There were going to be more people staying her with me in the coming weeks.  Making a mental note to myself, and if I’m honest with myself it’s a note I am likely to forget, I make my way back into my living room, laden with the black, strong and unsweetened coffee.

Tina was still in the same position I left her in, her chest rising and falling slowly with deep, measured breaths which indicated that she was sleeping.  Quietly I place the mugs on the table and quickly walk to the cupboard by the door, intent on fetching the quilt that my Aunty Kris made for me when I was a teen.

Years later that same quilt held the heat like no other, and it was one of the easiest pieces I owned to wash.

Returning to the living room I put the quilt onto the table before carefully, not wanting to disturb the young blonde from her restful and needed slumber, lifting her legs onto the the lounge, and laying her down more comfortably.  I fetch one of the oversized cushions from the chair to my right and rest her head on it.

She must be more exhausted then I initially thought.

Reaching blindly behind me I manage to grab the quilt without knocking off the coffee cups, a mild feat for me, and I throw it over her body, tucking it around her to ensure she doesn’t catch a chill.

I sit and watch her for awhile, admiring her beauty.  There is a childlike innocence about her when she is sleeping that speaks to the beautiful woman that she is.  My mother used to say, the way you really know who a person was was to watch them when they are sleeping.  A sleeping person can tell no lies.

When Tina was awake I always figured her to be a genuinely nice human being, but seeing her now just sealed the deal.  There was still a part of me that was anxious as to why Tina wanted to meet with me today, why she was so exhausted she ended up sleeping here, but another larger part of me was just content in the moment.

It was something that had been missing from life, a desire just to sit still for a few moments and let the experience breathe.  If I was lucky it might be something that would remain with me for awhile.