“I don’t think it was real I think it was probably just a really beautiful dream. But you were there and you... you pulled me out.”

She finally spoke, voice low. “I didn’t pull you out.”

“I think you did.”

“I didn’t.”

Rowan sighed. “Maybe I just needed to believe you did.” They laid in silence again. And after a while, her breath got slower until he belived she had fallen asleep. He fell asleep holding her.

But her eyes opened up the second he did.

She waited until his hand went limp over her waist, until his breathing evened out. Then she slipped from under the blanket and stood...