Chapter 295

"I do," she said. "I want to tell you more than anything else in the whole world. But I don’t know if I can. I think I need all of us together at the same time. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise."

"If you think that’s best, then that’s what we’ll do," I said. "Do you want me to see if Jess can just turn around and come back?"

"No, no," Rita said. "Will you." Her voice cracked, and I noticed a trickle of tears coming out of the corners of her eyes. "Will you just hold me right now?"

"Of course, my love," I said.

"Kat needs to sleep," she said. "She needs so much sleep. We can talk about it tomorrow."

I glanced at my watch. It wasn’t even eleven o’clock. Tomorrow had never felt so far away.

I didn’t sleep. Rita dozed off with her head on my chest and, before it got too chilly outside, I roused her and helped her inside. Kat slept peacefully, and Rita and