Alice looked pretty exhausted when I looked up at her after telling the story of Kallie getting admitted to the ICU. I was pretty beat myself from the memory, and I figured that now was as good a time as any to stop. I took her hand and brought it to my lips, kissing it and holding it there against my mouth afterwards for a long moment. It amazed me somehow that even with everything that had happened in the past week, her skin was a soft and smooth as it had always been.

We were quiet for awhile, then. There didn’t seem to be much to say, and I was perfectly content to sit by Alice’s bed and hold her hand in silence. I’ve always found the silences between us to be peaceful, and it had the same effect this time. The memories of Kallie’s initial illness didn’t have quite the same impact on me as they did on Alice, and even after all these years I could still see the flash of guilt in her eyes. I didn’t say anything to try to reassure her, though. I’d run out of words decades ago, and they’d never made any difference anyway.

I let my mind wander a little as I sat with her. I didn’t want to think about going home with her, having her in the house, and never hearing her say a word. In recent years she’d started to tell stories of her life to everyone, sharing recollections with those that remembered them and telling new things to those that didn’t. It hurt to realize that I’d never hear her voice again.

She brought me out of it like she always did with a simple squeeze of my hand. I looked up at her and saw the slight reflection of the overhead lights in her tears. This time, I knew they weren’t for the memory of Kallie’s illness, but for me. It hurt me to see them, but then, it’s always hurt me to see her cry.

I was going to apologize for the millionth time when Gemma walked in. It had been awhile since I’d seen her, and I felt a little badly for it since she’d been going out with Kallie and I felt that I should get to know her a little. When I started to tell her I was sorry, she waved it away and said that it was nothing. She checked Alice’s vitals and fluid levels, and glanced at her chart before looking back at me and smiling.