Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,189

“Gre-eg? Come on. Go take a shower. You can eat, and then you can go to bed for real. Come on.”

He took in a hard breath, and when his eyes opened, they were just hollowed out orbs.

“Come on.”

“Fine.”

As Taylor made them both some food, she thought about him. She wondered how many times he had come home exhausted and stressed out, too tired to eat or do more than just fall into bed. She knew it was more times than any of them had ever known.

When he made it back to the kitchen, showered but not shaved, he collapsed at the table and promptly put his head down there as well.

“I would ask how your first day was, but I’m a little afraid to,” she said, bringing his meal over. “Here you go.”

He picked his head up and propped it on his hand, his eyes going closed for a long second. “Have you ever seen a bone sticking out of a person’s arm?” Taking the fork, he started eating even as he talked.

She didn’t want to think about it. Carefully she set his glass of water down and retrieved her own meal, now with decidedly less appetite. “No.”

“I have now.”

“Wow.”

“Izzy said it wasn’t the worst she’d ever seen.”

“Izzy?”

“The radiology doc. I think she’s seen about everything.”

“Really?”

“She said wait ‘til something really bad comes through.” He ate a small bite. “I’m not sure I want to.”

“I’m with you there.” Taylor sat and ate a few bites. “This needs salt.”

“I didn’t notice.” He ate a few more bites, and his eyes started closing again. The blinks became slower and longer.

“Did you get your paper finished?” Taylor asked just to find something to talk about to keep him awake.

He shook his head as his eyes went closed for three seconds. “Thought I’d do that tomorrow.”

“Well, I don’t think you can do it tonight.”

“True.” This time his eyes really did close and stay that way. It was only with great effort that he pulled them open again. “Whew. Wow. I am beat.” Like a robot, he ate the last of his meal before pushing the plate away. “Thanks.”

“Sure. Why don’t you go on to sleep? I’ll get these.”

“You sure?” he asked as if he was really going to do something about the dishes in this state.

“Positive.”

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me twice.” He stood from the table, went into the living room, and he was asleep by the time he got to the couch.

When Taylor finished her own meal, she quietly did the dishes. It probably didn’t matter because the way he looked, the place could have been hit with a wrecking ball and he wouldn’t have heard it or moved. She made a point to make sure they would study for the certification test and finish his paper the next day, and with that, she too called it a night and went to bed.

Once again, Greg was still asleep when Taylor left for class the next morning. Somehow, all night she had thought through his schedule as well as hers. Sitting in stats, she went through both of their days, squeezing in every second of time that they could study and get his life back on track. She knew he had his paper to finish, that was first because it was due tonight at seven. She wished she had thought to ask what other assignments he needed to get done within the week because it would be nice to have plenty of time to study for the certification test as well.

“The first test in here is Monday,” the professor said, and Taylor wrote Test Monday in her notebook. Somehow, she would need to keep her life going as well, and Monday was moving day. In her heart and without really much thought, she realized she’d better not mention Monday’s move to him. If she did, he would add that to his load, and he was already carrying way too much. She was not about to add to that if she could help it.

Greg made it to chemistry with only a few minutes to spare. As usual in life, he was running behind as the clock sped forward. How he would ever get everything done now, he had no idea. Every time his brain settled on one concern, some cruel whisper would add five more of them to the list. Eating and sleeping were going to be in very short supply the rest of the semester that was for sure.

“Morning,” Taylor said, coming