It was still light out though it was night already.

Magnus said, “Come here, Kaitlyn, I will help ye with your laces.”

I stood in front of him and he quietly loosened them down the row, pulled them apart, and then we worked together to get the whole thing off. There was always this moment just after where I felt truly free and unrestricted. It was so great to get it off my body.

We were quiet with each other. Nervous.

“I daena think I need the pile of mattress behind m’back.” He began to lift the corner but groaned at the pain of lifting it to shake it. “I am beginnin’ tae see the end of it, mo reul-iuil. But I will be greatly relieved tae be well again.”

“Soon.” I poured ibuprofen into my palm and gave it to him with some water. Then I climbed up on the bed and with some effort and a lot of silliness managed to get the heavy sack of straw spread a bit more fairly. Though I kept a bit at the top of his side because I wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t need it to sleep comfortably.

There was no way I was helping him out of his shirt and frankly if he tried to take it off I would make him keep it on. He didn’t try.

He rolled into the bed with something close to his usual movements.

“Do you want to use the oxygen machine tonight?”

“Nae, I think the regular dusty air is good enough for me tonight.” He pulled the covers up to his chest. I went around the bed and climbed under the covers. I curled on my side. He was on his back and I watched the side of his face.

“Hi.”

He turned his head to face me. “Hello, mo reul-iuil. Sadly, I canna lay on my side comfortably.”

“That’s okay.”

“Dost ye want tae come lay on my arm?” He raised it a bit for me.

“I don’t think so. I can’t, not yet.” I chewed my lip. “But if I can’t… What if — what if I’m a big pain in the ass and I need more time... and I don’t... and I make you wait...”

“What are ye askin’, Kaitlyn?”

“Would you leave me and go back to her?”

His brow furrowed. His face clouded over. “Nae, Kaitlyn. You ken this.”

“I don’t. And I can be a huge pain in the ass. What if I’m such a pain that you can’t stand me anymore? Would you go back to her?”

He took a deep breath.

“If you are such a pain in the arse that I canna bear tae live with ye anymore? What would that be, Kaitlyn, I canna imagine it?”

“Maybe I can never get over this.”

“So in this story, ye never forgive me?”

“Or something. Would you?”

He looked at the ceiling and shook his head slowly. “I wouldna, Kaitlyn. I would keep tryin’ tae make it right with ye. I hope twould be sooner than later because we have lost time tae make up for. But if tis ‘never’ I would have tae die tryin’.”

“Okay. That’s — okay. Thank you, that helps.”

He casually placed his hand to his side, up near his shoulder with the palm up, inches from my face. His fingers were curled. They had a relaxed look to them, not stretching for me, not insistent. Waiting.

“I hadn’t heard those stories yet. The ones you told tonight. I know you meant them to be funny, but I could hear it behind the story, how awful it must have been.”

“Aye, twas a dark time, but let us talk of better things. Tell me of our friends. How is Mistress Hayley?”

“Hayley, um, where to begin?” Our voices were low, in the air just between us. It wasn’t dark, but was dimming, the sky turning off our light for us. “Michael is pressuring her to set a date for their wedding. She thinks it’s a ruse to get her pregnant. He’s been talking about babies too much for her liking. I think so too. He wants a family. So, she came up with a plan — Zombie Runs.”

“What is a Zombie?”

“A zombie is a monster. It’s the undead, a ghost, but ripped up and mangled and decayed and it, for some reason, wants to eat brains so it chases humans around.”

Magnus’s eyes were round. “Tis terrible and these exist in your time?”

“No, they don’t exist in any time. They’re invented monsters, like a fairytale. But someone came up with the idea to have races where actors in zombie costumes chase the runners.”

“So tis a race. A footrace? And while ye are runnin’ the monsters are chasin’ ye?”

“Yep, crazy, huh?”

“Tis nae crazy, sounds fun.”

I raised my head up on my hand, leaned on an elbow. “You would think so. There are other ones too. There are races through mud and there are obstacle courses that have rubber hammers and —”

Magnus groaned and held his ribs over-dramatically. “They all sound good but the hammer.”

“Okay, zombies only. No hammers. When our lives calm down, we’ll sign up for one and do it together.”

“Tis a deal.”

“But back to Hayley, she is doing these races with Michael. She’s getting really into it and signing up for more and more to distract him from wedding planning. It’s quite funny, actually. Plus it’s part of her mission to stop drinking as much as she does without actually ‘not drinking.’ She just signed them up for a race where drinking is part of it.”

“You drink alcohol and then fight the zombies?”

“No, no, you don’t actually fight the zombies. And no swords. They’re just actors. You just run from them.”

“Ah, that part would be difficult for me.”

“I don’t know, you’re a pretty gentle soul considering.”

There was a pause and my hand drifted up and my fingertips settled in the middle of his waiting palm and then they curled like an egg in the middle. He wrapped like a nest around.

I was secure. Safe. Within.

“Tell me of Master James Cook.”

“Do you remember his girlfriend, Lee Ann? The one who flirted with you so much?”

“Nae really.”

“Good answer. They went out for a long time but they had a terrible breakup because he slept with someone…” My voice faltered. I dropped my head to the mattress, clamped my eyes shut and pulled his knuckles to the bridge of my nose and held it there, tight, clenched, fearful — skin, blood, life draining out, a struggle, a mouth on Magnus’s shoulder — until I could breathe again. Until I could let it go.

When I opened my eyes again and let go of my grip on Magnus’s hand. He kept it there, close to my face, his pinky finger under my nose. The side of his palm against my lips.

I pulled in some necessary air. “Zach and Emma are doing great. Baby Ben is amazing. He walks now.”

“Och, he is just gettin’ fun.”

“Yep, he toddles around and gets into a ton of trouble. It’s very cute.”

“I can imagine.”

“I didn’t see him much at first. I didn’t see anyone for a while until Hayley made me. It took a lot of forcing me, but sometimes that’s for the best. And let’s see, there’s a new guy in the group, Tyler, he—”

Magnus’s head shot up. “Tyler?”

“Yes, he’s a friend of Michael’s from school. He hangs out in Fernandina now like every weekend — why did you…?”

He searched my face for a moment and then settled his head back down. “Nothing, I just thought I heard the name before.”

“Oh, well Tyler hangs out with the group now all the time. He’s infuriating. You’ll see. He tells me how to do everything like I’m a big idiot. Though he was the one who told me about the storms in Scotland over the ruins of Castle Talsworth.”

“A turning point for us.”

“True, I just hope it turned us in a good direction.”

“I think so. I think every night we share a bed is a good night, Kaitlyn. We will survive the time we spent away from each other.”

“How do you know it?”

“I ken it here.” He brushed his finger along my lip. “Because when ye talk tae me of our friends I can hear it in your voice — ye are fillin’ with hope. You will guide us forward. I daena ken what will happen next but I verra much want ye speakin’ tae me through it.”

A tear flowed from my eye, down his fingers to my curled fist.

“I daena want tae ruin the evenin’ but all this talkin’ has worn me out.”

“Do you need the machine?”

“Nae, I think that part is behind me.”