“He balled up my discardedsweatshirt and put it against his shoulder.“Go on,” he said. “I don’t bite.”“And from what I hear, that’s a good thing.”He gave a rumbling chuckle. “Yeah, it is.”I leaned against his shoulder.”

“He leans against me and gives a gentle push. I resist curving my neck into that place on his shoulder.”

“He shifted his weight, throwing his good leg off the bed as if he were going to try to stand.“What are you doing?” I demanded through the tears. “Lie down, you idiot, you’ll hurt yourself!” I jumped to my feet and pushed his good shoulder down with two hands. He surrendered, leaning back with a gasp of pain, but he grabbed me around my waist and pulled me down on the bed, against his good side. I curled up there, trying to stifle the silly sobs against his hot skin.”

“Up here, people like that don’t exist,” Nash says quietly as he comes to stand beside me. He’s so close his shoulder is brushing mine. I fight the urge to lean against him.”

“I wanted to walk over there. I wanted to curl up beside him, lean against him, talk to him. I wanted to know what he was thinking. I wanted to tell him everything would be okay. And I wanted him to tell me the same thing. I didn't care if it was true or not- I just wanted to say it. To hear it, to feel his arms around me, hear the rumble of his words, that deep chuckle that made me pulse race”

“I leaned back against him and rested my cheek on his shoulder. I could feel the river water dripping off of him."Thank you" I whispered. When I looked up, I saw he was crying.”