Never Wake (38 page)

Emma had been dealing with that pain since she had walked out of Troy’s hospital room. Her soul was suffering from the phantom pain of having Troy removed from her life. She had gone on with her life, had laughed, and had even had fun on several occasions, but sometimes she awoke in tears. Sometimes she would sit at her table eating dinner and find herself remembering a snippet of something Troy had said. She would find herself in tears while working on the numerous invoices the clinic had amassed. Even though she had gone on with her life, she ached for Troy whether she was busy at the clinic or sitting at the window seat reading a book.

They began to walk toward the waterfront. Emma was holding Troy’s bag and Troy was pushing her bike. They walked a few feet in silence before Troy spoke. “This feels a little bit scary to me. It’s like all this stuff is just now clicking into place for me and here I thought I had been awake for over a year.”

Emma knew how she felt. If Troy never remembered anything more than she already had, she could be happy—as long as they were together.

“We can slow this down,” Emma said.

“You can try,” Troy replied, “but don’t count on any cooperation from me.”

Emma laughed and let the sense of joy and belonging flow through her as she and Troy walked toward the waterfront, alive and forever awake.

Gabrielle Goldsby is the author of
The Caretaker’s Daughter, Never Wake, Such a Pretty Face, Remember Tomorrow,
and the 2007 Lambda Literary Award–winning mystery,
Wall of Silence 2nd edition.

When not writing, reading, or in the gym, Gabrielle enjoys exploring the trails near her home in Portland Oregon, camping—the kind that requires a tent—and watching movies in her home theater with her partner of nine years.

Gabrielle’s works in progress are
Paybacks
(Bold Strokes Books, 2009) and
The Burning Cypress.

For information about these and other works, please visit www.boldstrokesbooks.com.