“Get some sleep. Gio will cook for you when you get up. I’ve already destroyed two meals.”
She sighs. “I’d still eat it.”
“Thank you, but you’ve been through enough hell. You deserve something good.”
She fights her eyelids. “I’m tired of crying and sleeping constantly. It feels like it’s been days.”
There’s no point in telling her it’s only been about thirty hours, so I just brush my fingers through her hair. I’ve learned it puts her to sleep. “Give yourself time. Sleep more for me.”
“Will you stay?”
“Yes.”
She snuggles closer to me, wrapping my arm around her. “I love you, Kon.”
I blink a few times and get ready to push on that, but she’s already asleep. I shake my head. It doesn’t count. It doesn’t. It only counts if she’s awake and aware of what she’s saying. Max nods to me at the door.
“I think we’re going to hear that a lot in the next few days.”
I shake my head. “She’s asleep. It doesn’t mean-”
“It’s a real ‘I love you’ muscles,” Max assures me. “Being this close to death tends to make things clear. It can make people impulsive, or it makes them more eager to express themselves.”
“Where do you fall?” I ask.
He looks at her and sighs. “I don’t think anything would convince me to leave her other than her kicking my ass out of her life.”
I nod and stroke through her hair again. “It won’t be easy.”
“Easy is boring.” Max winks at me. “Plus, we’ll always have some encouragement to try harder while competing with each other.”
He moseys away, but I shake my head. I’m not competing with him or Gio. We all bring something different to the table. We love Juliana in different ways, we give her different bits of ourselves and she does the same. She has more than enough love to go around and there’s not some kind of shortage that means we have to compete.
It’s a nice thought.
Gio and Max are good friends too. I can trust them – with my life and Juliana’s. I can’t imagine a better arrangement.
A few days pass before Juliana is up to dealing with the will and funeral arrangements. She gets overwhelmed easily, snaps at us, then apologizes just as quickly. I hear her talking with Gio one afternoon when I get up.
“It’s just too much, Gio. He has too much to go through. I can’t. I just ...”
“That’s what lawyers are for, babe. Let’s let them take care of the will. It should have everything for the funeral in there. They’ll let you know what you have to select.”
“Fine.”
She hasn’t had the same fighting spirit lately. I hear her sniff. “I ... I really appreciate you, Gio. You know that right?”
“I had a feeling.” I see him kiss her softly. “Iappreciateyou too.”
“Since we were kids.” She nudges him.
He chuckles. “That’s our secret.”
“And Kon’s.” She motions to me. “Someone’s been listening.”
I roll my eyes. Gio doesn’t seem hurt by it though. Then I notice Max in the kitchen. He takes a bite of a sandwich. “I’m the king of grilled cheese.”
Smirking, I sigh. This is definitely the kind of living I could get used to. Even in the hardest times, we make things work together. I don’t know if it would be possible otherwise. An alarm on Juliana’s phone goes off. “Oh! That’s my reminder. I have to get to counseling.”