the figure at the center of the page. Charlie had drawn me, sitting on the bed almost as I was now, in perfect detail. The page before it was similar, like a distant black and white photograph. I was staring off the deck into the sea. When had he done these? In other instances I was sleeping on my side or untangling a knot from my hair, but they were all me. All of them were me in various moments we’d been together over the last few days.
“Those first sketches you drew of me, when you first brought me here?”
He nodded, but looked down at his work. “Yeah, I think I ’ready knew then that I loved you.”
He smiled and pulled the sleeve of the sweatshirt away from my face. “I know when you leave here, I ain’t ever gonna see you again. You’ll be in the papers and TV and stuff, but that ain’t the same.” He laughed and sat back down on the bed beside me. “So it’s funny. I guess I wanted to take something of yours with me, too.”
The blush took over before the words even came out. “You kind of had that opportunity last night.”
“I ain’t gonna ruin you.”
The remainder of my will was gone. I threw myself into his arms, leaving the rest of the blankets behind. The sudden rush of air that hit me made me start to shiver again, but he hugged me tighter, holding me about as close as someone can hold another human being. I seized the back of his neck and held on for dear life. I never wanted him to let me go.
“You should have just told me what was going on, with Wallace being here and everything,” I whispered.
He squeezed me tighter. “Nah, its better if you hate me.”
I laughed, kissed his tattoo. “I tried and couldn’t, you fool. I couldn’t hate any of you.”
“Not even Reid?” He pulled away to look me in the eyes.
I laughed again, all at once feeling ecstatic and overwhelmed at Charlie’s proclamation.
“Listen, though.” He tried to get serious again. “We’ll make port in a few hours, and if we don’t find Wallace by then, we could be in for some trouble.”
“Only a few hours?” Though I was ashamed to admit it, I didn’t know which prospect seemed bleaker: the idea of going home without Charlie, or the idea of Charlie being in danger.
He nodded grimly. “You were gone all night. I never thought to look in that hold again after I left there, and all the other ones were searched.” His face became dark again. His glance lost mine. “Truth be told, I only started rummaging ‘round there when I heard your teeth chatterin’.” He took my mouth and inspected it like a dentist. “Other than that, Addie, you were so still and cold. Your lips were blue. I thought maybe you left for good.” He shook his head as if unable to complete the thought.
I pushed my forehead up against his. “Hey, Charlie?”