Light came first.
Warm and slow, spilling through the curtains and across the face of the man sitting in the chair beside my bed like he had been there all night.
Frank.
Jacket off. Sleeves still rolled. Forearms on his knees, hands loose between them. Watching me with the particular stillness of someone who had been watching for a long time
I sat up so fast the room tilted.
"Easy, Jane." His voice was low. He didn't move toward me. Just steadied me with his presence from a distance.
"I'm fine." The words came out before I'd decided to say them. Reflex. Survival habit.
He didn't say anything.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Found the floor. Pressed my feet flat against it and focused on the solidity of it, until the room stopped moving.
Frank watched me do all of this a
