Page 49 of Sparks Flying

He briefly met my eyes and I could tell by the wild look I saw there that he had needed to see me, too.

“Dean. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I heard you were meeting here and just wanted to stop by and see if there was anything I needed to know. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, this is good. I told Archie earlier that we should have invited you,” Patrick said. “Are you feeling better today?”

“Huh?”

“Bailey told us about your accident. You must have been really out of it to run into a tree like that. Did they find a cause? I’m afraid Bailey may have contracted it, too. She’s been off and a little out of it all day.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted, knowing it would just worry Dean to hear it. Or at least I suspected it would.

The look in his eyes told me I was right.

“Perhaps you could take her over to the clinic to get checked out. And have them check you for any viruses as well. I really don’t like knowing you both have similar symptoms that could be undiagnosed.”

“Better to be proactive, I suppose,” Dean said.

My cheeks were burning a bright shade of red.

There was nothing wrong with either of us. At least nothing I was willing to share with this group.

“We’ll follow up with you later. I’ll feel a lot better once the doctor has thoroughly checked the both of you out. Bailey, take the day off and rest up. Feel better,” Patrick said.

“But. . .”

“This doesn’t affect your placement on the team at all. We see how hard you work. But right now, we need you to take care of yourself.”

I was stuck. I couldn’t get out of this without telling them all about me and Dean. And I wasn’t ready to do that.

“Patrick’s right. Come on. I’ll take you over there,” Dean said.

He was trying hard not to smirk.

“Are you sure?” I asked Patrick. “I feel bad enough for missing yesterday.”

“I’m sure. You and Dean may need to be quarantined if it’s anything serious, so the less exposure to the rest of us, the less risk you two will present. And maybe it’s nothing. There’s just a lot of crazy going on in the world right now, so better safe than sorry. We still don’t know exactly how the Collectors are exterminating the dingoes.”

“I’ll make sure we both get thoroughly checked out,” Dean assured him. “Come on, Bailey.”

I didn’t say another word or bother to protest again. Instead, I gathered my things and left with Dean.

“You really suck for this,” I whispered when we were out of the room.

He chuckled. “We can’t be too careful.”

“I can’t believe you’re going along with this.”

“Selfishly, I’m happy to spend the day with you. And if they want to quarantine us for a week, I won’t complain.”

“Dean,” I warned.

“Bailey. Orders are orders.”

I shook my head. “You’re incorrigible.”

“That’s good, right?”

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