The next week, it was finally warm enough at night to sleep with the windows open. I’d been looking forward to this since Rachel and I moved in to the little gray house. It seemed so nice in theory to lie in bed listening to the burble of the creek.

But the creek wasn’t burbling. It was roaring.

Weeks of rain had left it swollen and fast moving. There was flooding in the low-lying areas north of town, where Rachel and I lived, and the rain was still falling. Lying here listening to the rushing waters wasn’t soothing, it was nerve-wracking.

The din had my nerves jangling. I took a deep breath and counted backwards by sevens from three hundred—a trick that had always worked in the past—but was still awake when I got to negative one. I contemplated going further into the negatives, but realized that the debate itself was keeping me awake. Worse, my hands were shaking.

Just a little. The slightest tremor. But it had been weeks since my last attack, and I didn’t want to let them get any worse. I needed a distraction. The noise of the creek and the dark of the house had the strange effect of making me feel like the only person in the world.

I thought about getting up and seeing if Rachel was having the same trouble sleeping, but my roommate’s shy conversation wasn’t what I needed.

I grabbed my phone.

Me: I can’t sleep.

The reply came almost immediately.

Gabe: What do you need, baby?

Me: I think…

Me: You, maybe.

He sent back a smiley face.

Gabe: Wait. Maybe?

Me: Sorry. Definitely is a better word.

Gabe: Yes it is. I can come over.

I licked my lips. The thought was appealing enough to make my hands still, but…

Me: You wouldn’t fit in my bed.

Gabe: We made it work before.

Me: You’re dirty.

Gabe: I know. But you’re right. Your bed is too tiny and mine is huge.

Me: ?

Me: No it isn’t, that hospital bed is even worse than mine.

Gabe: See now, this is why it sucks you’re not my nurse anymore…

Me: You want to go back to acting professionally?

Gabe: Slow down. I never said that.

I sent him a laughing face emoji. Even texting with him made me feel better, and I usually hated texting.

Gabe: What I was trying to say was that the hospital bed got picked up today.

Me: Really????

Gabe: I’m lying in a real bed right now.

Gabe: After all that time in a tiny hospital bed, it almost feels TOO big, you know?

Gabe: Plenty of room to share.

I stood up and grabbed the keys to the Acura off my bedside table. Then I thought for a second.

Me: You never took back your key, you know.

Gabe: Oh, I know.

I grinned at my screen.

Gabe: But I’ll meet you at the back door anyway.

Driving through the dark country roads around Crown Creek had always given me the heebie-jeebies before. All those dark trees and dark houses looming made me feel like I was floating in space. But since I was going to Gabe, the night seemed soft and friendly. Even the misting rain was warm on my face as I walked around to the back of the Kings’ house and climbed up onto the deck.

He was waiting, like he’d said, and seeing him standing there straight and tall, healed and whole, made my heart lurch.

I went to him and when he kissed me the tremor in my hands had nothing to do with panic and everything to do with all the feelings I had for him. He made love to me slowly, luxuriating in the huge expanse of the bed, bringing me to the brink again and again until I was completely spent and sated.

Afterward, after he’d brought me a warm cloth to clean myself, and laughed about how it was his turn to give me a sponge bath, he folded his huge body around mine.

“Are you okay?” I whispered in the dark. His body was so warm and his expert fucking had worn me out so thoroughly that I was almost asleep before he answered. “I’m fucking perfect.”

I laid there, listening to his breathing, and tried to piece together the past couple weeks. How we’d found each other again after that lost night. How one filthy kiss had seared me into his heart so completely that he’d recognized me from its power. I giggled a little at how absurd it was and he snuffled awake. “What’s funny, baby?”

“I feel like Cinderella. Only instead of putting a slipper on my foot to find me, you put your tongue in my mouth.”

He rolled onto his back and laughed a silent, bed-shaking laugh. Grinning, I rolled over and brushed my hand up his chest, cupping it as I always did, right over his heart. “It’s true,” I murmured sleepily.

“I love that you thought that.” He brushed my hair back from my forehead. “In fact, I think I love you.”

My chest hitched for only a second before I smiled and turned to kiss his chest. “Good,” I murmured. “Because I love you.”

He brushed his hand over my forehead again, and then again, stroking me gently with his fingertips. I fell asleep listening to his heartbeat.