“It won’t be long now,” the nurse said as she pushed a button on the monitor, quieting the beeping that had been going slower and slower over the last hour.

I nodded but didn’t look away from Adare. It was Tuesday afternoon, and she hadn’t woken up since late last night. She’d told me on Sunday night that she’d signed a DNR months ago. No ventilators or CPR. When her breathing stopped, when her heart stopped, it would be over.

I tightened my grip on her hand, but I didn’t expect a response. She hadn’t squeezed back since the early hours of the morning. I didn’t need the nurse to tell me it wouldn’t be long. I could feel her slipping away.

The nurse stepped out, but I knew she wasn’t going far. Once everything stopped, she’d come back. I wasn’t alone though. Jalen was here. He’d moved a second chair over so that he was sitting close enough to touch, but not so close that he was hovering. If I needed him, all I had to do was ask.

Her hand was cold, and I rubbed her fingers even though I knew it wouldn’t actually help anything. No one could do anything now but be there when she went. It was something I hadn’t had with my mom or with my uncle. Even though my relationship with Adare wasn’t the same, I was grateful for the opportunity to be here, so she didn’t have to go alone.

I watched her chest rise. Fall. A long beat. Rise again. Beat. Fall. Repeat. Repeat. Each pause was longer than the one before, and I knew it was preparing me for when the pause became more than just a pause. I started counting the beats. Two seconds more each time.

And then…nothing.

I didn’t need to look at the monitor to know that the line had gone flat. I kept holding her hand even as the nurse came back. She moved around me, turning things off as she went.

“I’ll give you some time,” she said quietly. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

I nodded, and she left. I kept holding her hand for a few minutes longer, letting it sink in that she was really gone. I’d seen enough dead bodies in my life to know what it looked like when the life inside was really gone, and when I looked at her face, I knew it was true. She’d gone peacefully, and now the lines in her face had been smoothed out, making her look more like the woman I’d first met a few months ago.

There were some calls to make, but none that needed to be done right this moment. She’d arranged for the hospital to call her attorney, and he’d make most of the calls himself. Everything else could wait until tomorrow.

I stood up so suddenly that I swayed on my feet. I reached out to grip the bed, but I didn’t need to because a strong arm wrapped around me, supporting me.

“It’s all right.” Jalen’s voice was low in my ear. “I’ve got you.”

I leaned into him, too weary to do anything other than accept what he offered. When he asked if I wanted to go, I nodded. Adare didn’t need me anymore. Not here, anyway. She needed me to take care of the few arrangements she’d left to me, and to run Burkart Investigations. For that, I needed to rest and heal…physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I didn’t remember falling asleep in the car, but I knew I must have because when I opened my eyes, I was in a bed. Not my bed, but still a bed rather than a chair. Something about the place seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. My head was thick, and I suddenly became aware of an urgent need to pee.

I stumbled out of the bed and through an open door that luckily led to a bathroom. After I’d relieved myself, I washed my face as well as my hands, letting the cool water help clear away the cobwebs. It wasn’t until I straightened and saw my reflection that I realized I wasn’t wearing the same jeans and sweater that I had on when I’d left the hospital. I was in a pair of familiar-looking flannel pants and a massive sweatshirt.

“I thought I heard you up.” Jalen came into the bathroom just as I was rinsing my mouth out with some mouthwash I’d found.

“What time is it?” I asked. My voice sounded rusty, which fit with the fact that my mouth had felt like I’d been sucking on dirt-flavored cotton for a while.

“Nearly two,” he said as he leaned against the doorframe.

“Oh, um, okay.” I rubbed my forehead. “I can call a cab to take me back to my place.”

“You don’t have to leave right away. Let’s get some lunch, and we can talk things over.”

“I don’t want to put you out any more than I already have,” I said. “You have to get up for work…” The rest of his words registered, and I blinked at him. “Lunch?”

“It’s two in the afternoon,” he clarified. “Wednesday afternoon.”

I stared at him. “I’ve been asleep for nearly twenty hours?”

“More or less. You got up sometime around midnight to use the bathroom, but I’m not entirely sure you were really awake.”

“How did I…?” I looked around, bewildered. “I kinda need you to fill me in here.”

He held out his hand, and I took it, needing the physical touch as much as I needed him to ground me. As he led me back into the bedroom, and then into the hall, he said, “You were asleep before we got out of the hospital parking lot, and I didn’t want you to be alone, so I brought you back here. I behaved myself, I promise.”

I didn’t ask who’d changed my clothes. There wasn’t anyone else here. It should have bothered me, that he’d taken off my shirt – and my bra, I realized – but it didn’t. It might bug me later, it might not, but at the moment, everything still had that vague numb feeling that things took on when they hadn’t entirely settled.

“What about work?” I asked.

“The thing about owning the company, I can work from home as much as I want to. And I was smart and hired a good enough group of people to take care of business that I don’t even need to do much of anything.”

I followed him into the kitchen but pulled him to a stop before he could tell me to sit down. “You don’t have to do this.”

He looked down at me, his expression serious, but his eyes light. “I know, but I want to.”

“Why?”

He kissed my forehead. “Because you need to let someone take care of you for once, and I’m taking the job.”

“Don’t you mean you’re applying for the job?” I asked, hating the way my heart skipped at his words.

“No,” he said easily as he released my hand. “Because that implies you have other possibilities, and I refuse to accept that.”

His tone had a teasing note to it, but it didn’t fool me for a minute. Unless I wanted to specifically tell him that I didn’t want to be here, that I didn’t want him taking care of me, he wasn’t going anywhere.

It surprised me how much I liked that idea.