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He quickly walked toward it, the sound of crying growing louder

Behind the door, he found Julia, her head on her desk Her shoulders were shaking, her glasses discarded on her open laptop A large pile of books was scattered across the desk and down on the floor

“Darling” He placed his hand on her head “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t do it”

“You can’t do what?” He crouched beside her

“I can’t catch up I’ onto read I should have started the revisions on my lecture, but I haven’t had time And I’m just so tired” Her voice cracked

Gabriel eyed her sympathetically “Co her hands up “I need to stay up all night and finishThen to onto reviseht Even if you stayed up, you’re too tired to focus Coet up early You can tell ive you the CliffsNotes version of theestured to her with his hand

She shook her head “CliffsNotes won’t cut it”

“Julianne, it’s two o’clock in the

“I have to stay up”

“Sleep now and I’ll help you I can go with you to the library and help you with your research That should save you some time”

“You’d do that?” She wiped her nose with a tissue

He frowned “Of course I’ve been volunteering to help you all semester You wouldn’t let ery” She wiped her eyes hastily

“You’re going to get sick if you don’t take care of yourself Come on” He placed a hand on her elbow and helped her to her feet before closing her laptop firmly

He followed her down the hall to their bedroo her head on the pillow She was even too tired to spoon

“All you have to do is ask I’d do anything for you You know that”

“I’m supposed to do this by myself”

“Bullshit” He placed an ar Everyone else is probably getting help from someone”

“You didn’t need help when you did it”

“Think about what you’re saying I was doing coke when I was in grad school And I had P—so his voice “You looked after me when I came home from the hospital That’s probably when you fell behind Let ood night’s sleep We’ll talk toue Withindeepened and Gabriel knew that she’d fallen asleep

Chapter Fifty-five

That Saturday, Julia and Gabriel planned to spendher se her appreciation, she prepared pancakes while he sat at the kitchen table, clad in his paja The Boston Globe

She poured the batter onto a hot griddle before turning to hi”

“And what’s that?”

“Will you tell me what you wrote in the card that you left at my apartment, back in Toronto?”