68
"Edward." A voice is whispering my name close to me as a hand gently shakes my shoulder. "Wake up." I open my eyes and Izzy is standing over me.
"Hey." My voice is croaky from sleep.
"It's five a.m. You should leave before Jimmy wakes up."
I stretch. At some point in the night, when I awoke in pain from sleeping hunched in the chair, I crawled onto the spare bed. I sit up groggily, my legs over the side of the bed and my feet on the floor. I bend down and retrieve my shoes from where they landed when I kicked them off, then I pull them on as Izzy drags the chair from in front of the door.
As I step out onto the balcony in the early morning light, she follows me, holding the door.
"Thanks for staying," she says quietly.
"No problem. What time do we need to leave?"
"Probably around nine forty-five. It's not too far."
"Do you want to grab breakfast together first?" I ask.
"I guess. How does eight thirty sound?"
"Sure, I'll drive, you can direct."
Back in my own room I think about climbing into my as yet unslept in bed, but my brain is up and running and I know I won't be able to fall back to sleep. Instead I make coffee, put the TV on and sit back on the bed to watch. The next few hours creep slowly by, minute by minute, until finally it's time to leave.
"I'm going to see my daddy today!" Jimmy tells me happily, bouncing on the spot as we wait for Izzy to lock the door.
"I heard," I reply, plastering a smile onto my face.
He races away along the balcony and then back toward us.
Izzy looks sick as she turns away from the door, such is the pale complexion of her skin and dark-circles beneath her eyes.
"I hope he lives up to expectations," she says.
"He'd better surpass mine," I tell her seriously. I'm trying to lock away the knowledge of what he did to her in the past, for all of our sakes.
"Are you sure about this? You don't have to come," she tells me. She looks worried as her eyes scan my face.
"I'm one hundred percent sure; it's not up for discussion."
"I'm so glad you said that," she admits as we descend the stairs. "I don't think I could do this alone now I'm here, even if it is for Jimmy."
~S~