Free Bring Me Back by Taryn Plendl Page B

where he is going with this.  “Oh?  What about?”  He turns toward me.  “Well, I just realized that I don’t even know how old you are.”  He says smiling.  “We’ve gotten to be pretty good friends over these past couple weeks, but we managed to skip right over the basic information.”  I laugh, “I guess we have, huh?”  He nods. “Well?”  He waggles his eyebrows at me.  Smiling and shaking my head, I answer him.  “I’m twenty-two, as of August.  You?”  He smiles, “Twenty-four. March birthday.”  I take the next question, “Siblings?”  He shakes his head. “Only child.”  I nod, “Me too.”  He asks his next question. “Where did you grow up?”  I look at him, biting my bottom lip a little, “Umm, Denver. What about you?” 
I can tell he noticed my pause before the last answer because he is watching me closely, the way he does when he’s trying to figure something out. “Colorado Springs.”  He finally says.  Still watching me, he asks, “Your parents?  Are they still in Denver?” I start to shake—first my hands and then my entire body.  “Ian?” I whisper, and I see him fly across the couch to me, pulling me into his arms.  “I’m sorry Ally. Shit!  I’m so sorry baby.”  He says as he rocks me.  I close my eyes and press my face into his chest. Breathe Ally. Come back.  Come back.   I tell myself over and over.  I try to concentrate on Ian—his arms around me, his voice soothing me.  I try to list what I know is real—the smell of the fire, the sound of Ian’s voice, the smell of freshly laundered clothes from Ian’s shirt. 
Slowly the trembling subsides and I begin to pull away from Ian. “Ally, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to….I didn’t know.”  I try to smile at him, but I know it doesn’t look right.  “It’s okay Ian.  Should we watch some TV now?”  I ask, as he continues watching me.  He nods, reaching for the remote, but not letting me go.    He places a pillow on his lap and pulls me down so my head rests on it.  Turning on the remote and flipping through the channels, he starts to run his fingers through my hair as he searches for a show.
     

Chapter 26
~Ian
I pushed her too far.  I was hoping to get a little more from her—find out more about who she is, and I took an innocent and fun conversation and made it traumatic for her.  I’m such an asshole!
I’m hardly paying attention to the movie that’s on.  I’m so distracted by how soft Ally’s hair is against my fingers, how much I love how she curls her hands underneath her chin when she lays down.  Her little giggle as she watches silly sitcoms and movies, and her laughter.  I have heard her laugh more and more in the past few days, but this afternoon was the first time I ever saw playful Ally .  I hope when I close my eyes, I will see her playful face again in my mind.
“How’s your stomach feel Ally?”  I ask as soon as the credits come on.  She sits up and looks up at me, stretches a bit and smiles. “Not bad, considering you threw me down in the snow today.”  With that she stands up and walks to the bathroom, and to add insult to injury, before she closes the door, she sticks her tongue out at me.  I burst out laughing.
***
  It is somewhere around 3:00 a.m., and I have finally finished the last of the documents I needed to edit.  I close my laptop and pack the paperwork back into my folder.  Before I seek out Ally, I decide to stoke the fire.  The snow has slowed down, but it is still falling, and the accumulation has been significant. This is my first big snowstorm since moving here, and I am a little excited to see what we have to deal with when the sun comes up.  I better ask Ally what kind of snow removal equipment we have up here.
I stop at the kitchen and grab a couple cups of coffee and go looking for Ally.  “Ally?”  I holler as I walk down the hallway.  She doesn’t answer, and for a minute my heart beats