The Girl He Used to Know (Page 45)

“You amaze me,” he says. He’s probably said it twenty times by now, but it always makes me smile. “It feels so good to hold you again.”

It feels good to me, too. It’s been so long since we’ve been able to stretch out alongside each other. “It’s the best feeling in the world,” I say. We kiss for a while, which is something else we haven’t done in a long time. They’re the kind of slow, deep kisses that say more than words ever will, and they make me feel loved and cherished. He’s half-asleep when we finally stop. We have the rest of our lives to kiss, so I whisper that it’s time for him to take a nap. He murmurs his assent without opening his eyes, and I slip from the bed and leave the room.

He coughs for a while and then I don’t hear any sound coming from the bedroom. I sneak back in and check on him, watching his chest until I see it rise and fall. Then I softly close the door.

* * *

While Jonathan sleeps, I go through the mail my mom has been collecting for me and find an envelope with no return address. I pry open the flap, and inside are two crisp one-hundred-dollar bills and the words “thank you” written on a piece of paper. There is also a child’s drawing. It’s of a woman with blond hair and she is driving a car. There’s a princess crown on her head and a man in the passenger seat.

And a duck in the backseat that’s blue.