“Everyone knows what I am to you, Kitty Kat,” Frosty said, moving into the doorway and leaning against the frame, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Doesn’t mean they can’t use more examples. Now go! The girls are talking.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Grinning, he walked away.
Kat and I chatted about everything and nothing, laughing and catching up, until my eyelids began to droop.
She kissed my hand, worry falling over her features. “You know, Ali, the first time I saw you in a hospital bed it was no big deal. You had the tiniest little scratch I’d ever seen. I mean, really. I’ve had worse mosquito bites. This time, you’re trapped in bed and looking like…” She waved her hand over me. “This is a big freaking deal. You have two days to get better.”
I so loved this girl. “Or?”
“Or I end things with Frosty, here and now, forever,” she said loudly.
“Hey,” he called, making it clear he’d remained in the hall to eavesdrop.
“I might anyway,” she added. “My neighbor has been asking me out every day. And he’s cute. If cute is the new word for ‘outrageously sexy.’”
A growling Frosty stomped back into the room.
Kat giggled.
“All right, enough.” Nana shooed everyone but Cole out of the room. “And you,” she said, kissing my forehead, “say good-night to your friend and get some sleep.” She left the room, closing the door behind her.
“So what’s next?” I asked through a yawn.
“For starters, you and your grandmother are staying with the Ankhs.”
In the mansion? “I can live with that,” I said.
“Just as long as you do, in fact, live,” Cole said, and we shared a smile—before I ruined it with another yawn. He placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“You and your commands,” I said, my eyes already shutting. But I wouldn’t have him any other way.
Because of him, I’d learned how to survive this new world. More than that, I’d learned how to overcome it.
Deep down I knew fighting zombies was the only thing that would satisfy me now, the only thing that would make me feel as though I’d lived to the fullest. When the end came, I could rest in peace knowing I’d done everything in my power to walk in the light. And I would have Cole at my side. We were in this together.
I could deal with anything else.